Blessed to be a blessing.

 As Christmas approaches we eagerly await the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been blessed to be able to provide gifts for our kids as we have in the past. Normally we get our kids 3 gifts each, one representing each gift the Three Wise Men brought Jesus. Last year we were only able to buy them each one gift as all our finances went into moving down here last December. The Lord has opened amazing opportunities to both earn income and receive support from people like you. We feel very blessed and humbled to be receiving this opportunity to bless our children. 

We have made many new friends over the past year and are excited to spend Christmas Eve with a family we are just getting to know. There are different options that the Lord has laid on our hearts for Christmas Day. We are praying about what to do. There are many men in our community that have no family and usually sit at the park literally all day long. We are trying to see how we can bless them on Christmas Day. There are also many people who have to work on Christmas Day, we are also praying about how we can bless them and thank them for sacrificing Christmas Day (By choice or not) Gods Word tells us that we have been blessed to be a blessing and we want to bless those who need a blessing. Please join us in prayer as we listen to what the Lord would have us do. 

 Prayer Requests

-Thank the Lord for his amazing love for us and his blessings in our lives. Relationally, materially, financially, spiritually and health. We always have exactly what we need when we need it. Our Lord never leaves us lacking....EVER!!!!

-We still need a vehicle. However we do have a car that friends have loaned us until we are able to purchase one.

-Our kids that they become more and more like Jesus. The daily adjustment to homeschooling and missionary life in general can be difficult at times.

-Pray for CCPR leadership

-CCPR Rincon Campus plant

-CCPRs new discipleship process coming early 2016 and new classes coming. Church intro class, Christian Basics class and Discipleship Class

-That the Lord continues to lead us into the ministry he has for us here.

-Our missionary friends on the West Coast Julio and Stacy. That their ministry continues to bear fruit.

-Pray for spiritual revival here among churches that they start to unify not because their religion is the same but because their Father is the same.

-For Spanish language retention as we are learning it. It is rather difficult and we as for Gods supernatural blessing on our language learning. This way we can communicate more clearly with those who are from the island.

- Pray for Jacob as he has recently accepted Christ and is learning about his new life in Christ. We are meeting weekly.

-Four Hearts Ministry- this is the ministry we are working with at Hogar En-Hacor. 

-Hogar En-Hacor (the girls home we are working with) that their work gets done soon so that they can gain occupancy for the girls they are currently working with.

Update and Story Re-cap

     Good morning everyone. It has been a little while since we given a full update on our blog.
A lot has been going on here in Puerto Rico. I am gong to give a brief update on the great things that God ha been doing.
     It is Christmas time here in PR. This means everything shuts down until about early Feb and things get real slow.
     Hogar En-Hacor, which is the girls home we are now working with is closed until mid Jan. (it is not open for occupancy yet) So with that being said, we will not be back there working until they re-open.
     CCPR had their Christmas special this past Sunday it was amazing. It was a concert service telling the story of Jesus through song. All the kids from children's church performed a dance they have been learning over the past few weeks. Dallas and her friend Mady choreographed the dance and taught it to the kids. They did a fantastic job.Once the concert was done Pastor Efren gave a brief message and gave an invitation to receive Christ. Jacob, the young man I have been mentoring for the past few weeks was there. After the invitation Jacob accepted Christ!!!! I am so thrilled about his new life. I will continue to walk along side Jacob as the Lord teaches us both how to live more like Him. This is an exciting moment!!
     Jacob is a young man,19 years old. He moved hear about a month ago with his family. His step dad is in the Coast Guard and Jacob decided to move here with them to get away from things back home that were not good for him. Upon meeting him I found out that he is eager to serve and is looking for a new life! Well he found that in Christ this week!!! Prior to Sunday I was able to share with him who Jesus is to me and what Jesus calls us to do as Christians. We got into some rather deep topics. He was eating it up. The Lord allowed me to share things with him that really made him think. Not your typical first time talking about Jesus stuff. But that is how the Lord uses me sometime.  All this comes after spending some time via Skype with a pastor friend of mine back in Michigan. We have been discussing the simplicity of sharing the gospel message and how to teach them right off the bat how to make disciples. Basically if we just share who Jesus is to us, and share our story with people, people respond. It really is that simple. We make it way to hard! Then all we have to do is teach them how to share their story and who Jesus is to them with other people. This is how disciples are made Church!! We are so excited as we continue to share our story with people and teach them how to do the same.
     My responsibilities at CCPR have been hard to fulfill with all of our truck issues. I have gone in and taken care of what I could when I could. I touched up some walls with paint that needed touch ups and fixed a few other things. The Lord has been wonderful in providing us a way to church every Sunday. We arrive early so the sanctuary is ready come service time and so that Pastor does not have to worry about that part. We can see a huge release from Pastor Efrens shoulders upon me taking over the building responsibilities. We are blessed right now to have the Lord lay on the hearts of some friends of ours here to let us use their second car until we have enough money to buy a new one. What selfless people and we pray the the Lord bless them for their generosity. The Lord has been so good to us over the past three weeks since our truck broke down. Not once have we been in need of a ride, the Lord provided and continues to provide every time. From people loaning us their car, to picking us up and dropping us off with no concern whatsoever. Just selflessly loving us like Jesus does. We have seen and felt the love of Jesus more in the past few weeks than we have in a long time. Jesus is just showing us glimpse of how much he loves us and we are truly overwhelmed!! I am beginning to think this whole move over here was more for our personal growth with Jesus than for anything else because God keeps teaching us more and showing us more every day.
     I graduate from Liberty University this week with my Associates in Religion. I am very happy about this and praying the Lord opens up a door for me.  This means a lot to me and I am excited to see what the Lord has planned.
   
With all this being said I want to share something with all of you. Some of you may know this some may not so I want to share it.

When I was here in July of 2014 the Lord laid something heavy on my heart. I asked Him what our ministry here was to look like. His response was, " John what did the ministry of Jesus look like?" Upon reflecting on the life of Jesus my answer was, "Well He just lived his life. His life was His ministry." God said ,"Yes, and that is what you are going to do. Your ministry is not going to be like others. It is going to be lived out in your daily life. Your life is going to be your ministry, your ministry is not going to be your life." This was hard for me to take in. After all, I was used to seeing "ministries". People are used to seeing, "ministries". Heck I wanted a ministry. I had several conversations with God about this, but it was clear. I was told that many people will not understand what you are doing. Many people will not support what you are doing. But many did not support Jesus either. Then he shared something with me that I will never forget. He said "John, they will not understand because they are not doing it. I should not have to send you and your family to do what the Church should already be doing. The problem is people need to to see a "ministry" when they are supposed to be the ministry."
     This has been hard for me. Some reasons for selfish ambition. I wanted a ministry. I wanted something tangible for people to see. Well, during our first year here God is showing us that that is not what he has in mind for us at this time. Maybe someday we will have something physically tangible people can see and support. But right now the fruit is growing. God has planted seeds in us and they are growing. What we do know is that we are doing just as God asked us to. We are following the voice of the Lord and we are seeing things others cant see and things we cant really explain. Much like the man behind the curtain doing things that are unseen. We to are doing things that are unseen. The Lord has worked it out this way, and yet there is visible fruit from what the Lord is doing. Some fruit is not visible to use, but we hear about them later. Some fruit we will never see. Much like the farmer who plants an apple tree and years after he has past the apple tree bears fruit because of the seed the farmer planted. It is our job to listen the to Lord and do as he commands. If we do that , we can be sure fruit will be produced and lives will be changed. Who knows how long ago the seed was planted in Jacob for me to share my Jesus story with him and he accept Jesus. I played a very little part in that. I thank the one who planted the seed years ago so I can see the fruit today! Praise the Lord for those who plant seeds selflessly  never to see the fruit that their seed produces.
     We ask that you continue to pray for us as the Lord opens more doors for us to share our Jesus story with others. We ask that you pray for those we plant seeds in. I ask you to pray for us financially; that the Lord continues to provide our needs and provides a job for me in the are of ministry the Lord has prepared me for and continues to prepare me for. I ask that you pray for our family as we grow together and learn new things.
Thank you for your support and love. God bless.

Humbled to be used

It has been a while since we last posted here. Usually Facebook is the best way catch frequent updates. You can follow us there at Facebook.com/matthew28ministry

There you will see some of the ministry platforms we are now involved with including a girls home for sexually abused girls. 

The following is a post that I felt to share with you from our FB page this morning. God has been doing some amazing things for us over the past few weeks with our truck issues. For those that do not know, we are currently without a car.Through this we have grown and learned a lot about who God is and how much he loves us. 

Over the past few days we have been in contact with people watching what God is doing in our lives. We have been told that our faith is amazing and that we are an inspiration to them. As much as this makes us happy that the Lord is using us to reach others, it also humbles us. Those who are watching what God is doing do not have access to our everyday life. We know that we do not deserve what the Lord is doing through us. During my time in Gods Word this morning He reminded me why and how we are able to live through faith and be joyful during everything that has been happening in the past few weeks. The words of our Lord through Paul in Romans 5 is why. By no means possible are we able to do anything on our own. We are nothing special, we just love Jesus and he loves us. We are amazed by the love we are shown on a daily basis by our Lord. The wonderful thing about this message is that anyone can choose to live this way. Jesus opens this up to all who have faith in him! So come to him today. Build a relationship with him and live through faith in Him. Blessings to you all!  

Our Visit Home Speaking update.

Speaking update...

We will be sharing at The Corner Bible Church on Allegan, MI. on Oct 4. We have a few min during each service , 9 am and 11 am. We also have been given the whole Sunday school hour which is in between the 9 and 11 service. We hope to see you there.

Ministry Update and Visit Home

Good Morning,

     It has been a little while since we sent out our last update. The past few months have been really busy with ministry, work and guests. Here will be a quick update on what has happened in the past few months. Some of this information may be repeated from previous emails. 

     Our work with CCPR has continued to grow.  Jennifer and I are now working on the church planting team through CCPR (The Center Church Puerto Rico). We are currently working on a church plant on the West Coast  of the island in the city of Rincon. We currently make a monthly visit there as we are starting to build relationships with some locals. In Oct. CCPR will be sponsoring a surfing festival in Rincon. We will be having a tent set up to hand out waters and information about our new CCPR Rincon campus.  I have been given the responsibility of setting up those details with the festival coordinator. This is a unique city mainly composed of surfers, skaters, BMX bikers and artists. Our church here will be unique as well. We have no intention on seeking out a building right away as the services will more than likely be on the beach or in a home.  Starting in 2016 CCPR has plans for us to start making regular trips to the West Coast.  This is a 2.5 hour drive from Dorado.  We are excited about this plant and are praying that our work is effective.   We are also in the process of laying out a discipleship program for CCPR.  We are looking at several different models such as 3DM and others.  

     We have recently moved to Dorado which is a huge blessing. We have now been here a month and have already gotten to know some neighbors. Jennifer is now a part time nanny in a local community here in Dorado.  She also cleans a few homes in the area as well. I currently am still a full time student and will graduate in December with my degree in Religion as well as working part time as a handy man at a local vacation property and working part time at CCPR with different upkeep projects and assisting Pastor Efren. I have applied for and have been accepted for my BA degree in Evangelism and Church Planting at Liberty University Online and will be starting those classes in March of 2016.

     On another note, Jennifer and I have been blessed with the opportunity to come home to share what we are doing and raise more support.  We will be in Michigan September 30-October 17.  We will be sharing at The Corner Church in Allegan,MI on Oct 4 and at Harlem Reformed Church's youth group that same evening. We are also in the works to be sharing at a church in Jackson, MI on Oct. 11, we spoke with their pastor last night via Skype. This is the church of the family we meet a few months back and who bought us our plane tickets home.  I will also be meeting with Pastor Greg from Seven Hills Church, which was our covering church when we left Michigan.  We would love to be able to meet with anyone else that is interested in hearing more about what is going on here in Puerto Rico. Please contact us so we can set a time to talk.

     Being down here, doing what God has called us to do, is nothing like what we expected or have ever experienced. Ministry here in Puerto Rico is way different than ministry in West Michigan. We came down here expecting more evangelism/outreach style ministry but God gave us a relational ministry. This has been an adjustment for us as we are learning what relational ministry really is. We are learning what Paul meant when he said "I became all people so that some might be saved."  We are used to fast paced ministry with seemingly a large amount of results. God has slowed us down in a slower paced relational ministry with seemingly fewer results. Building relationships take time and we have had to learn this.  However, God knows what he is doing because the results we do see here will be lasting results. We have had to and continue to learn the culture here which we neglected to do when we first moved to Puerto Rico. This slowed us down. But we are now seeing and understanding what ministry looks like in a culture other than our own. We cannot do things the same way we do them back home.  We must learn how to adjust to the culture here. 

     We look forward to our trip home and hope we get to see a majority of  you, if not all of you. We ask that you pray about how you can financially monthly support the ministry that God has us doing through CCPR. If you are interested in more information about our experiences and needs please contact us and we would be happy to share that information with you.

New Address Update

For those of you who send us care packages, letters, cards and support 

We have posted our new address in the past but we have had some mail returned to Michigan so here is our new address again 

John and Jennifer Hoogeveen 

HC-46 Box 6119

Dorado, PR

00646

Please send all mail to this address.

Checks are still to be written to: LGLP 

-Please put all support in a security envelope and wrap in a piece of paper.-

(Our covering Church here in PR)

We have been busy with visitors for the past couple weeks. A new update is coming soon!

What a day in Rincon

Yesterday was memorable.

CCPR Dorado headed out to Rincon to get a lay of the land for our new church plant. It started out great with a walking tour of the town of Rincon. It has a warm welcoming feeling! Once we got back, someone on the group locked their keys in the truck (not me, it's impossible to do on my truck) we spent about 45 min trying to break into the car. Finally we did it! Praise God now we are on our way to the beach! Oh wait it looks like a thunder storm! Yup and it down poured! Spent about and hour or two at a local restaurant on the beach, Tamboo. Then is cleared up nicely. Spent the afternoon playing beach volly ball. Some local kids even joined our "game". Of course we had to hit the ocean too. 

This was a key trip for our church. Leaders and board members from CCPR that have not been to Rincon were able to see the environment we will be working in and get a feel for the people.

I met a local guy named Ryan. He intrigues me because he was working in the storm bringing sticks to the woods in a wheel barrow with no shirt or shoes on. He was a work horse. He runs a kite and surf shop in Rincon. Total surfer dude. 

This was about a 2 hour trip from Dorado.

Besides the fun we had, we were able to bring the light of Jesus to the area.

No one was using the vollyball court until we started playing. We were having fun and laughing then people started watching. Then they joined in. Once we left the court orders started to play as well. 

I think often times we think bringing Jesus means physically sharing the gospel. When a lot of the time it is being the gospel. 

Lets going out and be the light! 

New Mailing Address

Good evening everyone. We have been blessed to have had the opportunity to move to Dorado this past weekend. With this comes a new address. All mail including support checks which will still be written out to LGLP with Matthew 28 Missions written in the memo should be mailed to the following address.

John and Jennifer Hoogeveen
Matthew 28 Missions
HC-46 Box 6119
Dorado, PR 00646

We are very excited about this move as this will allow us to be more involved with CCPR. CCPR is putting together a church planting team, which we are now part of, so this will allow us to do what God has called us to do with CCPR. Which is to plant churches in English speaking pockets with the mission of making disciples. We are thrilled about the opportunities God has give us and look forward to sharing with you more as things develop with the Rincon church plant.

Obedience, prayer, trust and faithfulness

As you know two weeks ago we helped host a mission team with Global Passion. The house they stayed in is a four story building all of which are four separate houses. It is a large property that receives guests in large groups at least once a month. Also as you know we have been looking for work and praying for income. 

While the team was here the owner stopped by one day to feed the dogs on the property. I wanted to meet him so I walked over and said hello. After talking with him I heard his heart behind the house. He wants to provide group housing for those who want to visit the island in large groups that is safe and has all the essentials without the high cost of hotel rooms. Which most of these are churches and or ministries. I offered my help if he ever needed any type of maintaining done on the house. I did this with the sole intent of just helping out because I like what he is doing. 

That week I got a text from him saying, "If you are serious about helping me I could use your help. If you want to make some extra cash let me know." Wow what an answer to prayer thinking I could go make $50 or so. We met the next day and he has hired me to work as much as I want. All on a schedule that I make as needed! The work is indefinite due to the large amount of work needing to be done. Then just yesterday they called and want Jennifer to clean each home after guests leave!!! 

God is so faithfull. I thank God for this work. 

Continue to pray, be obedient and faithful to Gods call and He will give you all that you need!

Global Passions Mission Team

It has been a truly amazing week. This week a ministry based out of Napa, California came to the island with a group of 70 from a Church youth group in Nashville, Tennessee. Global Passion Ministry and Cornerstone Church have made a huge impact in Puerto Rico. We witnessed many lives that were touched and forever changed through this adventure.
Our role was to make sure everything ran smoothly and that the team was where they needed to be at the specific times. We also served as a representation from CCPR.
The week started on Tuesday morning when we went to the local projects area to do VBS in Spanish. The students from Cornerstone Church taught lessons, played games, did skits and shared the gospel message. This was the first time any church had come into this community to do anything like this. The first day there were 13 lives given to Jesus! To see these local children laughing and running around with these teens from Tennessee was amazing. For many of these children this was the first time they have seen Jesus in a physical, tangible way. After VBS we took the students to a local park to clean up trash and sticks. For many of these students and leaders it seemed like busy work. They didn't fully understand why they were cleaning a park. Even with that being said they did it with excellence. They would soon start to understand why they were doing it.
The second day we went back to the community to do another day of VBS. These children were so excited to see the students come back. The number of children from the community grew. After VBS we came back to the community to clean it up. Some of the residence living inside of this community could not understand why a church would come to clean up their community. They could not grasp it. One woman said and I quote, "No church has ever done this. Why are you here? Why are you doing this?" Our reply, "We are here to do what Jesus taught us to do and show you Jesus is a tangible way. We do not want to only preach the gospel but be the gospel." After this we had parents who could only speak Spanish trying to talk in broken English. One woman said, "Thank you for what you are doing for our children." There were tears in the eyes of parents as they watched their children playing and having fun as they saw Jesus is a real way. What is even more amazing is some things that took place, might I say transferred over. One woman bought a group of students treats from a food cart. Another mother started following a group and picking up trash with the group and still children began to follow the groups and join in in the clean up. It was really neat to see the love of Jesus that this group brought being transferred over to those being ministered to and them acting out what we had shown them.
Day three we went back for the third and final day of VBS. Saying goodbye was difficult for the kids both ways. A group of teen girls had hung out for the 3 days and on this last day made some of the teens from Tenessee matching necklaces. They wanted to show their thanks too. After VBS we took the group to the local hospital in Dorado to do more clean up. Again, some people in the group did not fully understand why we were at the hospital cleaning. That is until someone started asking questions. There was a person who heard that a church group was coming to clean up the hospital grounds. This was so shocking to them that they took off of work to come down and see it for themselves. They told Pastor Efren that they had never seen any church do this. They asked why is a church doing what our own people are not willing to do? Again we were able to share that we are not only called to preach the gospel but live it out and this is why we are here. To be the hands and feet of Jesus. Their reply was, "Wow, you really are a different church."
After we got back to where the team was staying there was a de-brief. It was amazing to hear what some of these kids said. "I just love those kids.", "I would do it again even if I got bit by a five year old." Teen boys were crying after hearing God's calling on their life. It was truly overwhelming to see.
Day four we took the team to Rincon, This was a key trip as this was the first time CCPR officially was coming into the city of Rincon as a church. This was our time for first impressions.
Most of the team cleaned up trash on the beach. Another team of 14 helped put in a new parking lot for Church Without Walls and I took a team of 10 to a recreation center for the elderly. The kids I took with me helped clean, handed out food for lunch and played bingo and pool with the older people their. The elderly people loved it that these kids came. As I was talking to one of the nurses the same topic came up as the past three days. The question was posed, "Why are you here?" "You are a church?" I shared with her that we are here to be the hands and feet of Jesus and we do not want to only preach the gospel but live out what Jesus teaches us. She again said, " No church has ever done this. You are the only church doing this. I have not been to church in seven years. I want to go but no one here practices what they preach. You are. When you plant your church here I am coming."  I also talked to the director and a very similar conversation took place. We were welcomed back anytime. God truly gave us favor this week.
The rest of the week was off days for the team. We went to Old San Juan on Saturday so the kids were able to explore the old city. Jennifer, Bridger and I enjoyed time in a cafe for 2 hours talking to Darryn and Renee. They are leaders from Global Passion. We were able to learn a lot from them as we asked many questions.
Sunday was an off day. After church some of the group went to the beach and others stayed at the house. The evening was hard. Our kids made friends and it was hard to say good bye. There were lots of tears and exchange of numbers. We are so blessed for this team to take our kids in as their own. They had invited Blake and Dallas to stay at the house all week with them and they did so. It was such a great opportunity for Blake and Dallas. It was our pleasure to serve along side of an amazing group of people.

We have learned a lot over this past week and God has re-directed us back to what our original call was. Live the gospel more than preach the gospel. I think my fire is burning hotter than when we first moved here and now I have direction and a vision of what it looks like here in Puerto Rico when we actually are the hands and feet of Jesus. We will be sitting down Tuesday evening with Pastor Efren and his wife Monica to talk about our vision and how we can keep this momentum going. We are excited to move forward with this call!

Here are a few photos from the week.

Praise Report!!! God is good!

God is good! As you know we have been praying about support. This month has been really tough. We have an electric and phone bill due both are late as well as rent and we only had enough money to pay part of our rent, a little over half. We prayed and trusted God that our landlord would be ok with that and understand. Our hearts were settled and we were at rest about it. 

Today we went to get the mail and there were a few envelopes. The first one we opened was the exact amount to the dollar of what we needed for the rest of our rent. Then we openend another and there was the amount we needed for our electric bill and then we openend the other and there was the amount we needed for our phone bill! Total all together we have enough to cover all our bills and an extra $20 or $30! God is good!! 

This is all for Gods glory! There is no other reason we share this! When we come to God and ask truly to glorify Him he provides! To God be the Glory Amen!

Father forgive me for doubting....again! 

4th of July and more

Hey all
     We hope you all had a great 4th of July. God blessed us with an invite to the US Coast Guard housing 4th of July party. We had a blast and so did Bridger. Blake and Dallas were both still gone.It was great building relationships with our friends Miles and Jamie. We are so blessed to have them. They are true people of God. We felt very welcome and spent the weekend there as well.
     Blake finally came home Monday after his flight for Colorado got cancelled. They were a full day behind schedule. He had a blast and has tons of stories. Of course they are all coming out slowly.
     Dallas had a great time at her friend Madi's house as well. It is nice for her to hang out because we have so few English speaking kids around.
     We are back out in Cabo Rojo again this week. Jennifer is babysitting for the next three days.  We have found out that the woman she is babysitting for practices a form of witch craft called Santaria. This is a kind of mix between Catholic and Voodoo. We have had our church pray over us and ask for your prayers too.We know that the power of the Blood of Jesus overcomes! And if God is for us than who can stand against us?
     We are excited as we have friends from Michigan visiting us this weekend! They fly in Friday! We have some fun things planned for them.
Next week we host the mission team from Tenn. and we are very excited about that. There is so much that we will be doing. Its gonna be a long hard week but awesome!
    Well that is all for now. Until next time...God bless.

God Comes Through....Like Always!

     Today has been a relax day. I (John) am getting caught up on school work, Dallas is spending the weekend at her friends house, which also happens to be our pastors house, Blake is still in Colorado and Jenn and Bridger are watching movies.

     Our truck seems to be running good. I think a gasket or something fell into the gas tank when I replaced the fuel pump yesterday. Every now and then clogs up the fuel pump. When it starts acting up I shut the truck off mid drive and restart it and it runs fine. She is a beast but she does the job. 

     Today we got a care package from my parents, 12 jars of fresh homemade strawberry jam! it is amazing!

     As you all know we have been praying for income and support and God comes through again! I just got a message from Pastor Efren and starting in September I will be working part time for the church doing small maintenance things and running errands for Pastor. Feeling super blessed and excited.

     The 4th of July is here tomorrow, we really have no plans. Not much goes on here in PR for the 4th. Im sure you all will have fun at the fireworks. Enjoy them for us and eat an elephant ear too.

     There is a plant out front in our yard that has been green ever since we got here. I have seen them in the stores for $15. I thought wow that is a lot for a filler plant. Just a few days ago it blossomed huge flowers out of nowhere! They are beautiful. Thats why they are $15. So blessed to have these.

     We are getting ready to host the mission team from Tenn. in two weeks. We cannot wait to see what God has in store.

     Well thats all for now. Short and sweet but I want to start giving these little blerps more often. Until next time God bless.

Faith Building

The past few days have been a little crazy. Some friends and missionary friends of ours are back in the states raising support. They have asked us to house sit for them in Cabo Rjo on the west coast. So we came out here two nights ago. Jennifer is fulfilling a fill in nanny job while we are here as well. I went to start the truck yesterday to pick up Jenn and the kids up it would not start. The fuel pump went out. So here we sit 2 hours from home with no ride. To add to it I left our support check in my pants pocket and we washed it last night. But God is faithful. The lady Jennifer is helping paid her for this week and next week yesterday! Praise God and Monty, the man we  have been talking to about CCPR  Rincon is coming to pick me up so I can go to a parts store. I spent all last evening removing the gas tank and fuel pump which was super fun with the limited tools I have here. Good thing I keep my tool bag in the truck.
We are bummed because we will miss out on the once and a life time chance to be part of a US Coast Guard Ship inauguration that is taking place today in San Juan. We were invited from friends of our who are on the new ship.
We are praying that this issues is fixed today as Blake fly's in from Colorado Sunday evening.
To say the least these last few days have been challenging and our faith has been tested and our reaction to crummy situations have been tested. I hope we prevailed. Last night was not a good night for me. I was very frustrated at myself for washing the check and the whole situation we are in right now.
I know that these situations build our faith and strengthen our relationship with God so I am thankful for times like these.
James 1:2-4
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various [c]trials,3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces [d]endurance. 4 And let[e]endurance have its perfect [f]result, so that you may be [g]perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Being fed by a bird!

     1 Kings 17 tells us about a man of radical faith. His name was Elisha. There is a story where Elisha is fed by ravens. He trusted God to provide and provide he did. Elisha was in need and God provided the food he needed through a very unlikely source and in a quantity that Elisha probably did not expect. He got bread and meat twice a day from a bird! Just enough to fulfill his need, by a bird! Because Elisha had faith God provided, through a bird!
     Today as we went to the mail box and opened up an envelope with a $50 check inside I felt like Elisha. God is providing literally for our needs as they are needed. We had been praying that God provides us gas money as we have a lot of traveling to do in the next week. This check provided the money needed for a full tank of gas and then some. God is providing us our bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. We were praying over the weekend for God to provide us extra money to give to Blake so he had money for food in the airport. He left for Colorado last weekend for Young Life Camp (which God also provided the means to go). The day before he left we had no extra money to give him. Then God provided us $50 to give him through another family here in Puerto Rico. I share this to encourage all of you who are struggling financially right now. God will honor your faith. Trust him and ask for you needs. Gods hand is never short. Also know that God will provide your needs not what you think you need. Right now I feel like Elisha. I will to continue to have faith that God will provide so we can fulfill what he has called us to do. I pray that you experience what we are experiencing just like Elisha experienced. That is Gods faithfulness. God hears your prayer and he will provide.
   

Puerto Rico Missions 2015- Support

Dear family and friends,

  

 The Lord says that he will provide all of our needs and that whatever we ask in His name for the glory of the Lord he will provide. (John 14:14)

Today we write you out of financial need for the purpose of continuing ministry in Puerto Rico. We thank God for the support you have already given either through prayer or financial means. We believe scripture leads us to the understanding that although we ask him and he can miraculously provide, there is a role that we as followers of Jesus play as well. Our family’s role as missionaries and ministers of the gospel message is to humbly come before God and our brothers and sisters in Christ and present our needs.

Our family has now been on the island for almost 8 months. As we left Michigan we knew God was calling us here, but the vision of how he would use us was not made clear. We knew that making disciples was the main call but the means to this was unknown. As many of you know we have connected with the local church in Dorado, The Center Church PR. CCPR is currently where the Lord has us serving. As we are led by Pastor Efren Pena and his wife Monica, the Lord is continuing to show us how we are able to fulfill our calling here.

Over the past eight months our needs have been met. Through this process we have been faithfully focused on our ministry through prayer, faith and to be honest a little worry. The economy where God has called us to allows very little available work. I (John) have applied for several different positions at local businesses that are seeking English speaking workers. The Lord has seen it fit to give no responses from those applications and many phone calls. Jennifer has been blessed with her nanny/cleaning position. This has yet to provide a steady income as she has only worked one day due to her family she’s working for being out of the country for the next 5 weeks.  We plan on staying in Cabo Rojo for two weeks where Jennifer will be a temporary nanny for a family there. That will help with some immediate needs. We have also done some minor work for CCPR that has paid enough to pay for some smaller needs. This however will not be a reoccurring opportunity.

          After looking over our basic needs, a budget of $2000/month is needed in order for us to effectively continue ministry here in Puerto Rico. Although we are blessed to receive one time support gifts our real need at this time is monthly support. This allows us to budget more efficiently so we can do ministry more effectively.

We ask you to join us in prayer about financially supporting the ministry God has set forth for our family to fulfill in Puerto Rico.  

You can send your support to:

Matthew 28 Missions

PO Box 3616

Arecibo, PR 00613-3616.

Tax deductible checks can be made out to:

Love God Love People Church of (LGLP) with Matthew 28 Missions written in the memo spot.

(Know that the address may change once we move to Dorado)

Again, we thank you so much for your love, prayers and support. Without it our job here would be a lot harder than it has been. Please continue to pray for the ministry God has planned here and that the gospel message is heard and people on the island receive the message.

In Christ,  

John, Jennifer, Blake, Dallas &Bridger

    

Latest Update

Sorry for the late post....

So there is a lot going on this month for us and CCPR (The Center Church PR).
Jennifer and I attended our first leaders meeting at CCPR Sunday afternoon. It was great to see what CCPR is doing and planning for spreading the Love of Jesus.
     Next week there will be VBS happening at CCPR all week long. Jennifer will be leading the small children (2yrs-3yrs old), I will be leading games and Blake and Dallas will each have their own group of kids to lead as well. We are all super excited for this event and opportunity to share Jesus with children.
     This week we were supposed to be in Cabo Rojo house sitting for our friends, but due to our truck breaking down again we are unable to make it there. As of right now our truck is in the shop for the third time in two weeks. We are praying God provides us with a new more reliable vehicle.
     We are supposed to go sign the contract for our house we are renting in Dorado tonight so we are praying our truck is fixed by then. We have found a nice upper level house 10 min. away from church! 3 bed, one bath with two outdoor living areas. We are truly blessed.
     We will be having some visitors in July and August so we are excited about that as well. No funds have come in to travel to Georgia  in order to speak at a few churches to raise support, so we are taking that as a sign that God does not what us to do that right now.
     Jennifer has gotten a nanny/housekeeper job in Dorado and will be working 2-4 days a week there. We are also blessed to have this income and this is also what Jennifer loves to do!
     The kids are done with school for the summer so they are happy about that. I however still have school. Lord willing I graduate this December with my Associates in Religion and I have been accepted for my BS degree for Religion/Evangelism. I will have three months off of school starting in December then back to it come March.
     We are planning our next food handout for July and another in August. We are also hoping to do some street outreach in Cabo Rojo in August. I was part of a street outreach last month and it was amazing.  In mid-July there is a group of 70 teens coming from Tennessee for a mission trip. Our family will be hosting this group as we make sure they get from point A to point B on time. We will be joining them in their work as well. There will be three days of VBS that the group will be doing in a poor community in Dorado, there also will be some painting projects and beach clean up projects as well. Jennifer and I will be coordinating between the Mayor of Dorado, the bus company, the chef and the campground to make sure things flow smoothly.
     Jennifer has joined with a group of ladies from church and they gather for prayer every Tuesday morning. This has been an amazing experience for Jennifer.
     God is reveling more and more to us every day about our mission not only here but anywhere else God sends us. We are learning a lot and are excited to learn more about the mission field and church planting.
     We are trying to learn our place on the CCPR leadership team. What does pastor Efren expect from us and what is God calling us to do there? This is harder than I expected to be honest.Are we here to fill a role that needs to be filled or are we here for something more? These are things that we are praying through. We are great with what ever, we just want to do what God is calling us to. There is a lot going on in ou heads and our hearts right now and we are praying through it.

That is all for updates for now. Thank you for all your prayers and support!
   
Prayer requests
-Please keep our support in your prayers as the support we currently get very much needed. We have been blessed to bring in enough income to have all of our bills currently paid.
-Please pray for God to provide us a new vehicle that is reliable and can fit more than five people.
We frequently have people over and we have to send one or two people to the back of the truck and Jennifer sits in the back seat because there is no seat belt in the middle and she does not want one of the kids sitting without a seat belt.
-Please pray for more opportunities for us to share our story and share the gospel message.
-Please pray a pray of thanksgiving for all God is doing here so far.
-Please pray for a way to come home a visit this fall. We would really like to come to visit and take care of a few things with our house back in Hamilton.


If you would feel led to send support for what God is doing through us here in Puerto Rico you can send your support to:

Matthew 28 Missions
PO Box 3616
Arecibo, PR
00613-3616
 For tax deductible support write checks to LGLP (Love God Love People Church) please put Matthew 28 Missions in the memo.
You can also send non- tax deducible checks to the same address just written out to John Hoogeveen.

Unsaved and serving?

Well I said I would share more on here about this weekends outreach event that I (John) was a part of. Jennifer stayed back and watched our kids and Stacy and Julios daughter.
     I was greatly anticipating this past weekend as I knew our main goal was to reach local prostitutes for Jesus. However I was not expecting to see what I saw and am yet sure what to do with it.
As we approached the streets of Mayaguez the stench of old buildings, urine and other detestable smells mixed with the smell of fried food and beer filled our senses I knew that it was going to be and interesting evening. Julio his wife Stacy and myself met a group of college students that are here as mission interns for the summer. We gathered to pray and made our way down the streets. Right away a 60 year old woman came up to us asking for what ever we had. We handed her a "gift pack" and prayed for her. Wow 2 min in and people are coming to us! What a night I thought. As we walked the director of the mission team shared some stories with us. He told us to look in dark corners and under steps as that is where most people hide/live. He shared a story of a young girl being forced into prostitution whom they shared Jesus with and she excepted a one way ticket back to the states where they had shelter for her. Last he knew she is doing great and no longer in prostitution! Praise Jesus! Wow, this is going to be an eventful evening filled with lots of prayer is what I thought. How great would it be to send a young girl back to the states to get her out of prostitution? Yet, we have only seen this one lady. As we walked farther we approached an old building. This building is know for Voodoo practice and other satanic worship. Local Police officers have found sacrificed animals on the second floor and symbols of all sorts. The director, Chad, went inside as there are usually people inside. There were none. I prayed over the building with the group and we moved on. Still no people. As we walked there were very few people out. Even Chad said it was odd. We prayed for a few people but no prostitutes were to be seen. We got to a point where we took a break for a drink. There were two kids/ young adults with us that were not with the group. They were kind of leading us to places they knew of. They were local to the area. I started talking with them at the table. They had so much enthusiasm and excitement for what we were doing, I wanted to know their story. What I heard shocked me, and not much does. As they shared why they did this I heard things from, I was rescued this way so I want others to be rescued this way too, I heard there was this mission thing going on and I wants to join and similar things. I was so excited to hear young men passionate for Jesus and sharing the freedom he offers. So I asked how and when they accepted Christ. To my shock their reply was, I don't believe in God and I really don't know, I do not think I believe in Jesus! WHAT???!!!!! How can this be? I was so confused, so I asked again to make sure I understood. They said very calm and confident with almost a smile on their face the same thing I heard prior. I was to say the least stunned.
     So I continued to ask how this happens. Literally, I asked them how they can be out doing the Lords work and not even believe in him? As I heard their stories I was not shocked but saddened. Like so many young people here on the island they have a wrong idea and view of who Jesus is and what he offers. They see religion and not relationship. They see rules and not love. They see regulations and not freedom. Point blank they have been taught about a Jesus that does not exist. They have been taught wrong. I did my best to share who Jesus was to me and what I knew, it seemed to cause them to think but nothing more. No hostility, they just listened and moved on. I was left in shock and still am. For a few reasons. First this goes to show that actions do not lead to salvation and not all people doing good are followers of Christ. Second, we need to be sharing the GOSPEL and not only living it. We must live out the gospel as well as share it! I was able to share this with the group of students as part of the group went into a strip club to pray over the women there. (they did not go into the show area) I was able to share with them what I just shared with you. We must share the gospel message. We must preach Jesus. Doing good is not enough. It is only part of our job. I am convinced that when people hear about the Jesus I know and you know they will want him. We cannot sit in our ivory tower of goodness and think we are doing anything for the kingdom! No we must preach the name of Jesus and share the gospel message. Our good deeds and pretty faces will get us nowhere if we do not share Jesus with the lost! There are people right now next to you, in your family, friends, at your church that do not know Jesus, share him with them. Share your testimony of who Jesus is to you and let them see how Jesus rescues us. I too desire for people to be rescued the way I was rescued. However, man did not rescue me, Jesus did!
     And the night just started. We continued to pray for a few more people when all of a sudden this man and woman come stumbling down the road. She looked half dead and had not eaten in days. We gave her food but she would hardly eat it. Her husband was walking her to the hospital, which was  two blocks away. Three of us helped carry her there as she had lost almost all use of her legs at this time. We got her inside and she blacked out, down for the count. They got her right in. We prayed over her but then were asked to leave. Not sure what happened but her husband was thankful. We finished the evening with a group prayer. Those two young men that I talked about earlier, they came up shoke my hand and said thank you. And they were gone. What an evening! Praying for all those we encountered and those we were with.
GO, SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY WITH SOMEONE! GO!

Unity in Christ or Unity in Denomination?

As I study this morning I am going over four major views/ denominational views if you will. As I study these views the Holy Spirit is revealing something to me. It is amazing really. God has given me the vision of church unity for the last 3 years. I'm still not sure what he wants me to do with that vision. Anyway, He is showing me that all denominations for the most part are right and yet wrong at the same time! How can this be you say. The main argument for at least the four I am studying are all biblically true. However, they each insist that their way is the only way. How can this be? If each main view is biblical how can only one be right? God never intended for denominations. God intended for a unified Church. Jesus prayed for a unified Church in John 17. The problem comes when we take our view and rest on that view thus taking scripture out of context and not looking at what The Bible is really saying, in turn not allowing Gods Word to work. They all argue with Bible versus, this seems silly to me. If you all use Bible versus, and you say the other is wrong, are you not in essence saying the Bible is wrong? Or are you so egotistical that you actually think that you have the one and only full understanding of Gods Word? Gods word was meant to be used together. Not individual sections used for your own personal belief system that matches the kind of life you want to live or think other should live.
Why don't we take the truths of the Bible and use them how they were meant to be used...together! lets unify as the Church and stop all this petty arguing over what we think and let God speak to us through his Word.
Its not that one denomination is right or wrong. The problem is that each of them use one or two sections in the Bible, often times  one or two verses and base their whole denomination on that! I don't know about you, but to me it seems that if God only wanted us to use part of the Bible he would have only given us the Bible in part.
Unity in Christ as the Church does not mean doing the same thing everyone else does. It means understanding that Christ is the only way to The Father and understanding that church A and Church B may practice things a little different. However, that does not mean they are wrong. Each denomination I am studying has its purpose and that is great! Non of them are leading people away from Christ which is also great! (some of them may be in danger of leading people to Christ without giving them the expectation/commands that God has for followers.)However, non of them are unified as the Church. Can you imagine for one minute, pastors, elders, lay leaders, ministers of the gospel, CHRISTIANS, if we would all come together for the sake of Jesus Christ. If we could all see that  our view may be correct but not exclusive.  That God will use our understanding for one and another understanding for someone else? Yes maintaining a biblical view is important, if there was only one view there would be no need for the Bible to talk about unity as there already would be. There would be no need to talk about the Church being one body but many members doing different things.  It seems denominations think that the Church should be one body with many parts doing the same thing! This just is not possible! Come on Church, Jesus calls for unity so lets unify together to build Gods kingdom and bring other people into His kingdom through Christ.
Now don't get me wrong, I do feel that there are some major flaws in some denominations caused by the lack of understanding context and/or only using one set of scripture for their whole view of sanctification and justification. We should never just assume that all are right.  However, this does not mean that their scriptural content is wrong, just misused.  Their view, although different from ours must match up with the entire nature of God and context in which sanctification and justification come.  It seems that these four denominational views do use scripture, however all four of them seem to  have taken scripture out of context just enough to exclude other views. It would almost seem more appropriate to combine all four denominational views under the correct understanding of each other. The I feel each denomination would see that each view is correct to a degree because they are all based off of scripture, thus causing the Church to unify under the proper understanding and removing what is not biblical. The issue is we have become so pig headed about what we feel is right , that we are not even willing to consider the view point of another. In turn giving the other denomination a good reason to believe that they are right because we are proving their point for them. It is a big circle. Wont you be the one to stop the never ending circle of denominational debate? Won't you stand for what God's word teaches in whole?

This is a huge subject I know. To big to fully dig into here. It is more of book material than anything. This is just the outline of what The Holy Spirit is revealing to me. I know it is not complete and He will show the Churh more.

Update...

     Good morning. I'm just gonna get right to the point today. I'm gonna be as honest as I can with you all. This is John writing. I have been struggling in some since, for a few reasons. I know, as someone who knows people in the mission field and follows what they do I want to hear about what they are doing. Therefore I want to be able to give you all great feedback on what we are doing here in Puerto Rico. I want to share about all the people being saved, rehabs we are going into, missions we are on and evangelistic outreach events we are part of. However, in all actuality we are doing very little of that. We have our food handout once a month and that is the only regular thing we do concerning physical mission work. To be honest doing very few of those things is driving me nuts. I know what you must be thinking right now, but let me share with you what has been happening.
     God's ways are not my ways. Everything I shared with you above, that I had hoped to be sharing with you, are things that we thought we would be doing. We came down here not part of a church but part of The Church. No church sent us,however Seven Hills Church was our "sending" church, The Lord called us here. We were as some say, "Lone Rangers." To some this was crazy, to others this was amazing. Some thought we were nuts, others were shocked by our faith. The reality is it was a little of both neither of which are bad. Let me tell you a little back story.
     In Michigan I was never, "under" another ministry officially. I had no accountability for what I did. Not that what I was doing was wrong just that I had no one that would step in to tell me if I was doing it wrong, so I guess it could have been.  Most people I did ministry with thought the same way I did and acted in a similar manner as I did. Our church home in Michigan has gone through so many changes in the past 5-6 years that I do not have a strong relationship with any of our pastors, with the exception of the Global Outreach Pastor,Brian.Brian is more of my mentor than pastor.  Just when I thought I had a relationship they got let go or left. So needless to say, our home church had little to do with the ministry God has us working in and I was not held accountable to anyone there or was I under the leadership of any pastor. It may be that they really didn't know what to do with me as I can be rather radical for Jesus and do crazy stuff. Like walk to Washington DC to Pray for Obama and move my entire family to Puerto Rico with no money, no job and faith that God would provide, all because He said so. I was led by The Holy Spirit and I was good with that and still am. My leader is The Holy Spirit and my orders come from God. God has used me and my family in amazing ways because of our willingness to submit to Him and do as he asks. However, there comes a time in ones life where the Lord asks you to learn how to sit under the authority of a Holy Spirit led human pastor. Now, I must say this did not appeal to me at all! I did not want to sit under anyone who would hold me back from what God would have me do.
     Over the past 5 months our family has been through a lot. Trying to fit in, learn a foreign language, find a church, make friends, being apart from family, figuring out what God has us here for specifically, college classes for me, learning home school for the kids and Jennifer learning how to teach, and so on. God has been faithful through it all and we have all grown because of this. Over the last 3-4 months we have been attending The Center Church Puerto Rico. As we have stated before we fell in love the second we walked through the door and God told us that this was our home church her on the island. Through several conversations with pastor Efren and other leaders of the church it was clear that God wanted us to not only attend this church but be part of this church. We were excited! Pastor Efren approached Jennifer and myself to be part of the leadership team, we again were excited! God was giving us work! So after praying about this we accepted and became unpaid staff at CCRP as part of their core leadership team.  This is where I was challenged and growth began.
     As the weeks went by I started to see that CCPR had a vision for their church. A vision God had given them. I loved the vision. The vision was to plant three more campuses on the other three coasts of the island. The focus of these churches would be pockets of English speaking people who do not have a church to go to. There are very few actual English speaking churches on the island. When we were asked to pastor one of these churches or help plant all three we were very humbled. No one had ever asked us to do this before, nor had we ever done it. How would I pastor or plant a church? Little did we know God was about to teach us both a lesson, mainly myself. I started to realize that God had put us in a church with an amazing vision and they were not willing to budge from what the Lord told them. That is a quality many people do not have and I loved it. However, that meant that I had to stay within the vision God gave them! Once I realized this I was frozen. After a conversation with Pastor Efren, I told him that submitting to their vision would be hard for me because I have never needed to do that in the past. I did what God told me to do, not someone else. I was a little confused at what God was doing to say the least. Once I returned home Jennifer and I talked about what Pastor Efren and I had talked about and we both were still very confused and a little discouraged to be honest. How are we do do what God called us to do and continue to do things that God asks us to do if we are under the authority of Pastor Efren and the vision of CCPR? What if God asks us to do something outside of CCPRs vision? I was scared that I was about do move in a direction that would put a halt on the Holy Spirit in my life. ( I think I actually thought my actions could do that. Really John? Really?) With that being said, Jennifer and I prayed about it. God spoke very clearly to both of us at separate times. He told us that He would not ask us to do anything outside of the vision He gave CCPR for the season we are with them. God knows my heart and my willingness to be obedient at a moments notice. This does not men I will be lack in my boldness or passion for Jesus. God knows I will not relinquish my desire to serve him in bold radical ways nor is He asking me to do so. God asked me a question that shocked me to the core, "John, how are you going to lead if you are not willing to be led?"  Furthermore, although we are not doing much physical ministry work, there is a lot of internal work and spiritual growth happening. I wish I could share more amazing stories with you but the reality is God has just not opened those doors and this is not the season for that right now. God has us in a season of growth. I am learning to submit to Holy Spirit through Holy Spirit led leadership, to submit to God through the vision God gave another church and to realize that God uses other people to lead me and the Church. A friend of mine,Pastor Britton, said this to me and it hit home. "Being part of a spiritual family you have to understand that it is no longer you and the Holy Spirit, it is you, the spiritual family and the Holy Spirit and you all have to learn how to hear the Holy Spirit together."
     So this is what God has been doing and in part why we have been so lack on giving updates. I am sorry and ask for your forgiveness in that. We will try to keep you as up to date as possible but know that God is growing us and challenging us to learn how to lead from being led. You should know that when God says jump we will jump. Our orders come from God and not man. If this is ever jeopardized we will not stand for it. Some of you may not understand this, others of you may. However, it is not my job to make you understand but to follow God's voice and do as he instructs. I can only share what The Lord is doing in our lives. The Holy Spirit will guide the understanding. When God says our time is up under CCPR then we will leave. Until then, we are fully committed to the vision God has given them and what God is going to do while we are there and support them 100%.

Next Steps, Gods continuing work.

     Good Morning! It has been a while since we last posted. Jennifer's mother is here visiting so we have been busy showing her around the island.  The weather here is getting HOTTER! It has been 90 for the past few days. We literally take two or three showers a day.

     This past weekend we had our monthly food handout. We made 60 meals and handed out 50 before our transportation broke down. It is amazing how fast 50 meals go! So far every time we have made food we did not think we would have enough to make all 50 meals. Every time we have had more than enough! It is like the Lord multiplied what we had! (didn't this happen before?)  This month not only did we buy and make the food, two women from Armando and Jeanette's church also made food! We had food coming from everywhere! It was amazing to see how God not only provide for us but for all those we came into contact with that afternoon as well. Jennifer's mom was with us too, we were excited to have her here to see in part what God is doing here.

     A couple weeks back Jennifer and I sat down with Pastor Efren to talk about the future Rincon Campus plant and what our involvement may/or may not be. After hearing what he had to say and him sharing his vision that God has given him and the leadership of Center Church PR he laid out some things for Jennifer and I to pray about. In a nut shell, the leadership of The Center Church PR would like us more involved with the functioning and church planting that The Lord is leading them to. After much consideration and prayer we have made a commitment to be involved with the Rincon campus plant. We sat down with Pastor Efren Sunday morning and we will be hitting the ground running. Over the next few months we will be spending a lot of time with Pastor Efren and his family. With this comes recon work on the West Coast, which is where Rincon is located. Lord willing this week I will be meeting with Monty, the leader of Christian Surfers of Rincon to begin building relationships with people of influence in the Rincon area. There also is a high probability that we will be spending the month of June in Cabo Rojo, which is about 20 min from Rincon. Our friends, Julio and Stacy are headed back to the states to raise more support as they too are here for missionary work. They have offered to have us house sit while they are away. This will give us a good chance to meet more people in the area and begin the relationship building process.

     As I have informed you all already, my job here ends May 30. We have been praying for what we should do for support. We have been led to start an Island Guide business/ministry. We are just launching so there is no income as of yet. However, we know God will provide, He always has and always will. We have been keeping posts going on Instagram, Twitter and a Facebook page and have been getting a lot of response. You can find us at: on Twitter @Footprints_pr , on Instagram footprints_pr and on facebook www.facebook.com/footprintspr
     All costs are by donation only. We are already connected with a fishing/snorkeling tour ministry that we will be taking people to. As we travel the island and discover more amazing places God has created we will be finding new places to bring people all while taking the stress out of trying to figure out how to get there. We are also still seeking support from those of you back home who support the work God has us doing down here. As we get more and more involved with the church in Rincon, which is 1.5 hours from our house, we will be traveling there more often. We will also be commuting to and from our church in Dorado which is about 45 min from home. Of course, we still have our monthly bills to cover as well. So far the money from support back home combined with the money I make from work has covered all our needs. As my job comes to a close and God launches our business there may be a short lull in income. We ask that you please pray about supporting us and the work God is doing here in Puerto Rico. If you feel led to send support there are ways to do so below.

     School is going great for the kids. They are learning a ton of new stuff and seem very eager to learn, which is an answer to prayer. Jennifer is doing a great job teaching the kids even though it can be challenging at times. The kids say she is a much better mother than a teacher. She agrees! It can be challenging to be a teacher and a mother. Right now it's the best choice for us. We have found a great school supply store that has pretty much anything we could possibly need for school! School for me is going great as well. I am coming to the end of this semester and have A's in both classes. God sure has my hand here! No stopping, I go right into my next semester in two weeks. Lord willing I will graduate in December.

     The kids are growing fast! We look at pics of them taken just last year and the change is amazing. Dallas will be 13 years old this Friday!!! Two teens in the house!!! Pray for us :) Bridger tries to act like one so.... He says he is growing his hair out until we leave. I think he may rethink that as the heat continues to rise. HAHA.

     Our truck is running better than ever. I have done a lot of work to it to get it running good but it was worth it. We really enjoy the truck God provided for us. I'm not sure if we like the truck or the looks we often get while driving it more. LOL

     God has been good and he has heard your prayers for us and His work here. We thank you all for you support no matter what that support may be. Our lives are forever changed because you have been obedient to the support God is leading you to. We could never do this without your love and your prayers. As we continue to be obedient to Gods call on our life, the more and more you all will be involved in Gods work in expanding His kingdom here in Puerto Rico and the world. We love you all and pray for you often. God is good!

Your Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
John, Jennifer, Blake, Dallas and Bridger Hoogeveen

Ways To Send Support

For a tax deductible donation Please send check written out to Seven Hills Church- Memo line Hoogeveen Missions to:

Seven Hills Church

c/o Hoogeveen Missions

661 East 24th Street Suite 100

Holland, MI 49423

(Seven Hills deposits into account by the 7th of each month)

For a non-tax deductible donation online go to:

www.donationto.com/Matthew-28-Missions

(There is a small fee attached to this method. You can choose to pay the fee or have it taken out of your donation to us)