Our Mango is FULL!

As of today, July 17, we have officially passed the point of being 100% funded for our year in the Dominican Republic!

The way we figure our support balance can be a little confusing, so stick with me here:

• Our account balance currently stands at $36,079.60.
• We currently have monthly pledges of $17,880.
• That gives us a grand total of $53,959.60.
• However, some of the money currently in our account came from those who have started their monthly giving, so we must subtract $2,565.00 from the grand total.
• That leaves us with an adjusted total of $51,394.60.
• However, we're not quite done yet!
• There was one expense of $241.25 for passports. (the expense for flights has not cleared yet)
• If you add that expense back into the adjusted total, you end up with $51,635.85.

There is one more adjustment that must be made to understand how we have passed 100%. About a month ago, Dan worked with the Nappanee Missionary Church financial staff to pick out a health insurance policy. We found one that came in under our proposed budget of $350 per month and so we have adjusted our budget accordingly. We have also rearranged some items because it makes more sense to consider some things a one-time cost (i.e. health insurance) than a monthly cost. Our new grand total of needed funds is $51,100.00, which is less than the adjusted total above. Therefore, we're happy to announce that our support is currently at 101%!

I know that was a lot of math and I might have lost a few of you along the way. I got lost myself once or twice while typing it! But even if you don't follow, or care about, the numbers, we can all agree that this is a good reason to celebrate and thank the Lord for His provision!

We have been absolutely blown away by the generosity we've seen from many people. Whether it was financial gifts, words of encouragement, time spent mentoring us, time spent teaching us Spanish, help with our Rummage Sale or the many prayers we know have been said on our behalf, we thank God - and you - for all of it!

We are about five weeks away from our departure date and we have a lot of details to take care of in that time. But throughout this whole process God has been teaching us that we can rest in Him. We can trust His plans and His provision in all things. After all, WHEN GOD CALLS GOD PROVIDES!

The NEXT Big Step

So, when are you leaving?

That's the most common question we get these days. We never get tired of hearing it, but it has become somewhat tiring trying to find creative ways to answer it! We've only been officially preparing to become missionaries for 132 days, but it feels like we've been hearing this question for a long time.

Most times we'll say it just depends on when our support money comes in. Or more recently, we've been getting a bit more specific, saying possibly August.

Well, we are very happy to share with you that we now have an exact answer!

AUGUST 22

Friday, Aug. 22, is the day we fly to the Dominican Republic to begin our year of service there!

As you can imagine, the pace of our preparations has quickened a bit since purchasing flights. We have a lot to do and a lot of arrangements to make, but we are not overwhelmed by it because we know God has directed our path this far and He won't leave us now!

The flights on August 22 are a big step for us, but they are only the NEXT step. Just getting to the Dominican Republic is not what God called us to do. He didn't ask us to simply live in another country for a year.

Our call has been very clear since the beginning of this process. We are CALLED TO SERVE! We are excited to have a timeline for when our service starts, but it only reminds us of the continued need to be obedient to what our Heavenly Father calls us to do.

We continue to have support needs.

• We are not yet fully funded so if you feel God calling you to help send us to the Dominican Republic, click HERE and put "Weiss Family" in the space next to missionary support.
• More than ever, we need people who are committed to pray for us regularly. Pray that we'll be obedient, healthy, prepared and flexible.
• As we make arrangements to move, needs will certainly arise. Some already have. If you're interested in helping us prepare to leave, please email Dan or Katie.

As always, we are blown away by the support we've received from so many of you. Thank you! We love you all and cannot wait to share this journey with you.

Support Update - June

Our Heavenly Father is amazing! He is so good to us and He is always faithful!

We just received our latest update and we have some incredible news to share with all of you.

Our new grand total of support currently in our account and that which is pledged to be given throughout the year is $47,166.85!

Several reasons this amount is significant:

1. This total puts us at 90% of our goal and only $5,135 away from 100%.
2. All of our start-up costs (click here for our budget) are currently in our account.
3. We have more than $6,000 currently in our account that can be applied to our monthly expenses.

Being so close to the goal has made us see a need to shift our thinking and prayers toward preparation. Here are some ways you can pray with us:

• We feel it is appropriate to start asking God to tell us when He wants us to leave. This may or may not be a specific day, but at least a window of time when His timing will be right for us to make the move to the Dominican Republic.
• As we think about leaving home for a year, the thought of all the logistics and details can quickly become overwhelming. Please pray that God will give us wisdom and foresight so the details don't become too much for us to handle.
• We need God to prepare our hearts, minds, bodies and spirits. Everything we know is about to change drastically and without His Spirit leading us we will be lost!

Once again, we want to thank all of you who have been so generous with your time, prayers, encouragement and finances. You are being used by God and you are just as much His Hands & Feet as we are. We love you all and will be praying for each of you regularly!

Rummage Sale Update

Saturday, May 24, was a beautiful day to have a rummage sale and we were blessed by many helpers and donors who gave time and possessions to make our sale a huge success!

From about 6:45 a.m. until after 6 p.m. there were ALWAYS customers on the parking lot looking at what we had to sell. At the end of the day, we all dragged ourselves back to our house, shared some pizza and thanked God for His goodness to us. The exact amount deposited into our support fund is still not calculated, but it was somewhere around $2,800!

So, for anyone who gave items to sell, made financial donations, spent time helping us organize or helped run the rummage sale, we say a huge THANK YOU!

SUPPORT UPDATE - May

If you're wondering why there is a partial mango above, it's
because mangoes are plentiful and incredibly delicious
in the Dominican Republic. They are one of our favorite
fruits from that country. It also makes for a fun visual way
to keep track of our financial support raising process.

Once again, we find ourselves completely blown away by the encouragement and generosity we've been given! Today as we look over our ever-growing list of people who have committed to pray for us and want to receive updates about our journey to the Dominican Republic, we are amazed that the list contains 50 people/families!

If you've heard us speak about our calling or read this post about support, you know how valuable your prayer and encouragement are to us.

In addition to our list of prayer supporters, today we received our financial support for the month of April and we cannot even put into words how excited and grateful we are! Based on the report and the amount of money pledged to us over our 12 months in the Dominican Republic, we are currently standing at 41.4% which equals $21,635 of our $52,300 budget.

God is so good and He always provides for our needs and equips us for our calling. Thank you all so much for being part of our team and being obedient to the way God is leading you!

Happiness or Joy?

Over the past few weeks I've been given a much more somber view on our calling to the mission field. It's easy to look at it romantically and think of it as a great adventure. However, the reality is that the adventure may not always be comfortable.

I told some friends recently that I've been thinking about death and suffering lately. That's a sure way to kill a conversation! I haven't been dwelling on negative things, just gaining a proper perspective.

One of the biggest concerns I have right now is that many people think God really just wants to make all of His children happy. If you can find anywhere in the Bible where it says that, please show me!

I know God wants to make our joy complete (John 15:11) and that God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) but those are completely different ideas than being happy. Happiness is a momentary, short-sighted emotion. Joy is a deep, lasting state of being that includes peace, contentment, purpose, love and worship.

If God's goal for us is happiness, then He would never demand anything difficult or uncomfortable of us. He would make us as comfortable as possible. But if God wanted us to be so comfortable, why in the world did He need to send us a Comforter?

If He just wants us to always be happy, why would He ask us to lay down our lives and carry a cross?

The more I learn about Jesus and being one of His disciples, the more convinced I am that happiness isn't part of the equation ... but joy is! When Jesus sent out His disciples He warned them that they WOULD be persecuted, flogged and hated. Jesus changed Paul from a zealous religious leader into the greatest missionary the world has ever known. Along the way, Paul was mistreated, shipwrecked, hungry, stoned and imprisoned many times.

So, why do we think living for Jesus is supposed to be easy, comfortable and happy? Where in the Bible can anyone find anything to support those thoughts?

Joy takes a long view of things. Happiness is immediate.

Have you ever made your kids do something they didn't like because you knew it was best for them? Have you ever had to take something away from your kids because you knew it wasn't good for them?

Some lessons can only be learned through pain and discomfort.

When Jesus asked us to go we had to make a choice between happiness and joy. We could have said no and settled for a temporary, surfacey happiness that would not last. Instead, we said yes to the deep, lasting joy that comes from letting go of the things of this world, the plans we've made, the comforts of home. Sure, there will be pain along the way. It is going to be very uncomfortable at times and we may shed some tears. We may even face some dangerous situations that put our lives at risk. Safety is never guaranteed in the Bible either! But in order to get to complete joy we must obey all He has commanded us and remain in the love of our Heavenly Father. (John 15:9-10)

Being a Christian is easy and comfortable because it's all about what you believe and not what you do. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is hard because you have to do what Jesus did!

Please understand that following Jesus is the absolute most important thing in our lives. That's the legacy we want to leave to our kids. And that's the reason WE HAVE TO GO!

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!