BIG MILESTONE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

We won't keep you in suspense any more ... our big exciting milestone announcement is ...

Drum roll ...

Are you ready?!?! ...

We've reached 100% of our OUTGOING, ONE-TIME FUNDS!!!

Hurray! That's $35,000!!!! This is the fund that gets us overseas, gets us through language school, covers things like visas, immigration, moving our life overseas, initial training and Marcel's maintenance standardization, and LAUNCHES our long-term ministry!!

Crazy right? 6 months ago we started on this "Impossible to man, but possible to God" journey, knowing that it would take a miracle (or many small, every day miracles and acts of obedience) to raise the funds we need. And now, we've completed Part 1 of the journey.

All that being said ... we're not close to leaving yet. Don't worry, we're still here for a while. Because as awesome as it is that we have raised our ONE TIME funds, we still have LOTS to raise in our MONTHLY support before we can go. We're almost at 40% of our monthly support. Will you help us SOAR in this next stage of our ministry by praying for us ... specifically for our upcoming London Dessert Night, for God to reveal new supporters and opportunities to us, and for us to trust Him with everything we need?

Thank you friends and family. Because really--this BIG ANNOUNCEMENT would not have happened without you. Your financial blessings have brought us to our knees in thankfulness many times. You are all truly a blessing!!!!

Long Weekend Update!

Guten morgen! (Good morning, in German!)

Thought I would post a little update on life, support-raising, and some praise/prayer points.

We are very excited (and by excited I mean thrilled, exhilarated, humbled, and all around in awe) to announce that our current support levels are sitting at ...

Drumroll please ...

37% of our monthly support AND ...

99% of our one-time, outgoing support!!!!!!!!

So what does that mean?!

It means we could move overseas now, but we'd have to move right back to Canada, LOL. 

So what does it mean for you ... friends, family, supporters, and potential financial supporters?

It means from here on in we're going to put a big push on finding monthly supporters. We want to have all of our support raised by AUGUST. 

But, we know a lot of people do not feel "financially equipped" to commit to being a monthly supporter. So we want to introduce you to a couple of options:

1) Become an annual giver! Maybe you prefer to see one withdrawal a year, as opposed to twelve, and you have a favourite time of year (like post income tax return?). You can commit to give once a year as an annual giver. Will you consider becoming an annual giver of $50, 100, or 200? Your commitment is our peace of mind.

2) You can still give a one-time donation. What will happen to your one-time donation, once we reach 100% of our outgoing fund? It will be counted in our "monthly support" and split up over 48 months. As you can imagine, this still helps us out a lot. We just want to encourage people that if you know you can commit to a similar or smaller amount per month or year, that your commitment helps bring more stability and predictability to our funds!

Now ... on to some praise and prayer points ...

1) Obviously, a huge praise point for us is that number--99%--of our outgoing funds! Wow! And not only that, but God has just richly blessed us with amazing people as our monthly supporters. We are consistently loved, encouraged, and blessed by them!

2) Some personal prayer points. Marcel and I signed up to be soccer coaches this summer. We wanted to do this to meet new people in our community, so please pray for relationships to be made, bridges to be built and team unity! Additionally, it's been on our hearts for a while now to start a "Christianity Explored" Bible study for non-Christians and friends, so please pray for this to come to fruition!

3) Please pray for our upcoming dessert night at West London Alliance Church on June 1st. We want this to be our biggest event. Please pray for at least 50-80 people to come, and for us to see a dramatic increase in our monthly financial support.

4) Finally, please pray for our staff team at MAF Canada. They are currently in the discernment stage of determining where we would serve best overseas, and no doubt, they could use a lot of prayer for this! We're hoping to find out soon where God will lead us!

God bless friends! Have an amazing long weekend!

Cool Donor Stories (Part 1)!

Hi there!
Just want to share two totally cool donor stories. Why? Because it shows just how cool, fun, and FAITHFUL our God can be in providing for His kids!!!

Story #1: The Great Commission

At our dessert night in Blenheim, we had the chance to meet a couple who knew my grandparents well after many years of euchre games. He was an insurance salesman, and around Christmas, had sold one of the biggest policies of his life. The commission he made from it was large, and he was excited for the extra income because they needed it! But, time after time, obstacles kept the cheque from landing in his account for weeks on end. However, God was faithful; he provided for the couple during this time ... even without the big bonus cheque. Finally, the cheque arrived--on the day of our dessert night! They heard our presentation, and came up to us after. They shared their story, excited by the way God had orchestrated everything together so that they could give us a cheque for $1000. Wow! 
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." --Proverbs 16:9

Story #2: "I never win anything ..."

This story follows a common theme: financial institutions! Our dear friends and life group leaders from West London Alliance, Matt & Kate, were at a work appreciation dinner. At the dinner, there were various items up for prizes, and employees could enter tickets into the draws of their choice. Kate sat through prize after prize being given away to fellow employees, all the while thinking, "I never win anything at these sort of things ..." There were prizes for vacations, sports tickets, etc. etc. Finally, they got to the last draw of the night. And the winner was ... Kate! What was the prize? $1000 to the charity of her choice! Matt and Kate couldn't wait to share the good news with us! Over dinner, they told the story, then presented us with a cheque for MAF Canada from the account of Kate's employer--a large financial institution. What a blessing! 
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." --Romans 8:28

Praising God for YOU!

Yesterday, as we presented to Heritage Fellowship Baptist Church in Ancaster, I said a line which never ceases to amaze me, "We can't get overseas without HUNDREDS of people helping us from home."

HUNDREDS.

That's a lot.

And it caused me this morning to pause and reflect on our partners. Whether you lift us up in prayer, donate a little bit to our ministry with MAF or donate a LOT, or whether you are just a dear friend who loves us when we need it most, we literally can't do this without you.

I'm so thankful for our partners in this ministry. And I want you to know how precious and important you are too--how crucial you are to this ministry!

Planes fly on the prayers of supporters.

Lives are profoundly changed by as little as a dollar a day.

The Bible is taught, translated, and delivered to those desperately hungry for the word.

Death is conquered by life with each medical evacuation flight.

Hope is shared, heart to heart, and hand to hand, in communities ravaged by war and nature.

Your life becomes a legacy, all because you cared.

Thanks friends and family for caring! We love you, and we praise God for how important each one of you is to MAF's work!

A Thankful Heart

Lately, God has been challenging me to be more thankful. Have you ever been in that same place? God is so good and yet, like second nature, when I pray, I skip over my blessings and focus on what I still need from God. I make light of the many ways He has been faithful, and go right on requesting.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (New Living Translation) says: "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 

So, after I burst through the doors Sunday night and exclaimed to Marcel, "My heart is so thankful, I feel like it might explode! Like actually ... I feel like I'm having a heart attack and I just need to dance!" I'm going to do the blogiquivocal thing and share some of the good things God has done and how He has shown His faithfulness. If you pray for us, or just enjoy being happy for us, here are some things you can join us in praising God for:

- His faithfulness in bringing in new monthly partners. This past week He provided us with four new monthly supporters--some of them a complete surprise to us! We are so thankful for dear friends and family!

- His encouragement through conversations and visits with friends and family. Also, his encouragement through epically amazing food (I am 100% certain Thai food and Tim Tams will be on the menu in heaven!)

- His provision in bringing our monthly support up to 15% and outgoing funds up to 32% ALREADY! Should we start packing? YAYYY!

- His faithfulness in lining up several upcoming events and meetings for us--dessert nights, ministerial meetings, bible studies, and coffee dates!

- His mercy in allowing us to go on a family vacation in February brought to you by the the Boers clan! So pumped to make memories with the family!

For all the things God has done, and continues to do, I have to add one little thing at the end. I am most thankful that God does so much of His work through people. We are so thankful for the people God has used to bless us in the past weeks and months, and we desire to return those blessings to those people. Thank you to all of you who follow God through big or small steps of obedience! You set an incredible example to us!