Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that I love you and am missing you already! We made it to Guatemala safely around 10:00 last night. It took us about an hour to get through customs with 19 bags of medicine. Dan said it was a miracle that we got all of the luggage through. We drove about an hour to get to the base, which is great babe! You’re work looks great! We got here and went right to bed. We got up at 6:00, which is an hour of sleeping in I guess? We drove an hour and a half to the village, which was on a cliff. We could actually see a volcano from the village. It was amazing. Ok…I’ll try to write more later. I’m being called to devotions. Love you all. Hey, will you let mom and dad and whoever else know about the blog? I’ll try to update.
Devotions were great. It’s only 9:15 here, and I guess it’s time for bed. It was an exausting day, with not much sleep last night, but 9:15 is pretty early for sleeping!!
Just a few updates about building today. We framed in four houses, drywalled the inside, finished the outside, and mudded all today. The villagers just watched the entire day in excitement for the new house they were going to be getting! I so wish I new spanish right now! The kids were so adorable. The girls must have thought my hair was unusual because they kept touching it. It was so cute. They helped me drill most of the screws in and helped with mudding too, which was a total mess.
Jenna and Brycen, the kids in the village did not have one toy! They played outside all day, in trees and playing tag. Jenna, all of the little boys and girls, probably only 4 or 5 years old carry their little baby brothers and sisters everywhere! Brycen, the boys find any stick they can to play swords with!!
I’m just loving it! Tomorrow we are going to sand the homes, do some more mudding, stucko the outside of the homes, build an awning, and put the window and door in.
Love you all….I’ll try to write more tomorrow. Hope things are going great at home!
Another great day! Thanks Mike, Jaimy, and Kevin for the comments! Hey Mike, will you tell Matt to look on here? Thanks!
Today was another great day. We started by sanding and remudding our home. After that we did stucko – wow, that was crazy! We all did the four homes together. It is basically just glopping colored paste on the home in anyway you want. After that we mudded some more and put a window in our home. At the end the men all had the job of building an awning for the house and putting the doors in, so we had the rest of the day to play with the kids in the village.
We taught them duck, duck, goose (pato, pato, ganzo!), after that we showed them how to play patty cake. They loved it. They lined up to play, and they could clap my hands until they messed up. It was such a challenge to them – they were all laughing and haveing a great time. After that we taught them London Bridges. We had to leave around 3:30 and as we left the village they were all saying, “Lock em up, lock em up!”
Can’t wait until tomorrow. We get to finish the homes and present them with gifts and share the gospel with them. Love you all…hope to hear everything is going well at home. I miss you guys!
Hi Sandy, Ry and I were wondering if you went or not after we saw that Sharla went. I’m glad to see that you did.I hear that this is a great experience. Just wanted to let you know that we were thinking about you. Have a great time and TRY to get some sleep!
Trish
Sounds like all is going well, it was nice to find out about this site! Kids are great, Jenna and Brycen say HI, and they love you. We will post again shortly. Have a great day. We miss you.
see mommy I should be able to carry markie when ever I want I love you and miss you. do the kids like my prayer book and pen? be safe and i love you and miss you.
i wish i had a sword to play with. i wish we had another brother. do the kids like my ball and football? i miss you mommy, work hard and be safe. i know my address now, 11300 Valley View! See you soon.
Hi everyone! Wow, it was the most amazing day today! I don’t know how to explain it in words! We finished the homes before lunch today. We had to sand, paint, put roofs on, and decorate the homes for our family! Our dad has been amazing and has been helping the entire time. After lunch we started the dedications of the homes. Our family was last, but we all laid hands on the houses and prayed the entire time. The first home was a family of 9, the second was a family of 3 and the third home was a Grandmother. At the first three homes all of the people, including a sister, accepted Christ! It was the most amazing thing! We prayed, sang, and did a lot of crying for these wonderful families! The last family was ours and we have really gotten close to them over the last three days. We start by presenting them with lots of gifts. Brycen, I gave Freddie, who is 7, your football, and I gave Omish, who is 5, your four-wheeler! Omish made your 4-wheeler go across the floor of the house. Jenna, I am going to give your prayer book out at the medical clinic tomorrow. I’ll be sure to take a picture! After that Dan gave them a few things and talked to them about the gospel, then Hermono Jesus spoke to the family, they invited their grandmother in and the entire family accepted Christ as well. Dan said this doesn’t happen very often that they all accept on the same day in the village. We witnessed 22 people come to the Lord today! We were in our house when the family accepted God, we prayed with them and then did a lot of crying with them. It was so amazing! After the dedications of the houses, all of the kids in the village gathered to sing songs and we passed out candy. The mayor of the village talked to us and thanked us. He started crying, and Dan said this is a very unlikely thing to see happen! These people were so grateful! They amaze me!
Thanks to everyone who wrote on here. It is so nice to see your comments! I miss you all…
Jenna, mommy loves you too! I miss you, and can’t wait to tell you all about my trip and show you pictures!
Brycen, I am so proud of you for learning your address! I can’t wait to hear it when I get home! You are so smart! I love you and miss you so much! Tell Daddy that mommy will bring you home a brother from Guatemala if he wants!!
Markie, I can’ t wait to hear all of your new words, mommy misses you so much and can’t wait to hug you! Lots of love, I’ll write more tomorrow after we hand out medicine in a new village. We are going to be driving two and a half hours to the Pacific ocean tomorrow. I am so excited. Love you all – Matt, I miss you, thanks for all your doing at home! You’re the best daddy!! Love ya!
Sandy, I’m so glad you’re having such a good time there. I’ve been praying for you and the group every day. With all the families accepting Jesus on the same day WOW!! how exciting, may your example just prompt them to continue to learn about God and keep spreading the Good News. Love you, Mom M
Hey, I just seen Mike,and he told me about the site! I ‘m so excited to hear about all the stuff you are doing, it sounds amazing! God is working through you,what an awsome thing to be apart of! Trey seen an airplane in the sky today and wanted to know if that was the one you were on and wanted to know when you were going to be back home!!We will continue to pray for strength and saftey and that even more lives will be changed for Jesus. Can’t wait to see all the pictures, we miss you and love you lots. Kristie ( and family)
Good to hear from you Sandy, and happy to hear that things are going well. We had the kid tonight and they were so good-lots of laughs,and some rough-houseing, and had a good time with them. Its wonderful to hear that people are accepting the Lord, and how great for you to be a part of that. You are in our prayers many time a day. Love you much, Mom and Dad
Hi Sandy – How blessed we are to hear the news of the people coming to know Jesus! God has certainly placed His hand upon this team and this trip. We are so glad that you are sharing your joy and faith with those on the team and those you meet along the way – thank you! Can’t wait to see you and hear from you when you return. Have a great day in the mountains today and a blessed day of worship on Sunday. – Jim
Hey Lady sounds like a pretty amazing trip so far and you are only half way into it!!!Love the updates. So wonderful to hear the impact you guys are making on these families!!!We are looking forward to seeing your pictures when you get back!!!We are praying for you and your team!!
Luv, Ross, Jaimy,Peyton, Ashtyn and Dakota
P.s. Luv that Brycen wants you to take him home a brother!!!!If you do try to grab me a baby I saw some little babies on a video from our church and I told Ross I wanted to go snatch one up!!!HEHE
Sandy I had to giggle because I just looked through the pics of the trip thus far and most of the people are sitting in the shade during their lunch time but Not you!!!!!Got to love the warm sunshine!!!!
Hey Sandy miss you!! That is awsome that all those people accepted christ! I love all the picture,the kids are so cute,i think you should bring one home for brycen!! how is the food when i looked at it it didn’t look so good. i can’t wait for you to come home and tell us all about it.
miss you Brittany[-=
Hi Sandy; Prayed often today for you as your team drove through the mountains,It’s so nice to hear from you and see your pictures.We seen the picture of you eating a plate full of black beans and rice and thought how skinny you must be getting???? Markie was cute last night as Grandpa would say”please grandpa” and Markie would say” P e e e e e s PAPA ” .They kept it up for about 10 min. We laughed so hard . Were thinking and praying for you , and the people around you. GOD BLESS love Dad & Mom
Hope today was filled with adventure! Praying you are eating and sleeping well, Britt was a little worried after she seen the pictures -LOL- I am going to have to talk to Matt and tell him we changed his mind once before about more kids, just because he thinks he is the man of the house doesn’t mean he has more control than the man upstairs HAHAHAHAH !!! We all love you so much and can’t wait for you to come home. But while your there soak in all the blessings and enjoy yourself!! Love Ya Kristie
Hi everyone! Thanks for all of the emails! It was nice of Mike to let you all know about this site!! I miss you all too!
Jaimy, yes, I enjoy the sun every chance I get, even in my jeans!! You are all coming along with me next time!! I haven’t quite figured out how everyone can come, who will watch the kids? But, without a shadow of a doubt I want to come here with Matt! In our last devotions Dan made it clear that Matt and Mike have to come with us next time to experience the entire mission trip. He said he was so glad he had both of them to build the base, but now he wants them to come to build houses. I thought that was so nice, and I would love to come with you babe!
Yesterday was another amazing day! We got up at 6:30 to eat and start packing things for the village. There were about 6 assembly lines going on packing beans, rice, mush, and tons of medicine! After that we had our devotions in the morning, ate lunch at 10:30 and left for the village. It was a two hour drive into the mountains. We saw the most amazing views again! Poeple pay tons of money to have the views that these villages have. I’ll never be able to explain how amazing it is! (Like I said earlier, you’ll all just have to come see for yourself!)
At the village we set up the medicine clinic in a school, which was just a little one room school, and then we started to try to make connections with the village people. They were very stand offish at first, but after giving them soccer shirts, flip flops, toys, painting the girls nails and doing hair they warmed up to us quickly! I colored for hours with a huge group of kids, then went back to the patty cake clapping. The girls lined up to clap with Sharla and I to see how “rapido” we could go before messing up! It was fun! After that we sang, danced to the chicken dance and a few other crazy songs, played hop scotch and lots of duck, duck, goose again! At around 6:00 we were able to have two sandwiches that we packed to bring along, and then the Jesus film started. We watched that and then Dan called the group up to sing a few songs, he had three people come to give their testimony from the group and he translated, we sang again and then Hormano Jesus preached to the village. I had know idea what he was saying, but it was powerful (I remember you saying that same thing Matt!). Over half of the village, which was about sixty families, ended up coming forward to give their lives to the Lord. We went up and layed hands on them and prayed over them, then sang a few more songs and handed out Bibles at the end. It was another great experience.
We got home late and then went right to bed, no time to get on the computers. Today we are doing the same thing as last night, but this village is near the Pacific coast. We’re told it could be extremely hot there! It is a two and a half hour drive so I guess we’re leaving earlier today. Dan said this village has double the families as the one yesterday, so we could be there past midnight. Tomorrow is our free day where we get to go into the Antigua and shop! That should be fun in a totally different way!
Love you all! Thanks for all of the messages. I love hearing from the kids and about the kids – can’t wait to hear Markie say Pleeeese Papa! Jenna and Brycen, I love you and miss you tons! Can’t wait to get home to see you! Tell Trey I’ll wave to him from the plane on Tuesday! Love you all!
A few things I forgot! You’ll all be surprised to know that I’m loving the food here, and I think I’ll be gaining weight instead of loosing! Surprising huh? I even ate the plate of food that you saw – yes, rice and beans! It was actually really good. I ate guacomolie the other day too and loved it! Everything tastes so different here! Sharla keeps shaking her head in unbelief everytime I try something new, and then can’t believe her eyes when I actually like it!
One more thing…don’t worry Matt, God isn’t calling me to add a Guatemalan child to our home!! Love you!!!
Hi Sandy, Kris just told us about this website(gotta love fb). W e have been praying for you also. That is awesome about the families accepting Christ.We haven’t looked at the pics, we are getting ready for church.We will continue to pray!!!!
Hello I found you Im so excited. Pray that you are having a good time and being safe. Bryson watched the olypics with grabdpa and reall enjoyed that. Bring home lots of pictures cant
wait to see them and you. Love you lots.
Hi Sandy:
Saw Matt at the game on Friday night (surprise, surprise) and we talked about you. So, he sent me the BLOG. So good to read about your week. I think secretly you have been telling Brycen about your thoughts/dreams for another little one around your house…and a Guatemalan little brother would fit in nicely…swords, tag, games together. I can see the writing on the wall. Matt thinks he might have control, but we know differently!! LOL! Never say “God isn’t…” He is in control.
Seriously, so glad all is going well. Appears you are being stretched in numerous ways! Enjoy, take it all in, and continue to praise God through your actions. Can’t wait to hear more when you get home!! Our thoughts and prayers are with you!
~ Gwen
Hi Sandy. By the time you read this you will have returned from your second medical clinic and almost done with your first trip already! I can tell from your comments that you now understand why Matt, Mike and I (and thousands of others) are so passionate about this ministry. Hope the time will come soon when you can experience it together as husband and wife. It is definitely a life altering experience. Lots of people have been praying for you and the team and I have faith God will bless you all to the end. Love ya, rich
Praying you had a great day. Went to church today and all the ladies had dresses from India on, and I thought of you. Can’t wait to see all the treasures you find shopping at Antigua, sounds fun, make sure you use all your “Hollander” skills(haha) . Get to spend the day with the kids tomorrow, Kendal is looking very forward to it and so am I. Taylor wanted to say “HI” and she can’t wait to hear how the food tasted.She loves you and is praying for you! That goes for the rest of us too. I am sooo jealous of all the amazing God moments you are getting to witness, I’m sure it’s more than words alone can express! Maybe someday I’ll get to go too. See You Soon! Love You!!!!!! Kristie
Sandy, it is 10 pm here and the kids are at Brad and Susan’s house for the night, Ally wanted them over for mid-winter break. They are going to Kendals in the morning to spend the day there. All is going well. I am really happy for you that the trip is going so well, I never doubted that it would and knew you would get a lot out of it. It is really special that you can be there with Shar also…you are right, we need to go, and if we can get all four of us to go, that would be great. Enjoy shopping Monday. We will be waiting for you when you get home! Love you.
You guys are all so wonderful! I love all the emails and updates about home! It’s so good to hear from you. Today is our last day – I’m excited to “take a break” and go shopping for the day. Hopefully I’ll find some goodies to bring home!
Yesterday was another amazing day! Amazing is just not the word to describe it though! We drove 2 and a 1/2 hours into a village close to the Pacific Coast, but it was still up pretty high in the mountains. I have never in my life experienced bumps on a road like the ones we went over! The picture I have of our bumper will prove it! We set up the medical clinic in a little school again, and there were a lot more families and children at this village, not a house to be seen though?? This village was very hard, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to interact with us. We started by playing with chalk on the cement, we did tic tac toe and drew a ton of pictures. I played a lot of soccer – these kids are amazing at soccer. The little girls and boys about Brycen and Jenna’s age would beat me so bad everytime! Not that mommy is good at soccer, but they were unreal! It was 100 degrees there so I was sweating like crazy! After soccer we danced (which they did not join in) and played duck, duck, goose again! We painted nails, passed out toys, bouncy balls, etc and tried to get them all involved!
Dan said over 350 patients came through the medical clinic, which is half of what he expected. We started the Jesus film and this is when God decided to REALLY push me out of my box. I thought I was doing good enough already, I mean….I came to Guatemala didn’t I?? Dan asks three people to give testimonies at the med clinics. The first night I thought nothing of it, but last night during the movie God laid it on my heart to give mine! Yeah….I clearly tried to convince Him and myself that that was not a good idea, who wants to hear my testimony and of course I would not be able to talk in front of a huge village! Well…unfortunately God didn’t care about my excuses and I had to listen! So….I gave my testimony in front of hundreds of villagers! As if that wasn’t enough, God decided to push me even more!
After Harmono Jesus preached about 10 people came forward, Dan had us come up to lay hands on them and pray for them, which I’m great with – they can’t even understand me! So a few minutes later Dan says to me, in 15 seconds leave this man and go pray with a girl from our group! He said he just had this feeling!! Yeah, not my thing!! I was freaking out…I mean she can understand me and this is a totally new experience for me!! I went over to her and layed my hands on her and began to pray for her. She probably thought I was crazy! After I prayed she just sat there. I started to pray for God to tell me what to say, and as I was silently praying for myself, she stood up, took my hand and pulled me to the front with her to accept Christ as her savior!! I continued to pray with her and talk with her!
So, yeah….to say the least I am really being pushed on this trip! How exciting though! There were not many in the village last night that accepted Christ but a seed was planted and Dan felt called to return to them again someday! About 20 children went up to the front later in the night and accepted Christ so that was exciting!
Well, we are going to help Dan pack up now, he is leaving on Wed to come back to the states too. Then we are off to do some shopping. Can’t wait to come home and see you all! Jenna, Brycen, Markie I miss you so much! Love you! I’ll see you tomorrow night! Matt, I’ll call tomorrow when we get into Texas – Love you!!
WOW what an awsome day for you Sandy!!!It is so amazing how God can push out of our comfort zone for his greater good!!!!!See Ya soon!!!Praying for a safe flight home!!The Stevens
Go God!!! I love to hear incrediably awsome stories about his power!! I would have loved to be there with you to experience that. I am so proud of you and so is God! The kids are here today and doing great, Kendal and Jenna are already planning to see how much time they can actually spend together,Markie is trying every new word we can get her to say without a dirty look(LOL) and Brycen is just happy to be playing cars with Trey. Can’t wait until you get home, hope you had a great shopping day. Praying for a safe flight home, Trey will be watching the skies haha! Love Ya Kristie
wow God is so amazing!! i cant wait for u to come home and tell us more about it mom is right markie is saying a ton of new words,i even got her to say Brittany!! hope u have a safe trip home
love u ton Brittany
(p.s i get to go to practice tonight and watch the kids yes!!!)
So great to hear about the kids! I can’t wait to see you guys tomorrow! Today was so nice and relaxing. We went out to eat at a little chicken fast food place in Antigua and then shopping. It was just like shopping in Mexico, everyone hollaring at you to buy stuff. It was such a beautiful day out, and really nice to just relax a little. I bought a few things to remember Guatemala, even though this won’t be my last time here!!
Thanks again for all of the emails, I will be home soon! Love you all!
Hey Sandy, sorry it has taken this long to write to you. We just found out about the blog a little bit ago. It sounds like God is doing amazing things through you. We have been praying for you all week. Have a safe flight back, we can’t wait to see you. It seems like its been forever. Love Rick, Laura, and the boys
we are all really missing you! the work is one thing but the medical clinics are just amazing! it sounds like you are really hearing God and doing what he is asking! Have a good trip home, we should be waiting for you (after game…!) see you then.
Hey Sandy, So cool to read all the blogs and hear about all the amazing things you and the team did, or should I say that God did through you. We are anxious to hear more about the trip, and the little boy you are going to bring back with you??:-) Thanks for your willingness to go and be open to how God could use you. Praying for a safe and restful trip home.
So, I thought that the day was over with a relaxing shopping trip! I was so wrong!! Dan is amazing, and he was far from done with our group and the work that God is supppose to do through us. I’ve been contemplating writing this or not, but feel (once again) God calling me to finish this blog and tell about how the week really ended. It will be impossible to explain this week to people, so this way I can simply say, read the blog!
The night ended with devotions in which we sang like always, talked about our “God sightings” for the day and then went into a devotion. Dan showed the video of their new hopes for the orphanage and then talked about how we need to do the work that God calls us to do. I have been called to do something special for God (this is something I have known for a long time and have recently been dealing closely with). I am not completely clear on what that is, but I am ready and waiting. Tonight after the devotions Dan laid a cross down in the middle of the room. The purpose was to write down your strongholds and nail them to the cross. To lay them all on God and let them go. It was easy for me to write down strongholds that everyone knows I have….impatience, stubborness, pride (which is why I didn’t want to write the last blog), and of course fear! Yes, I know these are no surprise. But the issue is to actually change them. I sat on the floor and decided I wasn’t going to leave until God told me two things. One is what he has planned for my life and the other is how I can make sure I go home without these strongholds and truly leave them at the cross. Well after sitting there and talking to several people I realized that I was holding on to one of my strongholds of stubborness by not going to bed until God answered me! I am on my way to a few hours of sleep before an long day tomorrow, but I wanted to share how this amazing week ended.
My hope is that this blog will truly show the week I have experienced, and that all of you will pray for me as I come home. That God would show me answers and change me! Thanks for your prayers already this week. Love ya!
Ok, so you made me cry! Happy tears of course. I am so thankful to God for the experience he just gave you, to grow in Him. He is so amazing if we let him be! Without a doubt your experience had made me want to go on a mission trip even more, but I’ll wait for the one he calls me to. As your sister I am vowing to uplift you in your continued journey, I love you sooooo much… and I am soooo proud of who you are! Thanks for all your blogging it was great! Love Ya Kristie
Hi Sandy, I just read your Blog from beginning to end all in one sitting. I’m not sure how many kleenex I have gone through as I’ve wiped the tears but its been a few Thank you for sharing your heart as you have walked through this experience. I can feel as I read your words how God has used you and am sure this is just the beginning of many more experiences He has for you and Matt. I will certainly be praying with you as you have asked and look forward to the time you and Matt will be able to share such a time of ministry together. How blessed you are to have a family that supports you and so lovingly helps Matt care for your children. I love you Sandy!!
Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that I love you and am missing you already! We made it to Guatemala safely around 10:00 last night. It took us about an hour to get through customs with 19 bags of medicine. Dan said it was a miracle that we got all of the luggage through. We drove about an hour to get to the base, which is great babe! You’re work looks great! We got here and went right to bed. We got up at 6:00, which is an hour of sleeping in I guess? We drove an hour and a half to the village, which was on a cliff. We could actually see a volcano from the village. It was amazing. Ok…I’ll try to write more later. I’m being called to devotions. Love you all. Hey, will you let mom and dad and whoever else know about the blog? I’ll try to update.
Hey so glad you guys made it there safe, sounds like you will be busy!!!!!We will keep you all in our prayers!!!! Luv ya and be safe The Stevens
Devotions were great. It’s only 9:15 here, and I guess it’s time for bed. It was an exausting day, with not much sleep last night, but 9:15 is pretty early for sleeping!!
Just a few updates about building today. We framed in four houses, drywalled the inside, finished the outside, and mudded all today. The villagers just watched the entire day in excitement for the new house they were going to be getting! I so wish I new spanish right now! The kids were so adorable. The girls must have thought my hair was unusual because they kept touching it. It was so cute. They helped me drill most of the screws in and helped with mudding too, which was a total mess.
Jenna and Brycen, the kids in the village did not have one toy! They played outside all day, in trees and playing tag. Jenna, all of the little boys and girls, probably only 4 or 5 years old carry their little baby brothers and sisters everywhere! Brycen, the boys find any stick they can to play swords with!!
I’m just loving it! Tomorrow we are going to sand the homes, do some more mudding, stucko the outside of the homes, build an awning, and put the window and door in.
Love you all….I’ll try to write more tomorrow. Hope things are going great at home!
Keep up the good work! Glad you are enjoying yourself!
As they say at the end of Finding Nemo, go out and have a adventure!
May you feel god’s presence in everything!
I’m glad to know you!
Another great day! Thanks Mike, Jaimy, and Kevin for the comments! Hey Mike, will you tell Matt to look on here? Thanks!
Today was another great day. We started by sanding and remudding our home. After that we did stucko – wow, that was crazy! We all did the four homes together. It is basically just glopping colored paste on the home in anyway you want. After that we mudded some more and put a window in our home. At the end the men all had the job of building an awning for the house and putting the doors in, so we had the rest of the day to play with the kids in the village.
We taught them duck, duck, goose (pato, pato, ganzo!), after that we showed them how to play patty cake. They loved it. They lined up to play, and they could clap my hands until they messed up. It was such a challenge to them – they were all laughing and haveing a great time. After that we taught them London Bridges. We had to leave around 3:30 and as we left the village they were all saying, “Lock em up, lock em up!”
Can’t wait until tomorrow. We get to finish the homes and present them with gifts and share the gospel with them. Love you all…hope to hear everything is going well at home. I miss you guys!
Hey Sandy! Glad to hear the trip is going well! Keep my dad in line too, ok??? That could be a big job! LOL!
Have a safe trip!
Tara Oosterink (Sikma)
Hey Tara! Great to hear from you! Your dad is a riot! We’re all having so much fun! I’ll try hard to keep him inline, but yeah, that might be tough!!
Hi Sandy, Ry and I were wondering if you went or not after we saw that Sharla went. I’m glad to see that you did.I hear that this is a great experience. Just wanted to let you know that we were thinking about you. Have a great time and TRY to get some sleep!
Trish
Sounds like all is going well, it was nice to find out about this site! Kids are great, Jenna and Brycen say HI, and they love you. We will post again shortly. Have a great day. We miss you.
see mommy I should be able to carry markie when ever I want
I love you and miss you. do the kids like my prayer book and pen? be safe and i love you and miss you.
i wish i had a sword to play with. i wish we had another brother. do the kids like my ball and football? i miss you mommy, work hard and be safe. i know my address now, 11300 Valley View! See you soon.
mommy i am saying a bunch of new words, i will tell you when you get home.
Hi everyone! Wow, it was the most amazing day today! I don’t know how to explain it in words! We finished the homes before lunch today. We had to sand, paint, put roofs on, and decorate the homes for our family! Our dad has been amazing and has been helping the entire time. After lunch we started the dedications of the homes. Our family was last, but we all laid hands on the houses and prayed the entire time. The first home was a family of 9, the second was a family of 3 and the third home was a Grandmother. At the first three homes all of the people, including a sister, accepted Christ! It was the most amazing thing! We prayed, sang, and did a lot of crying for these wonderful families! The last family was ours and we have really gotten close to them over the last three days. We start by presenting them with lots of gifts. Brycen, I gave Freddie, who is 7, your football, and I gave Omish, who is 5, your four-wheeler! Omish made your 4-wheeler go across the floor of the house. Jenna, I am going to give your prayer book out at the medical clinic tomorrow. I’ll be sure to take a picture! After that Dan gave them a few things and talked to them about the gospel, then Hermono Jesus spoke to the family, they invited their grandmother in and the entire family accepted Christ as well. Dan said this doesn’t happen very often that they all accept on the same day in the village. We witnessed 22 people come to the Lord today! We were in our house when the family accepted God, we prayed with them and then did a lot of crying with them. It was so amazing! After the dedications of the houses, all of the kids in the village gathered to sing songs and we passed out candy. The mayor of the village talked to us and thanked us. He started crying, and Dan said this is a very unlikely thing to see happen! These people were so grateful! They amaze me!
Thanks to everyone who wrote on here. It is so nice to see your comments! I miss you all…
Jenna, mommy loves you too! I miss you, and can’t wait to tell you all about my trip and show you pictures!
Brycen, I am so proud of you for learning your address! I can’t wait to hear it when I get home! You are so smart! I love you and miss you so much! Tell Daddy that mommy will bring you home a brother from Guatemala if he wants!!
Markie, I can’ t wait to hear all of your new words, mommy misses you so much and can’t wait to hug you! Lots of love, I’ll write more tomorrow after we hand out medicine in a new village. We are going to be driving two and a half hours to the Pacific ocean tomorrow. I am so excited. Love you all – Matt, I miss you, thanks for all your doing at home! You’re the best daddy!! Love ya!
Sandy, I’m so glad you’re having such a good time there. I’ve been praying for you and the group every day. With all the families accepting Jesus on the same day WOW!! how exciting, may your example just prompt them to continue to learn about God and keep spreading the Good News. Love you, Mom M
Hey, I just seen Mike,and he told me about the site! I ‘m so excited to hear about all the stuff you are doing, it sounds amazing! God is working through you,what an awsome thing to be apart of! Trey seen an airplane in the sky today and wanted to know if that was the one you were on and wanted to know when you were going to be back home!!We will continue to pray for strength and saftey and that even more lives will be changed for Jesus. Can’t wait to see all the pictures, we miss you and love you lots. Kristie ( and family)
P.S I will be praying for that baby brother from Guatemala!!! LOL Love ya!
Good to hear from you Sandy, and happy to hear that things are going well. We had the kid tonight and they were so good-lots of laughs,and some rough-houseing, and had a good time with them. Its wonderful to hear that people are accepting the Lord, and how great for you to be a part of that. You are in our prayers many time a day. Love you much, Mom and Dad
Hi Sandy – How blessed we are to hear the news of the people coming to know Jesus! God has certainly placed His hand upon this team and this trip. We are so glad that you are sharing your joy and faith with those on the team and those you meet along the way – thank you! Can’t wait to see you and hear from you when you return. Have a great day in the mountains today and a blessed day of worship on Sunday. – Jim
Hey Lady sounds like a pretty amazing trip so far and you are only half way into it!!!Love the updates. So wonderful to hear the impact you guys are making on these families!!!We are looking forward to seeing your pictures when you get back!!!We are praying for you and your team!!
Luv, Ross, Jaimy,Peyton, Ashtyn and Dakota
P.s. Luv that Brycen wants you to take him home a brother!!!!If you do try to grab me a baby I saw some little babies on a video from our church and I told Ross I wanted to go snatch one up!!!HEHE
Sandy I had to giggle because I just looked through the pics of the trip thus far and most of the people are sitting in the shade during their lunch time but Not you!!!!!Got to love the warm sunshine!!!!
we need to clarify that Brycen wanted a brother to play swords with. Also he is not the man that makes those decisions!
The kids loved hearing what you did and about their toys. I am glad the trip is going so well, we will keep praying for you. bye
Hey Sandy miss you!! That is awsome that all those people accepted christ! I love all the picture,the kids are so cute,i think you should bring one home for brycen!! how is the food when i looked at it it didn’t look so good. i can’t wait for you to come home and tell us all about it.
miss you Brittany[-=
Hi Sandy; Prayed often today for you as your team drove through the mountains,It’s so nice to hear from you and see your pictures.We seen the picture of you eating a plate full of black beans and rice and thought how skinny you must be getting???? Markie was cute last night as Grandpa would say”please grandpa” and Markie would say” P e e e e e s PAPA ” .They kept it up for about 10 min. We laughed so hard . Were thinking and praying for you , and the people around you. GOD BLESS love Dad & Mom
Hope today was filled with adventure! Praying you are eating and sleeping well, Britt was a little worried after she seen the pictures -LOL- I am going to have to talk to Matt and tell him we changed his mind once before about more kids, just because he thinks he is the man of the house doesn’t mean he has more control than the man upstairs HAHAHAHAH !!! We all love you so much and can’t wait for you to come home. But while your there soak in all the blessings and enjoy yourself!! Love Ya Kristie
Hi everyone! Thanks for all of the emails! It was nice of Mike to let you all know about this site!! I miss you all too!
Jaimy, yes, I enjoy the sun every chance I get, even in my jeans!!
You are all coming along with me next time!! I haven’t quite figured out how everyone can come, who will watch the kids? But, without a shadow of a doubt I want to come here with Matt! In our last devotions Dan made it clear that Matt and Mike have to come with us next time to experience the entire mission trip. He said he was so glad he had both of them to build the base, but now he wants them to come to build houses. I thought that was so nice, and I would love to come with you babe!
Yesterday was another amazing day! We got up at 6:30 to eat and start packing things for the village. There were about 6 assembly lines going on packing beans, rice, mush, and tons of medicine! After that we had our devotions in the morning, ate lunch at 10:30 and left for the village. It was a two hour drive into the mountains. We saw the most amazing views again! Poeple pay tons of money to have the views that these villages have. I’ll never be able to explain how amazing it is! (Like I said earlier, you’ll all just have to come see for yourself!)
At the village we set up the medicine clinic in a school, which was just a little one room school, and then we started to try to make connections with the village people. They were very stand offish at first, but after giving them soccer shirts, flip flops, toys, painting the girls nails and doing hair they warmed up to us quickly! I colored for hours with a huge group of kids, then went back to the patty cake clapping. The girls lined up to clap with Sharla and I to see how “rapido” we could go before messing up! It was fun! After that we sang, danced to the chicken dance and a few other crazy songs, played hop scotch and lots of duck, duck, goose again! At around 6:00 we were able to have two sandwiches that we packed to bring along, and then the Jesus film started. We watched that and then Dan called the group up to sing a few songs, he had three people come to give their testimony from the group and he translated, we sang again and then Hormano Jesus preached to the village. I had know idea what he was saying, but it was powerful (I remember you saying that same thing Matt!). Over half of the village, which was about sixty families, ended up coming forward to give their lives to the Lord. We went up and layed hands on them and prayed over them, then sang a few more songs and handed out Bibles at the end. It was another great experience.
We got home late and then went right to bed, no time to get on the computers. Today we are doing the same thing as last night, but this village is near the Pacific coast. We’re told it could be extremely hot there! It is a two and a half hour drive so I guess we’re leaving earlier today. Dan said this village has double the families as the one yesterday, so we could be there past midnight. Tomorrow is our free day where we get to go into the Antigua and shop! That should be fun in a totally different way!
Love you all! Thanks for all of the messages. I love hearing from the kids and about the kids – can’t wait to hear Markie say Pleeeese Papa! Jenna and Brycen, I love you and miss you tons! Can’t wait to get home to see you! Tell Trey I’ll wave to him from the plane on Tuesday! Love you all!
A few things I forgot! You’ll all be surprised to know that I’m loving the food here, and I think I’ll be gaining weight instead of loosing! Surprising huh? I even ate the plate of food that you saw – yes, rice and beans! It was actually really good. I ate guacomolie the other day too and loved it! Everything tastes so different here! Sharla keeps shaking her head in unbelief everytime I try something new, and then can’t believe her eyes when I actually like it!
One more thing…don’t worry Matt, God isn’t calling me to add a Guatemalan child to our home!!
Love you!!!
Hi Sandy, Kris just told us about this website(gotta love fb). W e have been praying for you also. That is awesome about the families accepting Christ.We haven’t looked at the pics, we are getting ready for church.We will continue to pray!!!!
Sandy; Isn’t it wonderful the Holy Spirt has no language barriers, plus He’s the same savior for everyone. Dad & Mom are rejoicing with you.
Dear Sandy,
Hello I found you Im so excited. Pray that you are having a good time and being safe. Bryson watched the olypics with grabdpa and reall enjoyed that. Bring home lots of pictures cant
wait to see them and you. Love you lots.
Grandma
Hi Sandy:
Saw Matt at the game on Friday night (surprise, surprise) and we talked about you. So, he sent me the BLOG. So good to read about your week. I think secretly you have been telling Brycen about your thoughts/dreams for another little one around your house…and a Guatemalan little brother would fit in nicely…swords, tag, games together. I can see the writing on the wall. Matt thinks he might have control, but we know differently!! LOL! Never say “God isn’t…” He is in control.
Seriously, so glad all is going well. Appears you are being stretched in numerous ways! Enjoy, take it all in, and continue to praise God through your actions. Can’t wait to hear more when you get home!! Our thoughts and prayers are with you!
~ Gwen
Hi Sandy. By the time you read this you will have returned from your second medical clinic and almost done with your first trip already! I can tell from your comments that you now understand why Matt, Mike and I (and thousands of others) are so passionate about this ministry. Hope the time will come soon when you can experience it together as husband and wife. It is definitely a life altering experience. Lots of people have been praying for you and the team and I have faith God will bless you all to the end. Love ya, rich
Praying you had a great day. Went to church today and all the ladies had dresses from India on, and I thought of you. Can’t wait to see all the treasures you find shopping at Antigua, sounds fun, make sure you use all your “Hollander” skills(haha) . Get to spend the day with the kids tomorrow, Kendal is looking very forward to it and so am I. Taylor wanted to say “HI” and she can’t wait to hear how the food tasted.She loves you and is praying for you! That goes for the rest of us too. I am sooo jealous of all the amazing God moments you are getting to witness, I’m sure it’s more than words alone can express! Maybe someday I’ll get to go too. See You Soon! Love You!!!!!! Kristie
Sandy
i just relized you were given the wrong email adress
love
grandma
Sandy, it is 10 pm here and the kids are at Brad and Susan’s house for the night, Ally wanted them over for mid-winter break. They are going to Kendals in the morning to spend the day there. All is going well. I am really happy for you that the trip is going so well, I never doubted that it would and knew you would get a lot out of it. It is really special that you can be there with Shar also…you are right, we need to go, and if we can get all four of us to go, that would be great. Enjoy shopping Monday. We will be waiting for you when you get home! Love you.
You guys are all so wonderful! I love all the emails and updates about home! It’s so good to hear from you. Today is our last day – I’m excited to “take a break” and go shopping for the day. Hopefully I’ll find some goodies to bring home!
Yesterday was another amazing day! Amazing is just not the word to describe it though! We drove 2 and a 1/2 hours into a village close to the Pacific Coast, but it was still up pretty high in the mountains. I have never in my life experienced bumps on a road like the ones we went over! The picture I have of our bumper will prove it!
We set up the medical clinic in a little school again, and there were a lot more families and children at this village, not a house to be seen though?? This village was very hard, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to interact with us. We started by playing with chalk on the cement, we did tic tac toe and drew a ton of pictures. I played a lot of soccer – these kids are amazing at soccer. The little girls and boys about Brycen and Jenna’s age would beat me so bad everytime! Not that mommy is good at soccer, but they were unreal! It was 100 degrees there so I was sweating like crazy! After soccer we danced (which they did not join in) and played duck, duck, goose again! We painted nails, passed out toys, bouncy balls, etc and tried to get them all involved!
Dan said over 350 patients came through the medical clinic, which is half of what he expected. We started the Jesus film and this is when God decided to REALLY push me out of my box. I thought I was doing good enough already, I mean….I came to Guatemala didn’t I?? Dan asks three people to give testimonies at the med clinics. The first night I thought nothing of it, but last night during the movie God laid it on my heart to give mine! Yeah….I clearly tried to convince Him and myself that that was not a good idea, who wants to hear my testimony and of course I would not be able to talk in front of a huge village! Well…unfortunately God didn’t care about my excuses and I had to listen! So….I gave my testimony in front of hundreds of villagers! As if that wasn’t enough, God decided to push me even more!
After Harmono Jesus preached about 10 people came forward, Dan had us come up to lay hands on them and pray for them, which I’m great with – they can’t even understand me! So a few minutes later Dan says to me, in 15 seconds leave this man and go pray with a girl from our group! He said he just had this feeling!! Yeah, not my thing!! I was freaking out…I mean she can understand me and this is a totally new experience for me!!
I went over to her and layed my hands on her and began to pray for her. She probably thought I was crazy! After I prayed she just sat there. I started to pray for God to tell me what to say, and as I was silently praying for myself, she stood up, took my hand and pulled me to the front with her to accept Christ as her savior!! I continued to pray with her and talk with her!
So, yeah….to say the least I am really being pushed on this trip! How exciting though! There were not many in the village last night that accepted Christ but a seed was planted and Dan felt called to return to them again someday! About 20 children went up to the front later in the night and accepted Christ so that was exciting!
Well, we are going to help Dan pack up now, he is leaving on Wed to come back to the states too. Then we are off to do some shopping. Can’t wait to come home and see you all! Jenna, Brycen, Markie I miss you so much! Love you! I’ll see you tomorrow night! Matt, I’ll call tomorrow when we get into Texas – Love you!!
WOW what an awsome day for you Sandy!!!It is so amazing how God can push out of our comfort zone for his greater good!!!!!See Ya soon!!!Praying for a safe flight home!!The Stevens
Go God!!! I love to hear incrediably awsome stories about his power!! I would have loved to be there with you to experience that. I am so proud of you and so is God! The kids are here today and doing great, Kendal and Jenna are already planning to see how much time they can actually spend together,Markie is trying every new word we can get her to say without a dirty look(LOL) and Brycen is just happy to be playing cars with Trey. Can’t wait until you get home, hope you had a great shopping day. Praying for a safe flight home, Trey will be watching the skies haha! Love Ya Kristie
wow God is so amazing!! i cant wait for u to come home and tell us more about it mom is right markie is saying a ton of new words,i even got her to say Brittany!! hope u have a safe trip home
love u ton Brittany
(p.s i get to go to practice tonight and watch the kids yes!!!)
So great to hear about the kids! I can’t wait to see you guys tomorrow! Today was so nice and relaxing. We went out to eat at a little chicken fast food place in Antigua and then shopping. It was just like shopping in Mexico, everyone hollaring at you to buy stuff. It was such a beautiful day out, and really nice to just relax a little. I bought a few things to remember Guatemala, even though this won’t be my last time here!!
Thanks again for all of the emails, I will be home soon! Love you all!
Hey Sandy, sorry it has taken this long to write to you. We just found out about the blog a little bit ago. It sounds like God is doing amazing things through you. We have been praying for you all week. Have a safe flight back, we can’t wait to see you. It seems like its been forever. Love Rick, Laura, and the boys
we are all really missing you! the work is one thing but the medical clinics are just amazing! it sounds like you are really hearing God and doing what he is asking! Have a good trip home, we should be waiting for you (after game…!) see you then.
Hey Sandy, So cool to read all the blogs and hear about all the amazing things you and the team did, or should I say that God did through you. We are anxious to hear more about the trip, and the little boy you are going to bring back with you??:-) Thanks for your willingness to go and be open to how God could use you. Praying for a safe and restful trip home.
So, I thought that the day was over with a relaxing shopping trip! I was so wrong!! Dan is amazing, and he was far from done with our group and the work that God is supppose to do through us. I’ve been contemplating writing this or not, but feel (once again) God calling me to finish this blog and tell about how the week really ended. It will be impossible to explain this week to people, so this way I can simply say, read the blog!
The night ended with devotions in which we sang like always, talked about our “God sightings” for the day and then went into a devotion. Dan showed the video of their new hopes for the orphanage and then talked about how we need to do the work that God calls us to do. I have been called to do something special for God (this is something I have known for a long time and have recently been dealing closely with). I am not completely clear on what that is, but I am ready and waiting. Tonight after the devotions Dan laid a cross down in the middle of the room. The purpose was to write down your strongholds and nail them to the cross. To lay them all on God and let them go. It was easy for me to write down strongholds that everyone knows I have….impatience, stubborness, pride (which is why I didn’t want to write the last blog), and of course fear! Yes, I know these are no surprise.
But the issue is to actually change them. I sat on the floor and decided I wasn’t going to leave until God told me two things. One is what he has planned for my life and the other is how I can make sure I go home without these strongholds and truly leave them at the cross. Well after sitting there and talking to several people I realized that I was holding on to one of my strongholds of stubborness by not going to bed until God answered me! 
I am on my way to a few hours of sleep before an long day tomorrow, but I wanted to share how this amazing week ended.
My hope is that this blog will truly show the week I have experienced, and that all of you will pray for me as I come home. That God would show me answers and change me! Thanks for your prayers already this week. Love ya!
Ok, so you made me cry! Happy tears of course. I am so thankful to God for the experience he just gave you, to grow in Him. He is so amazing if we let him be! Without a doubt your experience had made me want to go on a mission trip even more, but I’ll wait for the one he calls me to. As your sister I am vowing to uplift you in your continued journey, I love you sooooo much… and I am soooo proud of who you are! Thanks for all your blogging it was great! Love Ya Kristie
Hi Sandy, I just read your Blog from beginning to end all in one sitting. I’m not sure how many kleenex I have gone through as I’ve wiped the tears but its been a few
Thank you for sharing your heart as you have walked through this experience. I can feel as I read your words how God has used you and am sure this is just the beginning of many more experiences He has for you and Matt. I will certainly be praying with you as you have asked and look forward to the time you and Matt will be able to share such a time of ministry together. How blessed you are to have a family that supports you and so lovingly helps Matt care for your children. I love you Sandy!!