Pavas Ballerz

Hi friends and family! Sorry this is a late blog post for yesterday, we promise to be better in the days to come. Our first full day in Costa Rica we spent the morning playing basketball with the locals at Pavas. A few moments that really stuck out to us during the morning were:

  • How happy everyone was to be playing basketball despite limited opportunities given to them compared to Western culture that we are used to.
  • Despite the language barrier, basketball was our form of communication between one another for the day.
  • AJ and Marcus shared a short testimony to everyone at Pavas. The locals were very engaged and invested in what they had to say. The testimonies were given at the end of the clinic and their engagement showed the bond we had formed over the time we spent together playing basketball.

In the afternoon we went to a market full of Costa Rican vendors selling their handmade crafts. We had an amazing time walking around, connecting with the locals, and supporting their businesses. We met a man named Antonio and as a group we were able to connect with him. Right before we left, he asked us to take a selfie with him showing off all our gifts we got from him. Although, the money we spent was limited, it was really cool to see the impact we had on Antonio through our joy despite the language barrier.

We closed out our first day with awesome testimonies and a bible study focused around happiness. Tucker and Esther provided us with inspiring stories about their faith walk and how that impacted their lives in fruitful ways.

Thank you guys so much for following along, another blog will be posted tonight!

PS: the food has been BOMB!

Kayla and AJ

We made it to Santiago!

Hey everyone! We made it to Santiago! This is Brooklyn and Joe and we will take you through day 2 of our DR trip. We arrived and were settled at the GO Ministries Medical Center, bright and early, at 4am. Our team had breakfast and met Brett, who is our GO Ministries sports leader. For breakfast we had eggs, cereal, and fresh fruit. The pineapple here is amazing!

Afterwards, we rode a bus that navigated the busy streets of the DR. Along the way, we picked up several athletes. We arrived at the GO Leadership Development Center in Tamboril. Fun fact: Tamboril supplies 70% of the world’s cigars. There, we played basketball games with high school and middle school boys and it was extremely competitive. It was exciting to see how faith and God was integrated into their daily activities. A great example is we prayed before and after each game as an organization.


Upon arrival back to the Med Center, we had free time to rest. This was used by taking naps, learning and playing new card games, reading, journaling, and sight seeing on the roof of our building. Our roof overlooks the city and mountain ranges and it’s breathtaking!


Next, Brett’s wife, Kelsey, introduced us to two GO Sport athletes, Caroline and Raymundo. Both athletes shared their inspirational testimonies with how God has worked in their lives.

Then, Brett exchanged our money currency and showed our team around the city. We learned about the founding of GO Ministries. We came back and had nachos for dinner.

At night, our team played cards and went out for ice cream. Fun fact: we all ordered in Spanish (with the help of our translator). That’s all for day 2 of our trip, thank you for following along!

Hello from Costa Rica :)

Hello from Costa Rica! What a great Day ONE (travel day). It is about 12:15pm Michigan time… and about 10:15pm Costa time… Let’s just say we are all a bit tired from a big day of travel… but more importantly we are SO excited for the week to come ❤️.

On this trip we have such an awesome group of Hope Student Athletes. We couldn’t be more excited for the relationships that we will build this week and to see God work.

As we look ahead at the week we are excited to show up and see what God has in store for this group and the people here in Costa Rica.

In the following days you can expect to hear more in-depth stories of what we are doing and lessons of what we’re learning. For tonight, we just wanted to share some of the photos from today with you all!

Buenos noches… and Pura Vida 🙌!!!

It is here!!

Hello family and friends, it is here!

Welcome along to our 2024 seed Dominican Republic trip!! This is Ruby and Andrew and we are going to walk you through our first travel day. First bright and early we awoke and arrived to the one and only Devos parking lot to feast on some good ole bagels. We then hopped on the bus and Johnny safely and efficiently navigated us to the Chicago airport to drop off our lovely friends on the Costa rica seed trip. (so excited for them to flourish and spread the love of Jesus Christ in Costa this week). The bus ride consisted of great chats, some naps, and a couple awesome rounds of heads up thanks to Andrew!! Next we made our way to dave and busters for some awesome team competitions having the time of our lives playing the arcade games. Shout out team orange (Jack, Sydney, Emily, and Joe) for coming out on too. Thank you Dave and Busters for providing us with lunch to fuel us and let us play unlimited games. It was then our time to get to the airport. Where it really kicked in that we were going to be in the DR in less than 12 hours! Wow! We are now in the Newark airport. We have endured a long and mentally taxing day while traveling through the airport but we are still so excited and pumped to be the hands and feet of the Lord in the DR. Next stop Santiago, Dominican Republic!!

Thank you for coming along with us!

SEED Summer 2024…Now Loading!

It’s coming! On Friday, May 24, we launch our first two SEED teams of the summer and we can’t wait to watch our student-athletes learn and grow.

One team will travel to Costa Rica to partner in the on-going ministry of Push the Rock. Hope College student-athletes have been serving with this organization since 2017.

The second team will partner with GO Ministries and GO Sports in the Dominican Republic where we have been connected with their work since 2019.

Both teams will also have the opportunity to distribute Sawyer water filters to bring clean water to individuals in the local communities.

At Hope College, we recognize that sport provides and opportunity for athletes to have a significant platform from which to influence others and we’re excited to see how God uses the passion and talents of our Hope College student-athletes as they serve around the world this summer.

Take a look at the trip calendars below to follow along with our teams and check back for blog updates throughout the trip!

2024 Costa Rica Prayer Calendar

2024 Dominican Republic Prayer Calendar

RESTART!

LAST BLOG!

Today we woke up in our hostel and went out to breakfast for one last hoorah with the Poetice staff before we hopped on the first plane to take us to South Africa. At breakfast, we recapped some of the trip, did a final debrief about re-entry with the Poetice staff, and solved riddles to pass the time. We said our final goodbyes to our new friends from Poetice at the airport with lots of hugs and a few tears. After a quick first flight, we did a little souvenir shopping in the Johannesburg airport before boarding our second leg of the journey headed for London. The 11-hour flight went by quick for most and slow for some but we made it to London safe and sound. We are currently sitting in the Heathrow airport waiting to board our final flight to Chicago, but before we go, we’re going to have one last meal all together since a few of us are parting ways in Chicago while the rest go back to Holland on the bus.

With this being the last blog, we want to thank all our friends and family who supported us and followed along on our journey! Although we’d love to hit the restart button, we can’t wait to see you all soon.

Be Smart. Be Safe. We’re Almost Home!

Libby and Conner (Bucky)

A Day with God’s Creation

Today we had a bright and early morning that started at 5 AM. We packed all of our bags and loaded up into a bus that took us to Livingstone. We started our morning on a game drive through a safari. We got onto trucks that took us through some beautiful scenery and we got to see white rhinos, elephants, giraffes, zebras, and more! We even got to get out of the trucks to get up close and personal with some of the rhinos. We also learned so much from our tour guide about animals and the land that we were on. After the drive, we went out to lunch and had pizza. Some of us had up to ten pieces, so it’s safe to say we were well fed today. Then, we headed to one of the seven natural wonders of the world: Victoria Falls. We saw some breathtaking sights and had some interesting interactions with baboons. Because of how strong the waterfalls were, a lot of us came out of there pretty damp. It was truly a sight to see. After that, we practiced bargaining at the local market! There were so many stands with jewelry, art, and various knick knacks. We all came back with so many stories of the people we met. We went out to dinner next, where a lot of us tried new foods such as crocodile skewers and fried caterpillars! We stopped for gelato before making our way back to the hotel for the final debrief. Back in spring semester, we wrote letters to our future selves that we opened tonight and we got to reflect on our week as a whole and the take-aways we have from the trip. We’re now going to end our night with some games, swimming, and comradery, and tomorrow we will begin our travels home!

Toodles!

Greta R and Mia

House Church for the WIN!

To start our day, we woke up to watch the sunrise. It was an excellent way to see God’s beautiful creation. Our morning continued with conversations and some of us (Tilly and Jonathan) going for a run, and we all joined together eventually to enjoy breakfast. After breakfast, we joined in on the babies and kids church groups that Poetice offers during their adult house churches (they are like large small groups where they learn and grow together). After these couple of hours we split our boys and girls to join the young men and young women house church gatherings. The girls walked through a community neighboring the Poetice base to Nikkie’s house while the boys gathered in the worship center courtyard. Following the house church gatherings, we had chicken salad sandwiches with coleslaw for lunch with a quick turn around to start our Sawyer water filter distribution. We had the chance to break into small groups and work with people who requested a water filter and show them how they worked and are assembled. After doing this we walked with them to their homes to get them set up and show them how the water filter affects the water they are currently drinking and how it makes it cleaner and safer for consumption. Once we all got back from visiting the community, we went to the coffee house and got Cokes, Fantas, and Sprites which totally hit the spot. Shortly after this, we had a send off celebration to say goodbye to Poetice’s amazing staff and volunteers. We were able write notes of encouragement to each other and worship and receive prayer one final time. We then ate dinner all together and enjoyed final conversations while sharing a meal. After dinner we had another “de-long” where we shared the ways we saw God working today, and also shared with each other the things we saw in each other throughout this week. It was a great time of building each other up and appreciating each other’s gifts. We followed up our “de-long” by packing, games, and so many laughs. Knowing we leave Poetice at 5am makes us all tired so for now…

In a while crocodile,

Tilly and Maggee

All Fun and Games

Kwamba,

This morning we got up and ate some breakfast together as a team to prepare for our big day of sports. The boys moved our soccer goals out to a big field just outside of the Poetice base so that we could play a soccer game with the Poetice church community. It was super fun to interact with some of the kids that had been at camp and to meet some more members of the community. The older kids were able to showcase their skills while we tried to keep up, and the younger ones had fun braiding hair and hanging out while watching the game. After lunch Coach V led some of our team and Poetice’s young adults in a softball practice. It was great to utilize the field we built to teach some specialized softball skills that they will be able to teach the youth that are part of Poetice’s ministry. Later in the afternoon kids from the community returned to play volleyball. We all split up into four teams and played a double elimination tournament. Volleyball ended with a showcase game between the best Zambian players. It was quite the show. After the kids left we played our own game as a team until dinner. For dinner we had sloppy joes with some coleslaw salad, and talked all together as a team. We had some time to journal about our day and how God has been working in our lives and then we went out to a bonfire. At our bonfire we talked about our highlights from the day, how we have experienced God, and prayed over the time that we have left here in Zambia. We ended the night with some smores and a game of hot seat around the fire. Join us tomorrow for house churches and more water filters!

See you later alligator,
Greta G and Graham

Take me out to the ballgame!

HELLOOOO HOPE COLLEGE,

Today we had an amazing day full of fun games, service, and good conversations. After another amazing breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, and yogurt, we started our morning off with a devotional led by our amazing Poetice staff, Courteney and Seth, who are both Hope College alums. It was great to discuss how to live out our faith within our sports and our teams. During the rest of the morning, we helped finish the softball field by spreading sand and marking out the infield. It was such an amazing experience to be able to help Poetice with their sports complex as we know it will impact the community surrounding their base. We then got the chance to break in the field by playing the first softball game which included Poetice staff, their families, and our Hope SEED team. We even had an audience show up for the game – it was a big deal! The game ended in a tie which was best case scenario but it left some of our competitive spirits feeling unsatisfied. This of course meant we had to follow up with a volleyball tournament. Prior to the tournament we ate a delicious lunch of rice, sausage, and apples and had some fun conversations including conspiracy theories…is the earth flat? The volleyball tournament was filled with lots of laughs and competitive spirits. SO MUCH FUN! 😀 The lovely Poetice staff surprised us with a treat by taking us into town and buying us all ice cream <3. Dessert before dinner is always the best way to go. Dinner was amazing per usual, chili with rice and bread, YUM! Finally our night ended with our daily debrief as a team, including lots of fun conversations. Our team also got a chance to play hot seat with Seth, Violet, Meg, and Courteney. We loved getting to know some of the staff better. We’re now ending the night playing taco, cat, goat, cheese, pizza. We’re excited for tomorrow to continue growing our relationships within our team, the Poetice staff, and the community. Tune in tomorrow for an update about the soccer game and volleyball game!

Beep beep boop boop bye bye,
Sophia and Jonathan