About Our Trip team members Serving in the Garifuna Village in Seine Bight Bringing ministries, childcare, projects & more!

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Brenda Patrick
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1 1225 E. 2nd Street Belvidere Illinois B E L I Z E M I S S I O N T R I P About Our Trip team members Serving in the Garifuna Village in Seine Bight Bringing ministries, childcare, projects & more!

Cathy Dulgar Team Leader Hi! My name is Cathy Dulgar and I am a Palm Tree. What can I say about myself... I love photography, gardening, and scrapbooking. I love my family! I love my friends!

2 Cathy Dulgar Team Leader Hi! My name is Cathy Dulgar and I am a Palm Tree. What can I say about myself... I love photography, gardening, and scrapbooking. I love my family! I love my friends! I love Jesus! I am an optimistic person that tries to spread joy wherever I go. I started working at Immanuel Lutheran Church in March My previous work experience is as a manager in banking before staying home to raise my children. I have two sons: Andrew (26) and Jeffrey (19). I have been happily married to my husband, Don, for 12 years. We have two pets: Roxie ( 10 year old black lab) and Peanut (15 year old cat). I am blessed to be part of such an amazing church family. Immanuel has been my church home since This amazing journey that God has led me on still surprises me at just about every turn. Who knew in March 2013 when I accepted the position at Immanuel that I would be serving along side so many amazing faithful servants?! God knew.. He knew all along that our friends in Belize are in need of being loved like Jesus loves. God knew that Immanuel s church family would be holding children, painting homes, sharing the Gospel with men in the village, loving on the women in bible study, and so much more! God had been preparing me my entire life to do exactly this.. to lead and bring this faithful team outside the walls of the church to the country of Belize. I am not too good at discernment... but I am learning! I am so very excited to serve along side everyone on the team. Just remember, we are palm trees!

Andrea Davis Sue Dorn Belize Mission Society Executive Director Sue Dorn of Arlington, TX is currently serving as an LCMS career missionary Sue is

She says she wouldn t be doing this if she didn t feel called by God. My name is Andrea Davis.

I have taught Sunday school, helped with music camp, & VBS.

3 Andrea Davis Sue Dorn Belize Mission Society Executive Director Sue Dorn of Arlington, TX is currently serving as an LCMS career missionary Sue is the executive director of the Belize Mission Society, an LCMS-Recognized Service Organization. She says she wouldn t be doing this if she didn t feel called by God. My name is Andrea Davis. I am married to Tony Davis and have 4 kids ages 24, 19, 15, & 9. I have been a member of Immanuel since I have taught Sunday school, helped with music camp, & VBS. I am the youth assistant for Immanuel and took our youth group on a mission trip to Nashville, TN. I love working with youth. It is exciting to see them grow closer to Christ. I developed a passion for mission work after spending a year in South America. I have done mission work in various countries. I am excited to travel to Belize and be able to give support to the people there.

Sheila Morrall Dave Bergmann My name is Sheila Morrall. I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran in Belvidere since 2006.

I enjoy camping, hiking, fishing, singing, reading, cooking, gardening, scrapbooking, traveling, and watching any sport/activity that my children are involved in.

I was an exchange student while studying for my undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse and attended La Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico for the spring semester

4 Sheila Morrall Dave Bergmann My name is Sheila Morrall. I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran in Belvidere since I have a husband, Heath, and 3 children, Colton (15), Joshua (15), and Josie (5). I grew up in Gays Mills, WI on a dairy farm with my parents and two sisters, one older and one younger. I enjoy camping, hiking, fishing, singing, reading, cooking, gardening, scrapbooking, traveling, and watching any sport/activity that my children are involved in. I am the Spanish teacher at Belvidere South Middle School and have been teaching in the district for 20 years, 7 of which were at Belvidere High School. I was an exchange student while studying for my undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse and attended La Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico for the spring semester of my sophomore year, which changed my life forever. I am extremely honored and excited to be chosen for the mission trip to Belize this year! It is already impacting my life and I cannot wait to see what else God has in store for our group. He is with us and helping us all to walk on water as we go out of our comfort zones into new experiences. What an honor to serve Him! Hello! I am David Bergmann, a retired mason contractor. I am married to my wonderful wife, Carol and have three daughters. I also have three grandchildren and one on the way (due June 10). I have been a part of the Belize Mission Society for 5 and a half years. God has blessed me to be involved with the people in Belize to spread the word of Christ.

Gary Tate Sharon Thomas Gary was a Lutheran School teacher for 36 years and also worked in the Schaumburg Library for 20 years. He and his wife moved to Belvidere in 2013.

One of Gary's favorite experience was living in Poland for a couple of months and working with the Polish Lutheran church. This is his second trip to to Belize with a group from Immanuel Lutheran.

5 Gary Tate Sharon Thomas Gary was a Lutheran School teacher for 36 years and also worked in the Schaumburg Library for 20 years. He and his wife moved to Belvidere in Gary has been involved with international mission work for over 20 years in various countries. One of Gary's favorite experience was living in Poland for a couple of months and working with the Polish Lutheran church. This is his second trip to to Belize with a group from Immanuel Lutheran. The group from our church impressed Gary so much, that he wanted to go again. This is such a great way to spread God's word and to build the church. My name is Sharon Thomas, and I have the tremendous opportunity to serve with this amazing adventure of Service to our King! I work as a product owner (business analyst) for a thriving electronic medical record company, Practice Velocity. I have been an active nurse for 33 years, graduating from OSF School of Nursing. My nursing career has kept me focused primarily in the Belvidere and Rockford areas. I have had the opportunity to speak at several nursing conferences nationally, as well as small groups sharing my Medical Mission Work. My strong family ties in the Belvidere community have kept me happily tied here. I enjoy golf, writing, amateur photography, and I passionately serve as a Volunteer Medical Missionary/team leader with LCMS Mercy Medical Teams, and the Belize Mission Society. I have volunteered with 17 trips in the past 9 years. I have had the tremendous opportunity to serve in Banda Aceh, Indonesia (devastated by the tsunami in 2005),Kenya, Madagasca, Uganda, Tanzania, and Haiti. I was team leader on a mission to Haiti, where we worked to set up a trauma center 5 days post-quake in the border town of Jimani, DR., helping to coordinate the care of over 1000 patients in one week. I have been married to Fred Thomas for 33 years, and have a son and daughter in law, Christopher and Katie Thomas, and an adult foster-daughter, Candy Farel, and 2 grandchildren. I am an active member of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Belvidere. I serve on the Board of Directors of Lutherans in Medical Missions and this wonderful organization is helping to sponsor me for this mission. I LOVE mission work and am thrilled to be serving with each of my team members.

Will Waugh Abby Gustafson My name is William Waugh and I graduated from Genoa Kingston high school in 2012.

I love to watch the Cubs, Blackhawks, and Bears. My hobbies are I love to snowboard, play slow-pitch softball, and played baseball in high school.

6 Will Waugh Abby Gustafson My name is William Waugh and I graduated from Genoa Kingston high school in I now attend Kishwaukee College and would like to transfer to NIU for a degree in business analytics. I also volunteer as a leader of the youth group at Immanuel Lutheran Church. I love to watch the Cubs, Blackhawks, and Bears. My hobbies are I love to snowboard, play slow-pitch softball, and played baseball in high school. I have been a member at Immanuel Lutheran for about 6 years. I am always looking for an opportunity to serve, and I thought this would be a great opportunity. My name is Abby Gustafson. I am a new member of Immanuel and am finishing up my first year teaching first grade here at Immanuel Lutheran School. I have been teaching for 3 years and previously taught in Mt. Pulaski, IL. I have been a part of the church since I was born and was even baptized at the old Immanuel Church. This will be my first mission trip and I am so excited for this great adventure doing God s will! In my downtime I enjoy reading, exercising, spending quality with family and friends, and enjoying God s beautiful creation. God is so amazing and I can t wait to see and experience all the wonderful opportunities in Belize!

Steve Reuss Nichole Seabaugh My name is Steve Reuss, I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church since 2007. I have a wonderful wife Valerie and a son Jerry who is a student at the school here.

I enjoy camping, hiking, fishing and traveling with my family. I am excited that I have been chosen for the mission trip to Belize. I look forward to the challenges of serving.

7 Steve Reuss Nichole Seabaugh My name is Steve Reuss, I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church since I have a wonderful wife Valerie and a son Jerry who is a student at the school here. I grew up in Neenah Wisconsin with my parents and older sister. I am a Firefighter Paramedic with the Cherry Valley Fire Dept. for the last 15 years. I enjoy camping, hiking, fishing and traveling with my family. I am excited that I have been chosen for the mission trip to Belize. I look forward to the challenges of serving. I hope to grow my faith, understanding and become closer to God. My name is Nichole Seabaugh. I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church since I am involved with youth ministry and am currently a huddle group leader in Immanuel's confirmation program. I will be attending the National Youth Gathering this summer in New Orleans with the high school youth as well. My husband Nate and I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary this August. We have three children Alexis (14), Evan (12), and Charlotte (9). We have a puppy named Roofus. I am a stay at home mom and babysitter, I also homeschool my two younger children. In my free time I enjoy gardening, cooking, binge watching shows on Netflix, and spending time with my family and friends. I am excited to be going on this year's Belize mission trip. I am looking forward to seeing how God will use each one of us to help grow him kingdom.

I m extremely social and love to talk so when it comes to actually meeting all of you it won t be difficult to approach me, in fact I encourage it!

8 Patrick Felvey Carmella Wold My name is Patrick Felvey and I am very excited to go on this mission trip with everyone! I love working with other people and meeting new people and traveling are passions of mine. I m a people person and enjoy helping others when I can with whatever I can. I m extremely social and love to talk so when it comes to actually meeting all of you it won t be difficult to approach me, in fact I encourage it! I feel extremely lucky to be going on this trip with everyone and I m very excited to be able to experience a new culture and then at the same time be able to go and help out in any way I possibly can. With that being said, I would like to thank all of you for picking me and I will not let you down. I can promise to all that you will not regret allowing me to join you on this mission trip and I cannot express my appreciation for Immanuel Lutheran for giving me this opportunity. Hi my name is Carmella Wold and I have been a member of Immanuel for two and a half years. This will be my first out-of-the country mission trip. I have attended mission trips with the youth at my previous congregation in Michigan. I have been married to my husband, Josh for five years and we have an adorable 2 year old son named Dennis. I graduated from Concordia University Chicago with my Bachelors in Psycology. After college, I worked as a teacher s assistant in a 7th and 8th grade classroom at a school in my hometown. This is when I found my passion for helping children and their families. I went back to school at Loyola University in Chicago and received my Masters in Social Work. For the past eight years, I have been working with children/youth and their families. I have used my skills in all different settings, such as the Cook County Jail. For the past two and a half years I have been working at Camelot Therapeutic Day School in Garden Prairie (the old Kishwaukee Elementary School). Each student that enters our building has been placed in our school by their district due to their behaviors. I believe that every child has the potential to be successful no matter what environment they are growing up in.

I am currently a junior in the nursing program at Northern Illinois University. Athletics have been a huge part of my life and they continue to be. I am a Chicago Cubs, Bulls and Bears fanatic.

9 Mason Lucca Tim Schramm My name is Mason Lucca and I have been a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Genoa, Illinois my entire life. I have always had a calling for helping people and have sought out opportunities in my community to do so such as tutoring and various projects through Trinity Lutheran Church. I am currently a junior in the nursing program at Northern Illinois University. Athletics have been a huge part of my life and they continue to be. I am a Chicago Cubs, Bulls and Bears fanatic. My hobbies include backpacking, fishing, skiing, golfing, playing pickup games of basketball and playing slow-pitch softball. I am the third of four boys in my family. Being that this is my first mission trip, I hope to grow as a person and to gain a new perspective on life. Most importantly, I hope to strengthen my faith and share God s love with others. I could not be more excited to see what He has planned for all of us in Belize. My name is Tim Schramm. I have been a member of Immanuel for approximately 9 years and a Saturday night Deacon for 4 years. I am originally from Pomeroy, IA, and graduated with a Business degree from the University of Northern Iowa. I am currently VP, Global Human Resources for SPX Hydraulic Technologies in Rockford. Since college I have lived and worked in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, South Carolina, Virginia, and currently in Roscoe, IL. In my spare time I like to workout and watch sports. I'm a big Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings fan, as well as a college football fan. Frankly, this trip is out of my comfort zone, but I am looking forward to it.

Cary, 28, lives and teaches in Shanghai, China and has for 7 years. We miss him daily but have been lucky enough to visit him twice since he s been there.

10 Denise Huntington Mary Whitehouse Hi, my name is Denise Huntington. I live in Marengo and am a member of St. John s Lutheran Church in Union. Separately, but together, my husband, Don, and I have four children. Cole, 30, lives in Marengo with his wife Hillary and our first granddaughter, Margaret, who ll be 1 in April. She is so much fun! Cary, 28, lives and teaches in Shanghai, China and has for 7 years. We miss him daily but have been lucky enough to visit him twice since he s been there. Both of the trips were learning experiences and a lot of fun, ask me sometime how bugs taste! Taylor, also 28, lives with his wife, Katelyn, in Evanston and we don t get to see them nearly as much as we would like to. And last, but certainly not least, is our only girl, Abigail. She is our sunshine and I m thrilled to be going with her on this trip! My husband and I own and run Huntington Service Company in Marengo, an appliance repair business that has been around since We are also part owners in GloBowl Family Fun Center in Marengo, a bowling alley with a restaurant inside called Trio Grille. In my spare time, when I m not at one of the businesses, I like to play with our granddaughter, read, do crafts, and play bells at church. I m very excited to be stepping out of the boat and to see what God has in store for me and the people I m going to meet! Hello, my name is Mary Whitehouse. My husband Carl and I have been married 25 years. We have 2 children Andrea and Justin. My son, Justin will be joining us on the mission trip to Belize. I enjoy hiking, biking and birding. Currently, I am a 7 th grade science teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Rockford. We have been members of Immanuel for 16 years. I so look forward to serving Christ through the Belize Mission. It is something I have always wanted to do. I am so glad that at this time, the Lord guided my children and me to experience such an opportunity with the members of Immanuel.

Justin Whitehouse Mike Tolsma Hello my name is Justin Whitehouse. I am currently a sophomore at Winnebago High School where, I am part of the football, baseball, and wrestling teams.

I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church for about 14 years. I am really excited to be a part of this year s mission trip to Belize.

11 Justin Whitehouse Mike Tolsma Hello my name is Justin Whitehouse. I am currently a sophomore at Winnebago High School where, I am part of the football, baseball, and wrestling teams. My hobbies are football, hanging with friends, family, and also playing guitar and drums. I hope to specialize in manufacturing and business. I have been a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church for about 14 years. I am really excited to be a part of this year s mission trip to Belize. I think that it is a great way to give back the way that God has given to me. My name is Mike Tolsma. I ve been attending Immanuel Lutheran in Belvidere regularly for three years and have been a member for two and a half years. I ve been married to my lovely wife Kelly for 33 years. We have been blessed with three wonderful children, Sherri Taylor, Travis Tolsma and Cory Neubert who have given us seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. I am the D.O.T. Safety and Compliance Manager for Liebovich Steel and Aluminum. Throughout the Midwest region, we dispatch approximately 100 trucks per day on our nation s highways. I enjoy gardening, golfing and travel, but my enjoyment mostly comes from spending time with family. I m so honored to be chosen to serve with our Belize Team. I believe with God s hand upon our shoulder we can accomplish all things He has called us to do. I am looking forward to serve this Mission and continue to serve the Lord as I walk with Him in my personal Mission. Fear Not Tomorrow, God Is Already There. -Ruth Graham.

They have all attended Immanuel Lutheran School and Rockford Lutheran (as did I).

12 Kathy Gustafson Janet Sandersen My name is Kathy Gustafson and I have been a lifelong member of Immanuel. I have been m a r r i e d t o m y wonderful husband Tom for 28 years and we have 4 great children. Andrew is 26, Beth is 24, Matthew is 20 and Jonathan is almost 18. They have all attended Immanuel Lutheran School and Rockford Lutheran (as did I). I currently work full-time at North Boone CUSD 200 and part -time at Viking Sewing Gallery inside Jo-Ann Fabrics in Rockford. I love to bake, sew, crochet, cross-stitch, read, travel, garden and knit my own socks. I am excited to be chosen to go to Belize even though I am unsure of my role. I hope that I can serve and grow as God wants me to. Greetings from Colorado, beautiful I am excited to have the opportunity to grow and serve with all of you. It has been my humbling and wonderful experience to make lifetime friendships through participation in world missions. I am happy to have the opportunity to meet all of you! Thanks for letting me come along! I am a wife, mother, grandmother (AKA - MIMI) and, an RN. My passion in nursing relates to mother and infant care. I have several years of experience in this field. I am a Colorado native and enjoy most outdoor activities that are available. We especially enjoy hiking, biking and the breathtaking natural beauty around us. I have had the incredible opportunity to participate in previous LCMS Mercy Medical Missions. This is where I met our fearless leader Sharon ( I hope you all know she wears a super hero cape under those scrubs!) It is hard to put into a few words the spiritual, emotional and physical growth that one experiences through opportunities such as this. I can tell you that it creates a hunger to want to go again, it breaks your heart and, leads to an incredible awareness of gratitude.

Meet Your Team! Belize Mission Trip. Funding for this journey provided by: About our Mission Trip... J U N E

J U N E 2 0 1 5 Meet Your Team! Belize Mission Trip 1225 E. 2nd Street Belvidere Illinois 61008 815-544-8058 www.immanuelbelvidere.org/church www.backtobelize.com www.facebook.com/belizemissiontripilc