Friday, March 28, 2014

The Truth About Support


I have a confession to make. It's a difficult thing to admit, but I want to be completely honest with you.

In the past, when I've received letters asking for support for long-term or short-term missions, I've been a little skeptical. Not about the mission, but about one of the categories of support being asked for.

I'm talking about prayer support.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Words From Those Who Have Been There, pt. 3

This is part 3 of a series of posts with testimonials from people who have been to the Dominican Republic to work with Pastor Quina Ovalles. We are currently in the process of raising support to spend a year with Quina near the city of Moca to work alongside her as she leads four Christian & Missionary Alliance churches.

Lindsay Ziegler has been to the Dominican
Republic twice with Nappanee Missionary Church
IMPACT teams.
LINDSAY ZIEGLER
Lindsay is a veteran of two NMC IMPACT teams to the Dominican Republic. She accompanied us on our first trip in 2011 and our most recent trip in 2013. She has also been on a mission trip to Kenya, Africa, and is currently a freshman at Bethel College.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

What Part are You?



If you spend much time on Facebook these days you've surely seen, or posted, the results of quizzes designed to liken you to a certain character from a movie or TV show. Maybe the quiz was designed to tell you what part of the world you would best fit in. (By the way, I took one of those quizzes - just one - and it said Latin America is where I fit best! Amen!)

Anyway, I think there should be a quiz like that to help you figure out what part of the Body of Christ you are. Wouldn't it be nice to just answer a few easy questions, click a button and get the answer? Then you could start to narrow down God's will and purpose for your life.

While it isn't as easy as taking an online quiz (and sharing it on Facebook, of course) it doesn't have to be a painfully difficult process either.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Words From Those Who Have Been There, pt. 2

This is part 2 of a series of posts with testimonials from people who have been to the Dominican Republic to work with Pastor Quina Ovalles. We are currently in the process of raising support to spend a year with Quina near the city of Moca to work alongside her as she leads four Christian & Missionary Alliance churches.

Kristy Mikel has been to the
Dominican Republic twice as a leader
of Nappanee Missionary Church
student mission trips.
KRISTY MIKEL
Kristy has been a leader of two Nappanee Missionary Church (NMC) student teams to the Dominican Republic - in 2006 and in 2013. She is a former Missionary Volunteer with World Gospel Mission, having spent a year in Kenya. She has led several other NMC student missions trips, served as a summer camp leader, small group leader and is currently on staff full-time in NMC Student Ministries.

We had the privilege of leading alongside Kristy on the 2013 NMC student IMPACT team. Here's what she had to say about her experience:


First of all, working alongside Quina is an absolute blessing! She makes doing ministry in the DR so easy because what she’s invested over the years has been a ton of time, a ton of relationships built and an incredible partnership with amazing churches! Yet one of the greatest needs I see being met is how Quina continues to take others under her wing to “train them up and send them out.” Whether that is taking a young girl in a rough situation into her home and teaching her how to cook, take care of a household and providing so many valuable life skills, while also teaching her about Jesus or whether it’s raising up leaders in the local church who can carry on the vision, Quina has truly brought God glory on earth by building His Kingdom in Moca and the surrounding area! There is a community there who loves her and is learning more and more how to love Jesus because of the good work she is doing!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Words From Those Who Have Been There, pt. 1

The relationship between Nappanee Missionary Church (NMC) and Pastor Quina Ovalles of Moca, Dominican Republic, goes back to the summer of 2006 when NMC sent a team of high school students to work with Quina for a week.

Since that first team in 2006, NMC has sent three more teams of students, called IMPACT teams. The relationship also established a connection between Quina and Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind. Two teams of basketball players associated with Bethel College have spent time working with Quina each of the past two summers.

For us, the Weiss family, our first experience with Quina was in the summer of 2011 as Dan and Katie served as leaders for an NMC student team. We returned the following summer with our children. Finally, we helped lead another NMC team in the summer of 2013 and spent extra time in the Dominican Republic as a whole family.

All this is to say that the relationship between NMC and Pastor Quina is approaching 10 years and has given many people a chance to get to know this amazing woman of God and the ministry of her churches.

We would love to let some of those who know Quina tell you about her and about their experiences in the Dominican Republic.

Monday, March 3, 2014

When Will You Leave?

We are excited to get back to the Dominican
Republic so we can see our friends who live
there! In the picture above from last summer
our friend Gueddy is styling David's hair
after he had been outside playing in the rain.
This is the question we hear most often when talking with people about our year of service in the Dominican Republic. People understandable want to know what our timeline looks like.

Unfortunately, we don't have a good answer for their question!

Our timeline will be based on several factors, but the main one is financial support. Nappanee Missionary Church, our sending agency, requires us to have all of our start-up costs (see complete BUDGET here) in cash and all of our monthly expenses in cash + pledges.