A WELL-TRAVELED PATH FROM IOWA TO GUATEMALA

Serving in the Christian missions field in Central America has been an ongoing ministry in the lives of Justin and Vicki Schrock. In 2000, Vicki’s uncle and aunt paid for them to go on mission trip to Guatemala. They spent 10 days there with Paradise Bound Ministries. “We just served the Lord and learned a lot about ourselves, Jesus, and what our future held,” Vicki said.

They made a number of return trips to Guatemala, including a very meaningful one with Vicki’s parents and siblings. In 2009, friends there called and asked them to put the word out to supporting churches that Paradise Bound Ministries needed help for a summer – they were looking for people who were good with kids, had nursing skills, and could drive a van. With unsuspecting inspiration from their pastor and support from the consistory at Maurice Reformed, the Schrock family answered the call. With their five children at the time, Justin and Vicki helped the team in Guatemala during summer 2010.

Fast forward to 2014, both Justin and Vicki quit their jobs, rented out their new home and answered a call to return to Guatemala. The staff of Paradise Bound Ministries had grown from two to 24 people. Justin said, “They needed help organizing clinics and organizing staff. So I was the missions operation director and Vicki put her nursing and organizational skills to work.” From 2014-2015, all eight members of the Schrock family lived in Guatemala. In addition to helping organize the medical clinics and providing foundational medical care (parasite medications and vitamins), they helped build houses and did pastor trainings.

“We didn't go down with a timeline,” Justin said. “We decided we’d stay there until the work was done. In about a year and a half, we worked ourselves out of a job. They had all the right people, they had just needed to get shifted around into the right place. That was really encouraging to see.”

He described Paradise Bound Ministries as an organization that literally goes to the end of the road and then a mile further. “That's what drew us to them … the mentality to help the lost and forgotten, not by giving handouts, but by providing a hand up.” of marriage. According to Justin, “If you had to sum us up, the motto we live by is: ‘Why not?’ If an opportunity comes along, I’m not afraid to jump in the swimming pool – but I do check to make sure there’s water in the pool first. Vicki's the one up on that diving board ready to jump, saying ‘Let’s go do this!’”

It's rarely that simple, though. Included in the question of “Why not?” is a process of prayer and discussion. “Just because you can doesn't mean you should,” he said. “Everyone's wired differently, and God's going to use people in different ways. Scripture talks about the different parts of the physical body, and it's the same with people having different roles spiritually.”

Vicki added, “A calling to me starts out as a desire or want; and then it turns into a prayer.” If the idea doesn’t go away, then it’s time to seek wise counsel and further dissect the opportunity. “Like Justin said, I'm a jumper. If I get an idea, I just kind of go for it. But Justin provides checks and balances to make sure this is right for our family. There’s a lot of discussion around the dining room table just discerning what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.”

Justin said, “A lot of people will look at a situation and list all the reasons why they can’t do this or that. For us, if we feel like God’s leading us to do it, well, why not? Let’s go on this adventure.” Growing up, Vicki’s parents instilled in their children the idea of ‘Why don't you try it?’

Justin and Vicki met as students at Northwestern College in Orange City. Justin grew up in the town of Adel, Iowa, near Des Moines. Vicki grew up north of Maurice on the farm of her parents, Phil and Kathy Dykstra. At Northwestern, Vicki was pursuing a degree in social work and Justin majored in

Christian education, with a goal to be in youth ministry. They were married the summer before their senior year. After graduation, Justin got a position as a youth pastor at Calvary Reformed Church in Ripon, California. Vicki worked at Bethany Christian Services in a group home for pregnant teens.

Central to their lives have been more than a dozen mission trips to Guatemala (see sidebar story on page 19). In addition to this ongoing ministry, they wanted child adoption to be an important part of their lives together. Back in California after their first mission trip, one of the teens at the group home where Vicki worked asked them to adopt her daughter.

“That’s how our oldest, Angelique, came to join our family. I helped take care of her as a newborn and then she moved to our house when she was four months old.”

Fourteen months later, their son, Caleb, was born.

Three years after moving to the West Coast, Vicki's home church, Maurice Reformed, called Justin to be its youth pastor. They lived in Maurice and he served for 10 years at the church which typically draws in three times the town’s population on Sundays.

When Justin took his position in Maurice, Vicki became a social worker at Sioux Center Health. In 2006, she decided to attend Northwest Iowa Community College to become a registered nurse. “It’s been the best thing. Being a nurse has been very fulfilling for me.” After graduating, she worked at Promise Community Health Center.

Their daughter, Emilee, was born in 2006. In 2009, they adopted twin daughters, Miya and Kira. When Vicki was pregnant again in 2011, eight-year-old Caleb threatened to cut off his leg if the new baby was a girl, too. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. He and his youngest sister, Naomi, ended up having perhaps the tightest bond of all their children.

According to Vicki, “Each one of the kids brings a very unique dynamic to our family. And, at the end of the day, they get along really well together.”

Angelique, 20, is pursuing a degree in social work at Grand Canyon University, a Christian college in Phoenix, Arizona. Caleb, 19, is attending Western Iowa Technical College in Sioux City, studying police science.

Emilee, 17, will be a senior at Unity Christian High School in Orange City. Her mom said, “She owns the coffee equipment here (at The Triple Box event center) and she really wants to be a chef or a baker, and maybe have her own coffee shop and bakery.” If that doesn’t work out, she also likes to fix cars, so maybe she’d be a mechanic!

Twins Miya and Kira are 14 and will be freshmen at Unity Christian. Vicki described Miya as their “hostess” because, even though she’s reserved, she wants to make sure everyone is taken care of and comfortable. Kira is creative, artsy and more social. Vicki’s prayer that the twins be different and not be competitive with one another was answered; the girls excel in very different areas.

Naomi, 12, will be a seventh grader at Orange City Christian School. She's mature, practical, and loves to help the underdog and serve people. Justin said, “She's one of those who says ‘Don't tell me I can't do it because I'm too young.’” When construction was happening on The Triple Box, she was just four years old, but treated it like a job, helping pour cement and however else she could.

For many years, Schrocks looked for an acreage in the Maurice area. In 2012, Vicki’s brother, Dave (who was a plumber at the time and now farms with his brother and dad, plus operates Dykstra Repair and Sales), ran across what looked to be an ideal property. Things moved quickly: Open house on Saturday; return visit on Tuesday with Vicki’s dad who affirmed the house had “good bones” and potential; an offer was made on the same day; and the offer was accepted on Wednesday.

Most people might have said, “Ok, now we’ve settled down.” But not Justin and Vicki. Two years later, they both quit their jobs, rented out their new home and answered a call to return to Guatemala.

After returning from their longest mission to Guatemala, they wanted to find an enterprise the family could do together to generate income. Between a high school job and many years in youth ministry, Justin had background in event planning and execution. After looking at various options, Vicki’s dad, Phil Dykstra, and church friend, Kent Mouw, ingeniously figured how to convert an old cattle shed on the Schrock acreage into an event space with a large free span area. Weather allowed for pouring of the cement floor in early December 2016.

The first event was a graduation reception in May 2017 and the first wedding reception was in July 2017. Since then, the Schrocks have hosted weddings, reunions, anniversaries, quinceañera parties, funerals, homeschool events, gym activities, church services, Christmas parties and leadership retreats.

The multiple use nature of the facility is reflected in its name: The Triple Box. A triple box was a wooden wagon used by pioneers for hauling grain from the field, livestock to market, bringing the family to church on Sunday, or other tasks. A triple box had multiple functions and was simple. Justin and Vicki said The Triple Box event center operates in the same spirit – multiple possibilities with a simple flair.

The couple credited her parents for always demonstrating resourcefulness. Vicki mirrors those skills –discovering surprising places to buy unique items, from building materials to fixtures for their event space.

Phil and Kathy Dykstra also cultivated a sense of family esprit de corps in this and other projects. “It was an allhands-on-deck family project,” said Vicki. “We all worked together to get it done. We also feel really blessed to be in this community with people who are willing to come alongside you to help.”

Both Justin and Vicki have been able to work careers around running the event center. Vicki is an instructor in the nursing department at NCC and Justin works for Martin Brothers, a distributor of food products, kitchen supplies and other supply lines.

Through events at The Triple Box, “We do feel blessed and honored to be part of people's special days. We feel strongly about helping them create memories and a great shared experience,” Vicki concluded.

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