Hands & Feet Rummage Sale

We are only 50 days into the process of officially pursuing God's call to serve in the Dominican Republic and already our lives have been changed and blessed dramatically!

As we said in our last post, we are so overwhelmed with the generosity we've been shown over the past month. 

• Support money is coming in!
• We can feel prayer support happening even now!
• New relationships are being formed!
• God is proving Himself faithful every day!

Thank you so much for all you've done and the role you play in our lives.

Now, we've got a big announcement and another opportunity to tell you about.

On Saturday, May 24, we are having a Rummage Sale with all the proceeds going toward our support fund. We have graciously been allowed us to use the parking lot at 2206 Lincolnway East (which is also a block away from our house) to hold the sale and we're really excited about it!

We know many of you regularly have garage sales and so we're asking if this year you would be willing to donate some or all of the items that would normally be part of your garage sale to our Rummage Sale. Even if you don't normally have garage sales and just have some extra stuff you've been wanting to get rid of, would you consider donating it to our sale?

One other opportunity we want you to know about: We'd love your help sorting, pricing and staffing the sale on Saturday, May 24. We haven't figured out all the details yet, but we'll start early in the morning and try to keep the sale going until the sun goes down! So if you're up for a full day of fun with us it would be a great blessing!

Let us know if you want to help out in either of these two ways: 
1) Donating items or 
2) Helping with the sale. 
And, of course, you can do both!

You can email us at danweiss76@gmail.com or krweiss78@gmail.com

You can call us at (574) 256-8783 or (574) 400-9936

Again, thank you all so much for your friendship and support. We love you!

SUPPORT UPDATE - April

The question we are asked most often these days is, "How is your support coming along?"

Until today we haven't been able to give a very good response because we had to wait for our monthly report. Well, we got the report from our first full month of raising support and we are blown away by the generosity of our friends, family and even some people we've never met before!

We're happy to announce that we are currently at 13.6% of our total budget! That means we've received a total of $7,137 of our $52,300 budget.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your financial support! We are overwhelmed with gratitude!

If you want a quicker look at our support, check out the mango on the right side of the page. Your support will help us get back to the place with the world's best mangoes!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.