A Little Bit About Me!

Flyer describing a little about the trip and a little about why I want to go on this trip
Hello All!!

Welcome to my blog, where I hope to keep you up to date on my upcoming adventure! I am very excited to be in the process of preparing for a trip to Israel this May with a group from Dordt College. Looking back now, I see all the ways that God has led me to where I am today to be able to go on this trip! So here's a little bit of my story and how I ended up in Iowa, which in turn leads to my upcoming trip to Israel

I grew up in Lynden, WA which is a small little Dutch community. I grew up attending a Christian school and going to a CRC church where the Reformed community of Dordt College was talked about frequently. For awhile in high school, I drug my feet; not wanting to be just another kid from Lynden who went to Dordt. But after visiting my Junior year and praying about it a lot, I knew that Dordt was the place for me. I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else; Dordt felt like home. Graduating high school, I moved to Sioux Center and started in on the path to becoming an elementary teacher.

This past fall I was sitting in my Core 150 class (Biblical Foundations) when my Professor started talking about an upcoming trip that he was leading to Israel. I didn't think too much about it at first. "I'm not a theology major. How would that work with my summer job? I probably can't afford it." I tried to dismiss it. However, Professor Lappenga kept talking about it from that class period forward as a little "plug in" to get people interested. Well it worked! After showing the class pictures of the sights, hearing how he was able to go to places where we know that Jesus has walked, and hearing about the amazing experience that this would be, I knew that I had to go to an informational meeting just to hear a little bit more. Well, I couldn't make it to the meeting so a friend went for me in my place. Hearing how excited she got about it, I went to meet with Professor Lappenga one on one and from then on things just started falling in place. I talked to my parents to try to figure out the logistics and they were very supportive from the beginning. I think they could sense what a growing experience this would be for me and how excited that I was getting about this. So I signed up and before I knew it I was meeting with my group for the first time.

Since signing up for this trip in the beginning of December, God has blessed me through the support of so many people. I was able to do some fundraising back home over Christmas break as well as fitting many babysitting hours into my schedule. I'm currently doing some more individual fundraising through selling of butter braids back home, and people have been super generous in their support through this which I am so grateful for! I didn't know how I would be able to afford it, but God has it all in His hands and it's been a huge lesson in trust for me.

Meanwhile we've been able to meet as a group a couple of times through fundraisers that we have done in Sioux Center and through meals exchanged as we are introduced to the Israeli culture. As the time nears, we will be getting together more as we learn about the places that we will be going to and prepare for the trip. The group is awesome; made up of theology majors, education majors, business majors, theater majors, and more. It's diverse, which will add even more to this trip.

I would appreciate continued prayers as the group and I continue to get ready for this trip. More updates will be posted as May gets closer! Thanks again for all the support as I get ready to take on this adventure that God has in store for me.


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