2013 Brazil Missions Trip is just around the corner!!  We will be updating this blog as often as we can from now through the end of the trip, so check back often!  For now, meet the 2013 Team!!  

Conrad Hake, Youth & Missions Pastor

I first met Leandro and Julie Tarrataca as a freshman at Calvary Bible College, when Leandro was working on his Master's degree. In coming to Grace a few years later, I discovered that our church supported the Tarrataca's ministry, which led to the opportunity to reconnect with Leandro and Julie. Their ministry had grown into church planting, theological education, and community outreach, and both my gifts and the strengths of our church led to a partnership to send teams and serve alongside the Tarratacas. My love for soccer also fits in well with Brazilian culture!

Missions has a been a passion since high school, and while my philosophy of missions has significantly developed since my first mission trip to Branson in 1997, I am still pursuing God's call on my life from that summer. I have served with or led 11 international mission teams to Venezuela, Ukraine, Mexico, and Brazil and twice as many domestic teams.

Michelle Hutchins

My name is Michelle Hutchins and I attend church at Avondale Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO. In 2009 I was presented with an opportunity to go on a mission trip (largely based on music) to Thailand, which would have taken place in 2010. This trip fell through, but I have known since then that God has called me to serve Him through music. In 2010 I began to spend a great deal of time with Hannah. Hannah's mom knows Debi, this is how I found out about the trip. For about 2 or 3 years now I have felt God calling me to Brazil; but I have never felt the time was right until I heard about this trip. Everything fell into place in a way that only God could have orchestrated. I have helped with VBS a couple of different times and I have been on 3 mission trips (one to St. Louis and 2 to Fenton, MI). I also have learned to teach reading via Hooked on Phonics. A fun fact about me is that I am a very outdoorsy person and I took 6 years of horseback riding lessons.

Shawn Knauts

My husband Kurt and I have been married for 26 years. We have one son – Chase – who is 23 and an Accountant for the same insurance company where I’ve worked for 24 years. My current position is Regional Director in Claims. Kurt and I have lived in Columbia for 2 years and have been members of GBC for 1 ½ years. Arkansas is our “home” state where all our extended family lives. I’ve participated in 2 different international mission trips – one in Spain & Morocco and the other in Paris. Both trips involved distributing the Jesus video/materials and in Paris we were also ministering to Moroccan/N. African immigrant women. Over the years, I’ve served in all ages of children and youth ministry, but the majority was spent teaching high school girls and working in youth ministry – usually participating in all youth functions and chaperoning youth mission trips. I have also enjoyed being in music ministry and filled the role of worship/music leader for a short time. I love to cook and enjoy painting when I feel inspired and have the time. Right now, I’m enjoying training in Krav Maga 3x/week with the fierce Debi Hake!

Abbie Boyer

My name is Abbie Boyer and I will be a sophomore in college next year and plan to study business. I have worked in VBS at my local church for several years, and have worked as a camp counselor for Turkey Hill for two summers.  I have been on two missions trips to Honduras before and they were both life changing experiences. God has really placed missions on my heart and I am excited to see how He will bless this trip to Brazil. I am connected to Grace Bible through Debi, who was my high school soccer coach. Fun fact about me; my favorite book is 'To Kill A Mockingbird.'

Hannah Park

A few years ago my church showed a video with a report from some of our missionaries in Brazil. From that very day God placed Brazil on my heart. I knew I was supposed to go to Brazil and do some mission work there. And I thought I knew what group I was supposed to go with. But as time went on it became clear that, that group would not work out for me to go with after all. I still knew the where, just not the when. People would often ask me about it and I would tell them I knew it wasn't time yet. Some people didn't seem to understand that, so I often got frustrated. People seemed to want me to go right then and there and didn't seem to understand that God was telling me to wait and be patient. So I went on with my life, waited, listened, and kept busy in the mean time. Last year I got involved with the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. I wanted to be a Romani dancer as my brother had been a few years before me. But they were only looking for two girls and I wasn't it. But I was asked to be a Romani stilt walker. So I did that for a year hoping that I would be able to be a dancer the next year. Earlier this year we started the audition process and it was looking like I might actually stand a chance of being a dancer. But as time went on I started realizing that I couldn't afford it and I didn't have the time required to be a Romani dancer this year. So I dropped out of the auditions. A few days later my mom told me that she knew someone that her and her husband took a small team to Brazil every year on a mission trip and they were still needing 1-2 people. I knew from that moment that it was time for me to go. I told my best friend about it saying that I knew there was no way that this could have worked out if God hadn't had something to do with it. It was timed too perfectly, with my having cleared my schedule from something that would have kept me from being able to go. So my mom contacted Debi and everything fell into place from there. I'm excited to see what God will do while we're in Brazil. I've had the privilege of working with the 3-5 year olds at my church in the AWANA program. It's amazing how children can touch your heart just as much as you can touch theirs. And I look forward to working with the kids in Brazil and helping them learn about the love if God. I'm also looking forward to see how I may learn from them. The simple mind of a child is an amazing thing and I feel like we can all learn a lot from them.

Abi Brown

I went on the Lakota Trip last year, and have worked with other Grace Bible youth in Glasgow, MO doing VBS type of ministry.  I've never been out of the country and am terrified of flying so this trip should be quite an adventure. I've been going to Grace Bible Church for three years now and I found out about the opportunity of this trip through being in the youth group. I'm very excited about this trip and cannot wait for it!

Debi Hake

My first experience with Missions trips was  the summer after my freshman year of high-school when I went to Mexico with my Youth Group.  Little did I know that trip would change my life in so many ways, opening up a whole new world for me.  The sobering realization that there were thousands of people in other countries that need to know Jesus was something I had heard about for years in church, but not something I had experienced personally. I felt an immediate burden for sharing the Gospel to others outside the US. This first trip to Mexico was also the reason that would eventually lead me into a life of full-time ministry, pursuing degrees in Youth Ministry & Music from a Bible College and serving alongside my husband for over 11 years in full-time ministry.  Following that first trip to Mexico, I have since returned to Mexico for 8 more missions trips, taking my own children along on one of those trips.  I have also assisted Conrad in leading multiple domestic trips to the Navajo and Lakota Indian Reservations.  This year's trip to Brazil will be my second, and we are beyond excited to have the privilege of taking our 2 kiddos, Josiah & MacKenzie with us this year!  We feel that our children are part of our ministry and hope and pray that they catch the vision for missions that Conrad & I have.  Outside of missions I enjoy watching my 2 kids grow up crazy fast, coffee dates with friends, coaching soccer, designing and creating new products for my handmade clothing line, and continuing to train for Triathlons.

Maddie Jones

Fun fact about me,  I can balance on my face (literally), and have the entire Les Miserables musical memorized.  I have gone on one missions trip to the Lakota Indian Reservation  in South Dakota, where we held a day camp for the local kids, a lot like VBS.  I have participated and helped lead VBS in our local church, and have helped leading VBS in Glasgow, MO.  In Lakota I met many amazing kids, and was lucky enough to build relationships that I've been able to keep up with. I am interested in long-term missions and am going on the trip to Brazil to really get a feel for what missions looks like in other countries.