Photo Fundraiser

My mom and brothers, Dan and Bob

Our family friend, Miss Terp (Christina Terpstra), helped support us by having some mini family photo sessions as a fundraiser. She had 30 families sign up for 15 minute sessions and we made just over $1000.00 to help support us for our mission to Beautiful Gate. Last Sunday there was an 80% chance of rain and it rained for about 2 minutes during the first photo session and then a couple drops on the last photo session. We were so thankful that God brought out the sun and provided a gorgeous day for the fundraiser.

I just picked a couple of pictures to post on our blog so I could show off Terp's photo skills and my cute kids :) Plus, I figure that I better learn to upload some pictures on our blog because we will need to add more pictures once we get to Lesotho so you all can keep up with us by reading our blog, but also by seeing some of the things that we will be seeing.

Anita

Suitcases!?

Hello Everyone! We have begun the process of putting piles together to decide what we will take with us on the airplane. As I looked in the closet at all the things I had in the airplane pile, it suddenly dawned on me.... I don't have 10 big suitcases! I only have 4! So we are in need of some old suitcases that still zip if anyone who lives close enough to us has any available and don't mind us using them for say....5 years :) I figure I'll ask all of you first and then start looking around at second hand stores if necessary. Please leave a comment or email us at bageurink@hotmail.com and let us know (or you can aways call if you have our phone #). Thanks everyone!
Anita

Elijah's Thoughts

Elijah is going to share what is on his mind abut moving to Lesotho, Africa on Dec. 4th.
"I'll miss my friends and I'll miss my stuffed animals that are with my friends (all 3 kids are leaving some animals for their special friends so they can remember them). I am excited to know Mr. Ray (current director of Beautiful Gate) more. I am excited about meeting all the kids in Beautiful Gate. The airplane ride will hopefully be fun. I hope Dad's job will be fun and I hope we will spend more time with Dad because Dad is awesome! I am looking forward to reading to the orphans. I'm glad Mom is going to be homeschooling me because I have been waiting for that my whole life! I love Mom and Dad (apparently he is trying to earn brownie points right now hahaha). I will miss Halloween and Valentine's Day and 4th of July. I am happy that they still celebrate Christmas. I am excited to go whale watching (I didn't know we were going to be doing that). Thanks for reading!"
Dictated by Elijah with a few comments by Anita.. the typist

A truly blessed weekend

After many busy weekends of replacing flooring, cleaning the house, and preparing for garage sales, we took this weekend off. Bryan went fishing with my brother all day on Saturday and had a fantastic time. I stayed home with Elijah, Faith, and Mercy and we went hiking with our neighbors Saturday morning, played at two parks, and met some old neighbors for dinner. Today we went to the late service at church and were the last ones to leave church. Bryan washed the van and car with the kids. Can you believe that my kids were outside in bathing suits on October 10th...in Michigan!!!! It was awesome. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch outside and then had some friends over for dinner. I think there were 10 kids playing in my yard at one time today and it was wonderful. Our house was a mess with toys everywhere and lots of dishes to do, but we didn't care. It was just fantastic to have a weekend of relaxation (oddly enough it was relaxing despite sounding busy) and beautiful weather. I am feeling so blessed!
Anita

It's Official...Dec 4, 2010 we leave!!!!!!

It's official!!! We have purchased the plane tickets to go to Lesotho! We will be leaving from Grand Rapids Airport on December 4 and arriving in Maseru on Dec 6. That is less than 9 weeks away! Shortly after we bought the plane tickets today, the total reality of this calling started to set in again.....we will be living in Lesotho before Christmas!! How exciting and how scary!! I can't wait to see the kids at Beautiful Gate again and begin to impact their lives for God! And yet, at the same time, we are leaving behind a lot of loving friends and family.

We made the decision about a week ago to start looking for the plane tickets, and the Lord provided a good rate for our family. We are truly taking a "step off a cliff" and trusting that the Lord will be there for us. We are still not fully funded for the 5 years yet. After talking with Ray and Sue last week, we were able to adjust our budget down from prior estimates, but we still have a lot of fundraising to do before we leave. But, we feel that God has called us to this mission and that He will take care of us and provide for our family while we are there.

There is so much to do before then. Sometimes I can't even begin to think about how all that will happen before we need to leave. Plus, we are still looking for renters for our house, but, for some strange reason, I am completely at peace with that as I know that God will take care of the housing situation in His timing.

Please pray for our final preparations in the next 9 weeks!

Stepping out in faith.... Bryan

God's promise

Bryan and I have had a lot on our minds, especially having had Ray and Sue from Beautiful Gate visiting this past weekend. It was a time to be challenged, encouraged, warned, prepared, and many more things when they were speaking with us. Ray does not sugar coat anything and expressed that this journey will be life changing, but it won't be easy. We will have high points when we will see God moving and feel His presence like we have NEVER experienced before, but we will also have valleys that will be dark and it will be easy to begin questioning whether we really heard from God and are still following in His will. He told us to keep a journal because it will be our reminder that He has called us and He has shown us clearly that He wants our family to go to Beautiful Gate. Satan will try to discourage us, lie to us, and hurt us, but God will never let go of us.

I decided to read Romans 4:13-25 today. This scripture talks about Abraham and the promise that was granted to him because of his faith. He could have easily given up on God when he was 100 years old (I always smile when it says he was as good as dead, what a description)and his wife was 99 and well past the time of child bearing, but he believed that God would follow through. Verse 21 says, "and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." Even when experience and common sense told Abraham, there was no way God could come through and give them a child, he had faith like a child that God can and will do everything that He promises to do.

I have not had the luxury of hearing God speak out loud like Abraham did, but God has given us clear signs that He wants us to follow Him. He has used our son, Elijah and He has used a chance encounter on a airplane to tell us to follow Him and trust Him. I know that He would not call us to be missionaries and then leave us hanging. He will come through and He will give us everything we NEED. It won't be an easy road to travel, but we will not travel the road alone.

Let's Go!

Anita and I have decided that we are going to put a lot of trust into God's hands for our future in Lesotho. We have called the travel agency to start looking for airline tickets for the beginning of December. We will post the exact dates when we have the tickets. This is a really big and really scary step for us. We are only have about 60% of our total commitment that is needed for our journey for the 5 years. We are taking a gigantic leap of faith and trusting that God will supply for our needs while we are at Beautiful Gate. He has called us to this, and now we are going to trust that He will bring us through this. We would like to thank all the people that have donated/committed to our mission so far. This has truly been a humbling experience for me. I have always been the type of person that likes to "take care of things myself" and now we are going to let God and family and friends help with the final portion of the fundraising. But, we are also very anxious to get to Beautiful Gate. Buying tickets may not sound like a large step, but it gives us a very real date to be there and will mark a large change in our family's journey. There have been many small signs from God telling us to get the tickets. One of which was reading from the book of Matthew the other day and it was about Jesus calling some of his first disciples. They were simple fishermen, and when Jesus asked them to follow him, they IMMEDIATELY left their fishing job and followed Jesus. Some of them even said good-bye to their father and followed Jesus that day! Sometimes that makes me feel really bad, in that, we had to take so long to follow our calling. But, the Lord's plans will not be deterred! We just need to "Let Go and Let God!"
Bryan