A letter from Dennis and Sue

WOW! What A Life, and there is still more to come. April, 2008

FIRST A BIT OF OUR PAST. Things were not easy for me as a youth; dyslexia made learning hard,

9 siblings made one on one time scarce; being bashful and shy eliminated possible friendships. To escape, I joined the Air Force where I found alcohol gave me freedoms from myself. I also found my wife Sue; she is from a very poor family, but for the most part didn’t miss much. Sue was the first person that treated me better than I thought of myself. Back in Wisconsin with familiar places, people, and my old job back but now Sue was displaced. In an attempt to find friends Sue started going to church (in Michigan she attended a youth group at the Baptist church.) She did make friends and started dragging me along. We both became Christians in August, 1974. Recognizing God’s grace and unrestricted love changed everything; drinking, smoking, bashfulness and self-pity were replaced with direction, answers, and concern. We put this change to use as youth directors, Sunday school teachers and other opportunities.

OUR LIFE IN THE PRESENT. 33 years later, we are still youth leaders although we are slowing down. Also over the last years we have hosted 30 exchange students; 11 from Central America. Living and parenting with so many different cultures gave us an awareness of the world and its people. We considered short term and long term mission’s work but they were not the right fit. We applied for the Peace Corp; this could work; I could build something and Sue could teach small business, homemaking, and sewing. This sounds like a great idea, we would be improving the world, helping people, and be able to explain our love and happiness comes from God. Plus expenses are covered. OOPS, Sue is diabetic; this slowed this plan down and then Dennis got viral labyrinthitis in April, 2007, this stopped the plan.

OUR DESIRES AND FUTURE. My viral labyrinthitis (dizziness) was a safety problem in the paper mill so in September, 2007 I got a medical retirement. After evaluation and prayer, our new plan is to MOVE TO GUATEMALA. We are considering a 2 to 4 year term. During this time, we will be doing some building projects to help specific families. Our main desire is to work with the Mayan people. Generally they are the poorest. Our plan is to teach the children (that are too poor to go to school) in the morning, this could include food and personal hygiene. The afternoon will be tutoring teens. Sue will specialize in grammar and spelling in Spanish and English and Dennis will concentrate on Math and Sciences. The evenings will be working with adults some wanting reading and writing and others wanting English. During any of these personal contacts, we will be looking for opportunities to grow friendships, express concern and love, and inviting them to accept the same love that helped us to escape our negative past.

OUR PLAN AND YOU. The most important is prayer support. Obviously, we will need God’s help. If you add us to your weekly prayer list, this would be great. Our money need is already supplied by God, because of the medical retirement; this gave me a full pension. However, if you do give financially, 100% will go to the poor. We have an account set up with PayPal; there is a link on our web site. Please note that we are not tax exempt.

You can keep in contact with us by visiting our web site which will be updated monthly. santkuyl.blogspot.com

We look forward to what God is going to do in our future and how we can help to improve lives through education, love, and grace.

In His Service,

Dennis & Sue Santkuyl