RCA Missions
Glen Lake Church supports many missionaries through the Reformed
Church in America.
Del and Deb Braaksma
Leadership Development - Southern
Sudan
Harry and Pat Miersma
Crisis Intervention, Consultation,
and Counseling for Missionaries
Benedict and Monicah Pkatey
Pokot Project - Alale,
Kenya
Norvelle and Gerard Rudy
Medical Work - La Mosquita
Region, Honduras
Clancy Street Ministries
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Andy and Emma Nakajima
Southwestern Michigan
John Paul and Kathryn Sundararajan
Recording & Distribution of Audio
Scriptures - North American and Asia
Alale, Kenya
Glen Lake Church has a strong bond with the Pokot people in Alale,
Kenya. Emery and Sharon Blanksma spent many years as missionaries
in Kenya and Glen Lake Church went on a missions trip to Alale in 2006.
The next one is planned for 2009!
Kiln, Mississippi - 2008
On March 1, at 6:00 AM, fourteen sleepy people from our church
crawled into our church van and two cars for the long two day ride to
Camp Coastal in Kiln, Mississippi to help out for a week with the
hurricane damage from Katrina. Thy were Bob and Jan Price, Glen
and Betty Oosterheert, Jerry and Sandy Prause, Van and Susan Wilson,
Steve and Martha Wing, Emery and Sharon Blanksma, Fred Fishnick and
Elsie Peterson. Mary Beaird met them down their, coming from her
daughter's in Alabama.
We arrived late in the evening, so it was dark and we were escorted to
our "bunk houses" which consisted of twelve bunks, a bathroom, an air
conditioner which we certainly didn't need and two tiny space heaters,
which hardly did there job, that we did need as it was very cold every
night we were there. After a breakfast of cereal, toast and
coffee, we went out and picked up our bag lunches. Fortunately we
were all assigned to the same site, so we picked up our tools and left
for the Berry house. The men were assigned to put up soffits, trim
and hang doors. The women and Steve cleaned up trash in the yard
left from the hurricane, painted trim in the house and cleaned the
floors and windows in the house where paint was spilled. There was
trash everywhere. Siding and drywall were sticking out of the
ground. Refrigerators, stoves, sink, bathtubs, rubber hoses,
electrical wiring, glass, insulation, rugs and even a tablecloth was
buried in the mud. The smell was bad and everything was wet and
dirty.
The family from this home went up in a tree until the water went down
and then walked in water up to their waists to a near by home, broke a
window and stayed in the attic until they were rescued three days later.
Their house was completely lost. This was the story of most of the
people we met. Most of the work was cleanup, rebuilding decks,
tiling a bathroom and just helping where they needed us. Mary
Beaird soon became the hero of the camp as she baked desserts for the
evening meals and made our bag lunches. The food was pretty
sparse. Two nights when we got back to camp, it stormed with heavy
rain, hail, thunder, lightening and wind. After that some went out
and bought sweat suits and sleeping bags. We also took some time
to tour the coast of New Orleans. The devastation was
unbelievable.
By the end of the week many of us had muscles we knew we hadn't used in
a
long time and wanted a nice soft bed to sleep in. The experience
helped us to spread God's love to people who were probably wondering
where God was in all this mess. The people we met were all very
appreciative of what was being done for them. Many of them still
have a long wait to have homes finished or rebuilt so we must continue
to pray for this area. We thank everyone for their prayers and
financial support for this project.