Have you seen any socks around? I ask because MH4H supporters have knocked our socks off with their generosity, and God has knocked our socks off with his generous provision, even in our own inadequacy, uncertainty and doubt! Our feet our going to get cold if this keeps up...
Much has happened since our last post, and I apologize that it has taken so long to get an update. In this exciting season things are changing quickly, so we want to be diligent about sharing all that God is doing with you. The hard part is that it's also the busiest season for everyone involved, making it more difficult to get to the blog as often as we want!
With all that being said, on behalf of Jared & Stacey I want to say a humongous, ginormous THANK YOU to all who supported Hotcakes for Haiti. Our last post shared that there would be a finale pancake breakfast at Third Church on March 29 in hopes of meeting the $30,000 Nickels for Nikkels goal to purchase the Third World truck. Let me tell you, it was a grand finale! We went into the 29th with just over $12,500, so in our wildest hopes, we were hoping to get into the mid-twenties...maybe. Instead, God decided to use the generous hearts of so many people at Third Church to remind us that He is going before us and providing beyond what we can ask or hope. We ended the day with over $40,000! Those of us there when the announcement was made were overcome with gratitude and joy. It was an awesome moment! Thank you again to everyone who served at Hotcakes for Haiti, everyone who attended and offered financial gifts, and everyone who is praying for the mission of Many Hands for Haiti.
We had another great Hotcakes for Haiti breakfast in Sully on April 4, and we want to say another huge thank you to the Sully Lions Club for sponsoring that breakfast and providing all the needed workers. Gifts totaling over $3,000 were given in just three hours that Saturday morning. Thank you to the Lions and the Sully community!
And the craziness continues as this week is meal prep week for the Meals With a Mission fundraiser. More than $12,000 worth of orders came in for frozen meals, cookie dough, Dutch letters and coffee! Again, we were blown away by the response. We are grateful for many volunteers who are willing to help us prepare food this week. With over 660 meals to make, I'm sure many will be seeing lasagna and ham balls in their sleep! Please pray for this meals mission this week and specifically pray peace and protection for Nancy Henry and Tiffany Van Zee and their families as they lead this fundraising event and coordinate all the details. Volunteers will be preparing food all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you'd still like to help, there are plenty of spots available. Contact Tiffany Van Zee at 641-780-2876 or stvanzee@iowatelecom.net.
On behalf of Jared & Stacey, thank you again for your support of this mission. In this heavy fundraising season, we also say a special thank you to Nancy Henry and Tiffany Van Zee, who have worked tirelessly on details for t-shirt sales, Hotcakes for Haiti and Meals With a Mission. Thank you for your sacrifice of time, and for the use of your gifts for MH4H!
We are so grateful to God for His continued provision and confirmation of this calling on the Nikkel family. It's amazing to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves and see that God is so graciously at work in all things, even when we are blind to it! Keep praying that His will be done through us!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Get 'Em While They're Hot!
They're here! We currently have Many Hands for Haiti and Hotcakes for Haiti t-shirts available for purchase with all proceeds going toward Nikkel family start-up costs. We have both youth and adult unisex sizes. T-shirts are $15 each, or free with your tax-deductible donation of $50. To order yours, contact Tiffany Van Zee at stvanzee@iowatelecom.net or 641-628-8664. See all the fun styles and colors below!
Many Hands tees: available in pink, orange, green or grey
Hotcakes for Haiti logo--FUN!
Adult Sizes: S-2XL in brown
**For those of you attending the Hotcakes for Haiti pancake breakfast at Third Church on March 29 or in Sully on April 4, we'd love to see you wearing your shirt in support of Jared, Stacey, Will & Natalie!
Many Hands for Haiti logo is in blue and yellow on all tees.
Many Hands tees: available in pink, orange, green or greyAdult sizes: S-2XL; Youth: S-L
(Infant/toddler sizes are available by special order, grey only)
Hotcakes for Haiti logo--FUN!
Adult Sizes: S-2XL in brownYouth Sizes: S-L in orange
Other Current Giving Opportunities:
Nickels for Nikkels is a change drive to raise money for the purchase of the reliable Third World truck the Nikkels will need in Haiti. The campaign wraps up this weekend! If you'd like to donate from your change jar or just give cash, containers are displayed at Third Reformed Church or Gosselink's Christian Book Store in Pella, or cash/check donations can also be brought to Marion County Bank. We're just over 1/3 of the way to our $30,000 goal, so please consider a gift!
In case you haven't heard, Hotcakes for Haiti is coming soon to a church or community center near you!
On Sunday, March 29, pancakes, eggs, sausage and drinks will be served all morning at Third Reformed Church with freewill donations being taken for the Nikkels, specifically to be added to the Nickels for Nikkels total for the purchase of a reliable Third World Truck.
On April 4, Hotcakes for Haiti continues with another hearty breakfast at the Sully Community Building from 7:00-10:00 am. We are so grateful to the Sully Lions Club for sponsoring this breakfast! T-shirts will be sold and freewill donations will be taken for Nikkel family start-up costs.
Welcome Back!
Welcome back to the MH4H blog! Jared & Stacey have been away for awhile, but now with some teamwork, we've resurrected the blog, and it will now become the online hub of information for fundraising details, ministry information and personal thoughts from the Nikkels.
I'm Beth Gaulke, Jared's sister, and I'm helping with communication in this season of preparation and fundraising. It is such a blessing to be part of this process, an exciting time of obedience to God's powerful call on their lives. What an amazing journey the Nikkels are walking--one of sacrificial obedience, unexplainable joy, impractical change and blind faithfulness to Jesus. Please pray for them in this time of planning, fundraising and major life change.
If you need to get caught up on the Nikkel family's story and the call they've received to serve in Haiti, read Stacey's very first blog entry here.
Currently, fundraising is in full swing as we seek to raise the $70,000 in needed start-up costs. This money will go toward building a small house, buying a reliable truck, funding ministry costs and projects, and the actual costs of relocating to Haiti. Watch for how you can get involved in helping us out in the next post!
We'll be frequently adding new information, such as prayer requests, giving opportunities, details regarding the process of preparation and relocation, and more! Thank you for your interest in the Nikkel family and Many Hands for Haiti! Keep checking back!
I'm Beth Gaulke, Jared's sister, and I'm helping with communication in this season of preparation and fundraising. It is such a blessing to be part of this process, an exciting time of obedience to God's powerful call on their lives. What an amazing journey the Nikkels are walking--one of sacrificial obedience, unexplainable joy, impractical change and blind faithfulness to Jesus. Please pray for them in this time of planning, fundraising and major life change.
If you need to get caught up on the Nikkel family's story and the call they've received to serve in Haiti, read Stacey's very first blog entry here.
Currently, fundraising is in full swing as we seek to raise the $70,000 in needed start-up costs. This money will go toward building a small house, buying a reliable truck, funding ministry costs and projects, and the actual costs of relocating to Haiti. Watch for how you can get involved in helping us out in the next post!
We'll be frequently adding new information, such as prayer requests, giving opportunities, details regarding the process of preparation and relocation, and more! Thank you for your interest in the Nikkel family and Many Hands for Haiti! Keep checking back!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Donations
Hey, I just got done with a new post and I thought of this. If anyone wishes to donate money we ask that the checks be made to Community Coalition for Haiti and that you write CCH Iowa in the memo line. We have received some donations and want to make sure that they are tax deductible for you. Community Coalition for Haiti is based in Virginia and they have been kind enough to allow us to form an Iowa chapter and use their non-profit for any donations we recieve. This allows your contributions to be tax deductible as they would not be if the checks are made out to Stacey and I directly. If you would like to know more about Community Coalition for Haiti visit CCHaiti.org on the web. Thank's so much.
Stacey really did a great job telling our story. It is fun to reflect on how powerful God wants to be in each of our lives. I would like to say thank you to those who have responded to the blog and thank everyone so much for your generosity and your thoughts and prayers. Stacey and I cannot not express how grateful we are for all the prayers and kind words that have been said for us and to us. We have been impressed by so many people, sometimes people we barely know that have kept us in their prayers. It is amazing to see the living body of Christ at work and to see how each of us fits into His plans. Stacey and I wish everyone a blessed Christmas and we pray that God reveals to each of you "how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is."
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Finally!
We have been strongly encouraged to enter this technological age with a blog about our call to serve in Pignon, Haiti. You may be able to tell I have very little computer savvy and even less blog savvy. This is a new frontier for us!
Here is our story.....
Travel back with me if you will to March 2007. The winter then, unlike now, was fairly mild and spring was fast approaching. Our family had been attending church at TRC, (Third Reformed Church) in Pella, Iowa for a little over two years. We had moved back to the area when Jared took a job with the Jasper County Sheriff's Office and were in need of a home church. We said we would never go to Third, (God has a sense of humor!) because Jared's younger sister worked and attended there along with the rest of his immediate family. We thought we wanted anonymity and we were not going to let family influence where we attended church. I'm not sure why we visited, but after hearing one sermon by Pastor Kevin Korver we were hooked.
As I mentioned we were seeking God but wanted to do so anonymously. Third is a large church and we were able to come and go without necessarily running into people we knew and without having everyone knowing our business. It was just what we wanted. The children's ministry is fabulous and has done it's job encouraging our kids ages five and three to seek Jesus in their lives. We were happy with where we were. Little did we know God had an amazing plan in the works for us.
One Sunday in March a young man and boy were on stage as we entered the sanctuary. We were told they were from an orphanage in Haiti and would be leading the worship for our service. The beat of a bongo drum played by a boy probably no older than 12 was peircing my heart as tears rolled down my cheeks. I wondered what was going on with me! I am not a very emotional person and here I was aching for Haiti a country I knew nothing about! Later it would be explained to me by a wise sister-in-law that the weeping and aching I felt were the Holy Spirit trying to get my attention. Well it worked. Apparently the Spririt was working on Jared as well.
On our way out the door he told me he thought we should go on a mission trip to Haiti for our tenth anniversary instead of on a vacation. I stopped in my tracks and wondered, "Who is this man?" A mission trip had never even been on our radar. He told me later that during the service he felt God telling him, "you have to go there." We both knew in our hearts we were being asked to obey a calling. The next week in the bulletin a trip to Haiti was announced for June. I knew this was our trip even though our ten year anniversary is in 2009. I called the couple leading the group and found out we were the first ones to respond. Here is were things get really interesting. If you believe in God then you must also believe Satan is real. The battle was waged against us in less than a week.
A few days after committing $2400 and 10 days in June and July to a mission trip to Pignon, Haiti our septic system collapsed. We had a four foot diameter hole in our yard that as you can imagine stunk terribly! Our kids thought is was pretty cool as they watched chunks of ground caving into the abyss. All I could see were dollars signs and wondered how I was going to back us out of our trip. We talked about it and wondered if this was God telling us to wait or if this was Satan's way of getting us to abandon Haiti. After much prayer I believed it was the latter. We agreed to wait on cancelling the trip and let the Lord work. I spoke to a wonderful woman about the possibility of a scholarship offered by our church to help defray the costs. I assumed there would be paperwork, a look into our finances, fingerprinting, a blood sample (your mind can get really carried away!) and a committee decision to see if we qualified. She looked at the tears in my eyes and heard the quiver in my voice and said we would have $1200 when we needed it. I knew right then we were going on this trip.
Unfortunately the septic collapse would not be the end of our troubles. We applied for passports 10 weeks before the trip and were told they would have no problem getting to us, so we did not expidite the service. As the trip date approached I was calling the passport agency every chance I got to check the status of our passports. I would always get the answer "they are in process." This went on for two weeks and with the trip within a week I was frantic! Someone suggested I call our Senator's office to see if they could help. A woman on his staff suggested I get everything we needed to re-apply for the passports and to be ready to travel to Chicago (our nearest agency) to get them! I went to Des Moines Wednesday before we were to leave and got my birth certificate then to the Jasper county courthouse to get another copy of Jared's, then we took pictures again. We also had to have a copy of our flight schedule to prove we had a trip scheduled.
Late Thursday afternoon I got a call from our Senator's staffer and she had finally gotten a direct answer from the passport service. Our passports were not in process, they had not even gotten to them yet. Needless to say we were on our way to Chicago that night at 10:00. Our kids got to spend the night with grandma and grandpa and we got to stand in line at 2:30 in the morning to be sure we got in. The line by 6:00 was wrapping around the federal building and we were all there to get passports! We got our passports at 3:30 that afternoon and headed home completely exhausted and wondering if God even wanted us to go to Haiti. We discovered when we were there that He did in fact want us there, full-time.
A couple of months after the trip we were both still processing when Jared came home from work and announced he thought God was asking us to go move to Haiti. I told him I felt the same way. We talked to our pastor and he encouraged us to seek wise counsel and to continue praying for discernment. We spent three Sunday afternoons in October praying with our families, friends and Haiti mission trip leaders. We were affirmed in our calling and began moving forward with preparations asking God to open doors that needed to be open and close doors that needed to be closed.
In February 2008, we travelled with our kids, Jared's parents, and my mom to Pignon. We were graciously hosted by a family running the Haiti Home of Hope orphanage. The purpose of the trip was two-fold. We were trying to determine if we were to join the family there and also to see how our kids would respond to being in a country and culture far different from their own. The kids did far better than we expected and loved being at the orphanage. We felt this was another confirmation and that God had been preparing their hearts all along.
Over the following month we prayed for discernment about whether He wanted us at the orphanage or if He had something else for us. Ultimately a door was closed and we entered a period of waiting. We prayed for clarity and patience believing God was working even though we could not see it.
After six months of praying and waiting the ball is rolling again. We made a trip three weeks ago back to Pignon and stayed with the Mompremier family of United Christians International. During that few days doors were opened as we talked with local missionaries, pastors and leaders about what they saw as needs for the area. We were very encouraged by their acceptance and support and are currently looking at a couple of possible places to land. We believe a large part of our mission will be to coordinate short-term mission trips to the area for various groups. We are also talking to area leaders about starting a training school in the area to provide much needed skills for students graduating from local schools.
There is much to be done and we are confident that God will continue to reveal his plan for us in His time. Thank you to all who have prayed with us and supported us through this great adventure.
More to come....
Here is our story.....
Travel back with me if you will to March 2007. The winter then, unlike now, was fairly mild and spring was fast approaching. Our family had been attending church at TRC, (Third Reformed Church) in Pella, Iowa for a little over two years. We had moved back to the area when Jared took a job with the Jasper County Sheriff's Office and were in need of a home church. We said we would never go to Third, (God has a sense of humor!) because Jared's younger sister worked and attended there along with the rest of his immediate family. We thought we wanted anonymity and we were not going to let family influence where we attended church. I'm not sure why we visited, but after hearing one sermon by Pastor Kevin Korver we were hooked.
As I mentioned we were seeking God but wanted to do so anonymously. Third is a large church and we were able to come and go without necessarily running into people we knew and without having everyone knowing our business. It was just what we wanted. The children's ministry is fabulous and has done it's job encouraging our kids ages five and three to seek Jesus in their lives. We were happy with where we were. Little did we know God had an amazing plan in the works for us.
One Sunday in March a young man and boy were on stage as we entered the sanctuary. We were told they were from an orphanage in Haiti and would be leading the worship for our service. The beat of a bongo drum played by a boy probably no older than 12 was peircing my heart as tears rolled down my cheeks. I wondered what was going on with me! I am not a very emotional person and here I was aching for Haiti a country I knew nothing about! Later it would be explained to me by a wise sister-in-law that the weeping and aching I felt were the Holy Spirit trying to get my attention. Well it worked. Apparently the Spririt was working on Jared as well.
On our way out the door he told me he thought we should go on a mission trip to Haiti for our tenth anniversary instead of on a vacation. I stopped in my tracks and wondered, "Who is this man?" A mission trip had never even been on our radar. He told me later that during the service he felt God telling him, "you have to go there." We both knew in our hearts we were being asked to obey a calling. The next week in the bulletin a trip to Haiti was announced for June. I knew this was our trip even though our ten year anniversary is in 2009. I called the couple leading the group and found out we were the first ones to respond. Here is were things get really interesting. If you believe in God then you must also believe Satan is real. The battle was waged against us in less than a week.
A few days after committing $2400 and 10 days in June and July to a mission trip to Pignon, Haiti our septic system collapsed. We had a four foot diameter hole in our yard that as you can imagine stunk terribly! Our kids thought is was pretty cool as they watched chunks of ground caving into the abyss. All I could see were dollars signs and wondered how I was going to back us out of our trip. We talked about it and wondered if this was God telling us to wait or if this was Satan's way of getting us to abandon Haiti. After much prayer I believed it was the latter. We agreed to wait on cancelling the trip and let the Lord work. I spoke to a wonderful woman about the possibility of a scholarship offered by our church to help defray the costs. I assumed there would be paperwork, a look into our finances, fingerprinting, a blood sample (your mind can get really carried away!) and a committee decision to see if we qualified. She looked at the tears in my eyes and heard the quiver in my voice and said we would have $1200 when we needed it. I knew right then we were going on this trip.
Unfortunately the septic collapse would not be the end of our troubles. We applied for passports 10 weeks before the trip and were told they would have no problem getting to us, so we did not expidite the service. As the trip date approached I was calling the passport agency every chance I got to check the status of our passports. I would always get the answer "they are in process." This went on for two weeks and with the trip within a week I was frantic! Someone suggested I call our Senator's office to see if they could help. A woman on his staff suggested I get everything we needed to re-apply for the passports and to be ready to travel to Chicago (our nearest agency) to get them! I went to Des Moines Wednesday before we were to leave and got my birth certificate then to the Jasper county courthouse to get another copy of Jared's, then we took pictures again. We also had to have a copy of our flight schedule to prove we had a trip scheduled.
Late Thursday afternoon I got a call from our Senator's staffer and she had finally gotten a direct answer from the passport service. Our passports were not in process, they had not even gotten to them yet. Needless to say we were on our way to Chicago that night at 10:00. Our kids got to spend the night with grandma and grandpa and we got to stand in line at 2:30 in the morning to be sure we got in. The line by 6:00 was wrapping around the federal building and we were all there to get passports! We got our passports at 3:30 that afternoon and headed home completely exhausted and wondering if God even wanted us to go to Haiti. We discovered when we were there that He did in fact want us there, full-time.
A couple of months after the trip we were both still processing when Jared came home from work and announced he thought God was asking us to go move to Haiti. I told him I felt the same way. We talked to our pastor and he encouraged us to seek wise counsel and to continue praying for discernment. We spent three Sunday afternoons in October praying with our families, friends and Haiti mission trip leaders. We were affirmed in our calling and began moving forward with preparations asking God to open doors that needed to be open and close doors that needed to be closed.
In February 2008, we travelled with our kids, Jared's parents, and my mom to Pignon. We were graciously hosted by a family running the Haiti Home of Hope orphanage. The purpose of the trip was two-fold. We were trying to determine if we were to join the family there and also to see how our kids would respond to being in a country and culture far different from their own. The kids did far better than we expected and loved being at the orphanage. We felt this was another confirmation and that God had been preparing their hearts all along.
Over the following month we prayed for discernment about whether He wanted us at the orphanage or if He had something else for us. Ultimately a door was closed and we entered a period of waiting. We prayed for clarity and patience believing God was working even though we could not see it.
After six months of praying and waiting the ball is rolling again. We made a trip three weeks ago back to Pignon and stayed with the Mompremier family of United Christians International. During that few days doors were opened as we talked with local missionaries, pastors and leaders about what they saw as needs for the area. We were very encouraged by their acceptance and support and are currently looking at a couple of possible places to land. We believe a large part of our mission will be to coordinate short-term mission trips to the area for various groups. We are also talking to area leaders about starting a training school in the area to provide much needed skills for students graduating from local schools.
There is much to be done and we are confident that God will continue to reveal his plan for us in His time. Thank you to all who have prayed with us and supported us through this great adventure.
More to come....
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