WOM NEWSLETTER Volume 4
- Jun 29
- 6 min read
📅 June 2026 Edition
Hola amigos!
Greetings from the mission field! Welcome to Volume 4 of The Whites On Mission Newsletter, where we share stories of God’s work across the nations.
THANK YOU!
Our family would like to say a big “thank you” for your prayers, kind words, thoughtful notes, and even cookies that meant a lot to our family over the last couple of months. Kevin was thankful to be able to return to Michigan in March to be with his siblings and parents as they knew the time with his father was coming to an end. Upon arriving back to Bogota a few weeks later, Kevin’s father passed away peacefully. Thank you again for everything during this difficult time. Our family will return to the States for the memorial service to honor Lt. Col. Richard T White, Jr. and what he meant to so many others.
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!
We are all singing this classic song for so many reasons - especially because not having to wake up at 5:00 a.m. every day is a big one! As the final day approached, Karen delegated lunch-making to the school’s lunch ladies and the snooze alarm was hit several times. We ended our celebration of the boys finishing 3rd and 5th grade with a party and awards at school followed by their favorite desserts at Crepes & Waffles. The celebration was bittersweet as the boys said goodbye to friends and teachers and will be starting at a different school in the fall. Please pray that we find a great school that will fit our family better, that is close to our home and allows them to engage with friends with after-school activities in sports and music.
MINISTRY!
A big ministry project Kevin has been working on is the Guest house that is attached to Kevin’s office building. This is a house that mission teams, staff, and missionaries moving to Bogota can utilize while looking for a home. This house has been under construction and was mostly finished for a family of six to stay in for a month or two while looking for a home. Projects like that, purchasing cars, rental agreements, etc., are what keep us busy and keep missionaries on the field!
The Bogota Global Cities team welcomed many summer interns and one night we were a part of their summer learning. Our family was excited to have five of them come for dinner and hear us talk about how we evangelize in our jobs and daily lives. Each week they will go to a different missionary’s home and hear about one of the Seven Core Missionary Tasks. We were thrilled to have two students from Purdue in the group and in our home that night.
The seven core missionary tasks are a biblically-grounded framework that guide us in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16–20) and helps missionaries and churches in developing strategies for global outreach. While the International Mission Board (IMB) identifies six key components, many missional leaders expand the model to seven, emphasizing both evangelism and discipleship in a holistic way.
For our part, we taught about how we evangelize through our work. You might think, “But you’re missionaries! Of course!” While we are missionaries, our job is more on the administrative side that ensures we are good stewards of God’s finances and focus on tasks that involve government agencies, other business, and finances. So, our evangelism is more focused on sharing with those that we interact with where honesty, integrity, and even showing kindness and patience with those with difficult bureaucratic roles. Think of a bank clerk or IRS agent that regularly has negative encounters, and then we are the next person in line with a smile, encouraging word, and even a brief testimony of how God is working in our lives. We have a chance to impact others’ lives that may normally be overlooked.
As Logistics Coordinator for Colombia, we care and help around twenty units which could be a single missionary to a missionary family with four children. Kevin has had the opportunity to visit with almost all the families and that has been very encouraging to both us and the missionaries. One of our favorite opportunities was a trip we took as a family to visit our old home of Cucuta to encourage two single missionaries and see their ministry to Venezuelan migrants. Of course, we took advantage of that time to catch up with old friends and even attend our first Colombian wedding! The boys were asked to be Bible-bearer and ring-bearer for the young couple that we met last summer.
We have been attending a small Baptist church near our home that we pray to get more involved in as we settle in. The church meets in a large house, and is a diverse group of believers with Colombians, Venezuelans, deaf, and a lot of grandparents! Our prayer is that we can help attract more young families to the church. There is a big park next to our church that we see as a great ministry opportunity, especially for folks that love dogs!
FAMILY LIFE!
The boys are enjoying summer and playing with the friends who live in our “conjunto” a gated area with 17 townhomes. We enjoy having the freedom to let them run, play ball and be silly, of course. They are working on their summer reading goals and other fun projects. They will be attending a one-week church camp this summer while in Indiana and they are looking forward to that. They have memorized many verses to earn money for this camp and a big thank you to Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lafayette for the scholarships.
Karen was supposed to take her language test at the end of June but it has been moved back to August. As it is always great to have more time to study, it is also exhausting and even harder with the boys home from school. She has a great teacher and has learned so much more since being in Bogota. She is very talkative, which we all know, and has never had a hard time getting out there and doing all things needed.
Kevin has been enjoying leathercrafting and finds great joy in making items for our home and gifts for friends. He is very talented and it is also a wonderful way to spend time with the boys. Finally, we have been enjoying the World Cup games along with the rest of Colombia. Kevin even closed the office for a few hours to invite his office team over to watch the U.S.A. beat Australia! We love inviting people into our home for fun events like these.
MISSION TRIP!
Northside Baptist Church is coming to us this summer and we cannot wait. The planning began at the beginning of the year, and it is quickly coming together. Our family is blessed to have been their VBS-featured family this year, and the boys were able to make cute missions videos to help the kids at VBS see what Bogota is really like. We thank everyone who is giving, sending, and praying for those going on this trip.
Broken Arrow Baptist Church is again making their way to Cucuta in July as well. What a blessing and joy this team is to the pastors and people in Cucuta. Their love and passion for the Colombian and Venezuelan people is amazing. Money is still being raised by many people for this trip, let us know if you would like the link to give directly to their group. We have worked with them since 2018 when we moved to Cucuta and have always been encouraged by their zeal for evangelism and love for those around.
THANK YOU!
We are always thankful for the notes, cards and even little reminders from home that we receive. Mailing things to us doesn’t work but you do have the opportunity to send something to a church or person coming. Send us a message if you ever want to do that and we will coordinate that for you.
Again, thank you for your prayers as we share the love of Christ in Colombia and proclaim the Gospel. Pray for our travels this summer, to be an encouragement for those we meet, and also for Kevin and his family as they have the memorial for Kevin’s father.
DON’T FORGET!
You can check out the photos, read specific prayer requests and praises on the other tabs. We want to hear from you through email or zoom; we can make it happen. We also have prayer cards we can send to your church if you would like to be praying for us.
IMB missionaries are supported by the Lottie Moon Offering that is collected every Christmas but also throughout the year. If you want to give specifically to a project or help with anything please let us know and email us.
God Bless you and HAPPY SUMMER!
The Whites
Kevin, Karen, Benjamin (11), & Andrew (9)