It was more difficult than I thought it would be to leave you at the airport for your Guatemala adventure. How am I going to manage leaving you at Dordt this fall. Praying for safe travels.
Hi Ella😀 Thinking of You and Praying for you on your adventure!! Hope you are having a good time and taking it all in!! This is gonna be a trip that you will Never forget!! Can’t wait to see pictutes and hear all about it.
(((((😀❤)))))
Hi Ella, I am so glad that you are on the team heading to Guatemala! You are going to be such a blessing to those you meet and to those on the team. Praying that God reveals Himself to you in new ways as you serve others. Praying for safety, good health and most importantly changed lives!
Ella, Praying that you experience the fullness of God this week and realize that He is the same God there in Guatemala as He is here in the States. Sometimes it can be difficult for us to recognize him in the fast paced social media filled lives we live, but when we slow down and take the time to seek him, we soon realize his glory! Blessing to you.
I Pray you get a good night’s sleep tonight. Try not to itch your poison ivy. Work hard tomorrow and take in the culture. May God bless your work and your interaction with those around you. Love you!!! Love Mom
I have slept great so far, my poison ivy is doing really good. we had really good food for lunch, the guacamole is so much better here. We will finish our house tomorrow morning. I have been doing a lot of painting and dry wall mudding. We got to paint murals on the peoples homes. I painted the mountains and psalm 121:1-2 on their wall. I am becoming more comfortable with speaking Spanish to the people. The kids are so excited to play catch with us with their new tennis balls, and the girls love to have their nails painted.
Ill tell ya more about it when I get home
te amo mucho (I love you lots) :).
Ella Koster
I just enjoyed reading Pastor Kevin’s blog. Such an exciting time for you. Our prayers will be with you this week and as you do the hard work, may you feel God’s presence surrounding you. He is the source of everything you will need. Blessings
How is it going? Keep your eyes open… seeing God at work can be quite exciting.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Rom 15:13
Ella, you are on our minds, our hearts and in our prayers. Praying for God to use you to plant seeds and just letting his light shine through you. What can I pray for you specifically? What can we pray for the community for specifically. Cant wait to hear about this trip and the ways you have seen God work!
Thank you so much for your prayers! We are finishing our homes that we built tomorrow morning. you can pray for my health, that is a biggie. The water here makes us very sick and we have already had a few close calls with people accidentally rinsing their tooth brushes in the local water (but thankfully we caught it before anything bad happened) :). specific prayer needs for village we are working with would be getting access to clean water and getting basic medical supplies. Thanks in advance!
Ella-
Praying that you are safe and healthy as you serve others in Guatemala. Glad that you could go and be a blessing to others.
May you be blessed too! Nyens wishes she could be there!
Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. As you may have seen from Kevin’s posts, we are all done with the construction of our homes and will be finishing up the murals we are painting on the walls tomorrow. After finishing our paintings we will be dedicating our homes. I am having a blast. Last night we had the opportunity to visit the kids in the orphanage (too bad I’m too young to adopt them all, they are all so cute). It was a great opportunity for me to practice my Spanish skills. The kids at the village are also warming up to us. When they see our vans pull up they coming running because they know that white vans means “dulces y regalos” (candy and presents). Im so excited to keep building relationship and keep doing Gods work throughout the rest of the week :).
Hi Ella😀❤ Looks like you and all the others are having a Fun and Special time!!! I’ve seen some pictures of you and been reading the Heritage updates, looks like a really busy and Special time you are all having!! Lots of Love and Prayers!! (((((😀❤)))))
Hola hermana
I haven’t been home to wear your clothes but now that u mentioned I would love to wear some haha just kidding. I hope your having a lot of fun and I’m praying for you. I miss you so much. Te amo ❤️❤️
do you think mom would let us adopt about 50 kids? they are all so adorable. I gave out the bracelets that I made today and it was so cool to see how excited they were to get them.
Ella, it’s great to see your smiling face on the pictures! It looks like you are having a fantastic time. I’m praying for good weather and good health for all of you. It’s raining here, hopefully not there.
Ella, Thanks for your updates. From the pictures I think I’d love to take some of those kids home with me as well. I am thankful that you are able to make connections with them. Yep… every kids loves candy and presents 🙂 I am so glad that you are enjoying serving God in this way. Blessings!
I loved looking at the pictures tonight. It looks like you have been doing a lot of work but also playing with kids. You look happy. I know these past few weeks/months have been stressful for you. I pray that you are developing a deeper relationship with God and getting a new perspective on life. Miss you, love you, praying for you.
As you probably know, today was dedication day. We went in the house we built with the family and I am proud to say that the whole family accepted Jesus today. I gave out the bracelets that i made to the kids, they were so excited about them. We also had to say our last goodbyes to the families today, that was hard. Its amazing how many close relationships you can build in three days, even with the language barrier. It puts a smile on my face to see how excited the kids are to see us. All they want is for us to play with them, carry them, and of course, get candy.
Also, during our devotions tonight we took communion, one of our team members was having a difficult time with it so we all laid hands on him and prayed for him. I am thrilled to say that he also was welcomed into Gods family today, praise God :). I cant remember the last time that I balled with tears of joy, it was definitely one of the coolest moments of my life.
Miss you lots ❤,
Your favorite oldest daughter Ella
I sounds like your heart is overflowing with love for those around you and that God is working in you. Like Mary treasure all these things in your heart. I pray the medical clinics will go well. Love you, miss you, praying for you.
We are headed to the medical clinics soon, please pray for health. I think we all may have gotten food poisoning or something because almost half of our group is having stomach issues. I had a little bit of a problem, but im feeling fine now. Hope you have a great day 🙂
Love you
Good morning Ella, yesterday was a culmination of so many prayers and hard work! We all Praise God with you and the team, as so many were welcomed into the family of God. There was much rejoicing in Heaven last night and the party will continue today! As you make the switch to a new village, my prayer is that you take all that you have learned in the past few days and put that into practice tonight. You will be amazed how God will help you break down barriers quickly and by the time Hermano Jesus or another Guatemalan pastor gets up to speak, their hearts have been prepared to hear the words of love. Praying for you and the team as you minister in new ways tonight. Praying for safe travels on the “roads”. Praying for sickness to stay away from you. Praying for many changed hearts.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
With Love and Prayers for you,Ella and your mission team! What a journey you are on with God’s leading and His protection over you as you work and interact with the people there. They love you, can tell from the pictures! So Proud and Thankful for your time spent there!
Hi Ella, just found out yesterday I could leave you a message. I’m enjoying the pictures and the blogs. Love and prayers for you in what looks like a life changing emotional God blessed trip. Looks like you got rain yesterday too. Love you, Grandma K( sounds like Grandpa and your Dad are heading home today as they are getting our rainy weather today. Can’t wait to hear your stories and see your pictures!!
Hey Ella it’s getting down there now countdown time! Praying that you are doing the countdown with anticipation but a bit of sadness as well. What a fantastic experience for you! May God keep you healthy and strong for the last few days see you soon
Hey Ella it’s getting down there now countdown time! Praying that you are doing the countdown with anticipation but a bit of sadness as well. What a fantastic experience for you! May God keep you healthy and strong for the last few days see you soon
Good morning Ella, praying for a safe travel home and health and strength, as your trip is coming to an end. Can’t wait to see you, and hear all that God has done, on your awesome trip, and in your life.
Ella,
So glad to hear about all the good things God is doing before your eyes and in your hearts. Is it true that your parents are planning to adopt 50 kids into your family? If so, Congratulations! I look forward to meeting them too.
Have a great time as you continue to serve and to love those God has put before you.
Ella, I wish we could adopt 50 kids but I can hardly handle the 3 kids we already have. Dad and Clayton made it home from Canada safely. They had fun fishing. I am sorry to hear that you weren’t feeling well. I will pray for the health of the team. It is no fun to be sick away from home. I love the picture of you and Tyler with nail polish on. Addy thinks that Tyler looks good with polish. 😀 It is hard to believe that you trip is almost over. Are you ready to come home? You are going to need a vacation from your vacation. We are praying for you. Love you. See you soon, love mom
Ella:
I am so thankful that you were able to go on this trip to Guatemala. I am so grateful for the God sightings and the blessings that you have received while doing work for His kingdom. I will continue to pray for strength and stamina for the remainder of this week and also for good health
My eyes fill with tears of joy when I read about all God has done through you and the team. What a week you have had. I will continue to pray for all of you and look forward to hearing your stories,
Are you ready to come home? I look forward to hearing all about your trip. I pray that you will be able to bring back what you learned and experienced and share it with all of us. I will pray for you all as you leave Guatemala behind. You will be leaving friendships and all those kids behind. Praying for safe travels for you all. I will be waiting for you at the airport. Love you!!! Love mom
Im ready to sleep in my own bed, have real food (meaning not beans and rice), and most importantly ice. I am not looking forward to goin back to work and leaving all the people i met behind. I will miss melony the most. She is a little girl that i became friends with at the orphanage. Every night I would tuck her in like a burrito then when I would turn around she would jump out of bed. Im going to miss her a lot. See ya at the airport.
Team Heritage 
It was more difficult than I thought it would be to leave you at the airport for your Guatemala adventure. How am I going to manage leaving you at Dordt this fall. Praying for safe travels.
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love you so so much. Its so pretty here the view is amazing. I will be home before you know it :).
P.S. tell addy my clothes are off limits.
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Hi Ella😀 Sending you Hugs and a Smile as you head out on your adventure!!! Lots of Love and Prayers!!
(((((😀❤)))))
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Thanks Aunt Lisa! traveling went really well and we have a beautiful view, ill make sure to show you pictures when I get back 🙂
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Hi Ella😀 Thinking of You and Praying for you on your adventure!! Hope you are having a good time and taking it all in!! This is gonna be a trip that you will Never forget!! Can’t wait to see pictutes and hear all about it.
(((((😀❤)))))
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Hi Ella, I am so glad that you are on the team heading to Guatemala! You are going to be such a blessing to those you meet and to those on the team. Praying that God reveals Himself to you in new ways as you serve others. Praying for safety, good health and most importantly changed lives!
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Hi Ella, so glad u arrived safely. Have a wonderful time!!! U r in my thoughts and prayers.
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Ella, Praying that you experience the fullness of God this week and realize that He is the same God there in Guatemala as He is here in the States. Sometimes it can be difficult for us to recognize him in the fast paced social media filled lives we live, but when we slow down and take the time to seek him, we soon realize his glory! Blessing to you.
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I Pray you get a good night’s sleep tonight. Try not to itch your poison ivy. Work hard tomorrow and take in the culture. May God bless your work and your interaction with those around you. Love you!!! Love Mom
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I have slept great so far, my poison ivy is doing really good. we had really good food for lunch, the guacamole is so much better here. We will finish our house tomorrow morning. I have been doing a lot of painting and dry wall mudding. We got to paint murals on the peoples homes. I painted the mountains and psalm 121:1-2 on their wall. I am becoming more comfortable with speaking Spanish to the people. The kids are so excited to play catch with us with their new tennis balls, and the girls love to have their nails painted.
Ill tell ya more about it when I get home
te amo mucho (I love you lots) :).
Ella Koster
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I just enjoyed reading Pastor Kevin’s blog. Such an exciting time for you. Our prayers will be with you this week and as you do the hard work, may you feel God’s presence surrounding you. He is the source of everything you will need. Blessings
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How is it going? Keep your eyes open… seeing God at work can be quite exciting.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Rom 15:13
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Ella, I hope you have had a great day! I pray that God will give you the strength and sleep that you need. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”
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Ella, you are on our minds, our hearts and in our prayers. Praying for God to use you to plant seeds and just letting his light shine through you. What can I pray for you specifically? What can we pray for the community for specifically. Cant wait to hear about this trip and the ways you have seen God work!
LikeLike
Thank you so much for your prayers! We are finishing our homes that we built tomorrow morning. you can pray for my health, that is a biggie. The water here makes us very sick and we have already had a few close calls with people accidentally rinsing their tooth brushes in the local water (but thankfully we caught it before anything bad happened) :). specific prayer needs for village we are working with would be getting access to clean water and getting basic medical supplies. Thanks in advance!
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Ella-
Praying that you are safe and healthy as you serve others in Guatemala. Glad that you could go and be a blessing to others.
May you be blessed too! Nyens wishes she could be there!
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Ella,
Praying for God to carry you through every challenge and shine His light on each step of this journey.
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Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. As you may have seen from Kevin’s posts, we are all done with the construction of our homes and will be finishing up the murals we are painting on the walls tomorrow. After finishing our paintings we will be dedicating our homes. I am having a blast. Last night we had the opportunity to visit the kids in the orphanage (too bad I’m too young to adopt them all, they are all so cute). It was a great opportunity for me to practice my Spanish skills. The kids at the village are also warming up to us. When they see our vans pull up they coming running because they know that white vans means “dulces y regalos” (candy and presents). Im so excited to keep building relationship and keep doing Gods work throughout the rest of the week :).
LikeLike
Hi Ella😀❤ Looks like you and all the others are having a Fun and Special time!!! I’ve seen some pictures of you and been reading the Heritage updates, looks like a really busy and Special time you are all having!! Lots of Love and Prayers!! (((((😀❤)))))
LikeLike
Hola hermana
I haven’t been home to wear your clothes but now that u mentioned I would love to wear some haha just kidding. I hope your having a lot of fun and I’m praying for you. I miss you so much. Te amo ❤️❤️
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do you think mom would let us adopt about 50 kids? they are all so adorable. I gave out the bracelets that I made today and it was so cool to see how excited they were to get them.
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I don’t know if she will but I’m down. Aww that’s so cute. I can’t wait till you get back. Have safe travels ❤️❤️
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Ella, it’s great to see your smiling face on the pictures! It looks like you are having a fantastic time. I’m praying for good weather and good health for all of you. It’s raining here, hopefully not there.
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Ella, Thanks for your updates. From the pictures I think I’d love to take some of those kids home with me as well. I am thankful that you are able to make connections with them. Yep… every kids loves candy and presents 🙂 I am so glad that you are enjoying serving God in this way. Blessings!
LikeLike
I loved looking at the pictures tonight. It looks like you have been doing a lot of work but also playing with kids. You look happy. I know these past few weeks/months have been stressful for you. I pray that you are developing a deeper relationship with God and getting a new perspective on life. Miss you, love you, praying for you.
LikeLike
As you probably know, today was dedication day. We went in the house we built with the family and I am proud to say that the whole family accepted Jesus today. I gave out the bracelets that i made to the kids, they were so excited about them. We also had to say our last goodbyes to the families today, that was hard. Its amazing how many close relationships you can build in three days, even with the language barrier. It puts a smile on my face to see how excited the kids are to see us. All they want is for us to play with them, carry them, and of course, get candy.
Also, during our devotions tonight we took communion, one of our team members was having a difficult time with it so we all laid hands on him and prayed for him. I am thrilled to say that he also was welcomed into Gods family today, praise God :). I cant remember the last time that I balled with tears of joy, it was definitely one of the coolest moments of my life.
Miss you lots ❤,
Your favorite oldest daughter Ella
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I sounds like your heart is overflowing with love for those around you and that God is working in you. Like Mary treasure all these things in your heart. I pray the medical clinics will go well. Love you, miss you, praying for you.
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We are headed to the medical clinics soon, please pray for health. I think we all may have gotten food poisoning or something because almost half of our group is having stomach issues. I had a little bit of a problem, but im feeling fine now. Hope you have a great day 🙂
Love you
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Good morning Ella, yesterday was a culmination of so many prayers and hard work! We all Praise God with you and the team, as so many were welcomed into the family of God. There was much rejoicing in Heaven last night and the party will continue today! As you make the switch to a new village, my prayer is that you take all that you have learned in the past few days and put that into practice tonight. You will be amazed how God will help you break down barriers quickly and by the time Hermano Jesus or another Guatemalan pastor gets up to speak, their hearts have been prepared to hear the words of love. Praying for you and the team as you minister in new ways tonight. Praying for safe travels on the “roads”. Praying for sickness to stay away from you. Praying for many changed hearts.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
LikeLike
With Love and Prayers for you,Ella and your mission team! What a journey you are on with God’s leading and His protection over you as you work and interact with the people there. They love you, can tell from the pictures! So Proud and Thankful for your time spent there!
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Hi Ella, just found out yesterday I could leave you a message. I’m enjoying the pictures and the blogs. Love and prayers for you in what looks like a life changing emotional God blessed trip. Looks like you got rain yesterday too. Love you, Grandma K( sounds like Grandpa and your Dad are heading home today as they are getting our rainy weather today. Can’t wait to hear your stories and see your pictures!!
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Hey Ella it’s getting down there now countdown time! Praying that you are doing the countdown with anticipation but a bit of sadness as well. What a fantastic experience for you! May God keep you healthy and strong for the last few days see you soon
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Hey Ella it’s getting down there now countdown time! Praying that you are doing the countdown with anticipation but a bit of sadness as well. What a fantastic experience for you! May God keep you healthy and strong for the last few days see you soon
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Good morning Ella, praying for a safe travel home and health and strength, as your trip is coming to an end. Can’t wait to see you, and hear all that God has done, on your awesome trip, and in your life.
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Ella,
So glad to hear about all the good things God is doing before your eyes and in your hearts. Is it true that your parents are planning to adopt 50 kids into your family? If so, Congratulations! I look forward to meeting them too.
Have a great time as you continue to serve and to love those God has put before you.
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Ella, I wish we could adopt 50 kids but I can hardly handle the 3 kids we already have. Dad and Clayton made it home from Canada safely. They had fun fishing. I am sorry to hear that you weren’t feeling well. I will pray for the health of the team. It is no fun to be sick away from home. I love the picture of you and Tyler with nail polish on. Addy thinks that Tyler looks good with polish. 😀 It is hard to believe that you trip is almost over. Are you ready to come home? You are going to need a vacation from your vacation. We are praying for you. Love you. See you soon, love mom
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Tell dad happy fathers day for my tomorrow, glad they had a fun time fishing. The whole group is feeling better now. Miss you!
Ella
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Ella:
I am so thankful that you were able to go on this trip to Guatemala. I am so grateful for the God sightings and the blessings that you have received while doing work for His kingdom. I will continue to pray for strength and stamina for the remainder of this week and also for good health
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My eyes fill with tears of joy when I read about all God has done through you and the team. What a week you have had. I will continue to pray for all of you and look forward to hearing your stories,
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Are you ready to come home? I look forward to hearing all about your trip. I pray that you will be able to bring back what you learned and experienced and share it with all of us. I will pray for you all as you leave Guatemala behind. You will be leaving friendships and all those kids behind. Praying for safe travels for you all. I will be waiting for you at the airport. Love you!!! Love mom
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Im ready to sleep in my own bed, have real food (meaning not beans and rice), and most importantly ice. I am not looking forward to goin back to work and leaving all the people i met behind. I will miss melony the most. She is a little girl that i became friends with at the orphanage. Every night I would tuck her in like a burrito then when I would turn around she would jump out of bed. Im going to miss her a lot. See ya at the airport.
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