John Kuperus December Update

Kuperus Family Update

This has been a year full of adventure and travel.  We began this year on an outreach in India with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) where we arrived in Bangalore and traveled to Dharwad, Chichadurga, and Belgaum to name a few.  I will remember the people who treated us very well, sharing the gospel, and the monkey man who climbed walls at the Fort in Chitradurga (Google ‘monkey man of Chitradurga’ and you can see him on Youtube).  

Following our Discipleship Training School we returned to Redlands, California where our van was parked.  We drove across the country with Uncle Marv (my brother-in-law Jack Datema’s uncle) and made a few visits.  One of our visits was to Blyth Christian Reformed Church, where we were able to share with the congregation about our experience in India.  This was wonderful for us and I wanted to honour a request by Henry Exel, who specifically requested, “You need to come back and share with us your experience.”  Unfortunately, Henry was not with us physically.  He was in a tragic car accident while we were in India and died. 

We continued to travel on to New Jersey and spent some time with family and friends.  We were in a place of waiting and not sure what was next.  I applied to a number of churches for pastor position, which did not materialize.  While we were in that place of waiting, the leaders for the Crossroads Discipleship Training School, Bob and Carolyn Hopkins, were looking for staff.  I said, “We are available.”  They said, “Come.”  The Kuperus family was back on an airplane to Hawaii.  Our children filled this time by catching up on their home schooling work.

The three months of lecture phase were over and our school went on outreach, while our family returned to New Jersey and Ontario to spend the summer.  

In August we returned to Hawaii which will be our home for at least two years.  

After living on campus for three quarters, we are now in the process of finding housing off campus.  It is very convenient to have housing on campus, although it is good to have a break from YWAM.  In addition, the University is short of housing and is encouraging us to find housing off campus.  For me this search began by asking God for a house on Oni Oni Street on the left hand side going up the hill.  This was attractive to me because it is within walking distance of the campus. The back of these houses connects with a 65 acre undeveloped field that belongs to YWAM.    I figured if we could get one of those houses, we could cut a path across the over grown field.  This was my jogging route and so I paid close attention to those houses.  I discovered in time that one house had a van and a truck parked out front but they never moved.  I began to ask some questions to the neighbours and discovered who owned it.  The owner had a diving business and went bankrupt.  After some research, we discovered the bankruptcy officer, who asked us to make an offer on the house.   We have made an offer for the 3 bedroom/1 bath, 1307 square foot house.  This will be tight for our family, although the neighbor told us that it has an additional room that is not on the town’s records.  (Presently we are living in a 2,000 square foot, 4 bedroom/2 bath flat.)  The house is in the Hillcrest neighborhood with a unique clientele.  Please join us in prayer that God would open up housing for us and that the funds would be available.