Don't Come To Us, We'll Come To You! Event Video

Here is the video from our second annual year-end giving event: Don't Come To Us, We'll Come To You!

Thanks so much to everyone who came and has viewed the video, and thanks to everyone who has asked questions so far! So much fun! We are excited to see how God might use this event to call together the remainder of our team!

The event video was broken up into smaller clips to make uploading and sharing easier, but this is the entire event in order!

DCTUWCTY Event 1

DCTUWCTY Event 2

DCTUWCTY Event 3

DCTUWCTY Event 4

DCTUWCTY Event 5

If after watching the event you have questions you would like answered - please ask them in the comments section of this post. We would love to hear from you!

FAQ's # 5 Who will the retreat center serve?

Who can stay at the retreat center?

Our retreat center is open to all ministry workers, from any organization or denomination. If you are serving God and working for His Kingdom, then you are welcome. We will be set up to host individuals, couples, families, and teams.

Are kids welcome?

Yes! We believe that the entire family is called into missions, and that the entire family should have the opportunity to rest and heal together. When stress and challenges are experienced on the field, this affects the kids too, so we are intentionally keeping them in mind as we develop the center. And don't worry - we get that parents also need time with just their spouse, or time alone to themselves - child care options will be available!

Community

I wanted to share this Henri Nouwen quote I recently came across because it beautifully captures the heart of our ministry - an intentional christian community where ministry workers and their families can come together with other believers allowing God to work in and through them.

~ Risa

FAQ's # 4 - How long will you be in Portugal?

How long will you be there?

The easy but honest answer is: indefinitely. We feel called to be in Portugal long term, so we intend on learning the language and culture, and settling into our new community. Many of our team mates have been on the field for decades, and at this time we anticipate that being the case for us as well. That said, we have learned to hold our timeline loosely, because ultimately, it is not our plan. Who knows what God may have up his sleeve?

So when will you be back?

This one is a little harder to answer. At minimum, we will be back in the United States once every five years for our Home Assignment, as required by our organization. Our first HA would likely begin in our fourth year on the field, and would be for approximately six months. We are hopeful we will be able to come back a little more frequently than this, but right now the ability to do that depends on a lot of unknown factors.

And what exactly is a Home Assignment?

HA is when we are temporarily assigned to be in our sending country instead of on the field. This is typically for rest, refreshment, education, training, family time, and reconnecting with our supporting people, churches, and businesses. If you would like to know more, our organization has written a great blog explaining what Home Assignment is, and what unique needs most missionaries have on HA.

TEAM: 8 Ways To Serve Missionaries on Home Assignment

FAQs # 3 - Why Portugal?

Why Portugal?

You might be surprised to know that we were the very first people to ask this question! We have always felt a pull towards Europe, but had assumed it would be someplace we could speak English, or German, or even really broken French - Portugal was not even on our radar. Then one day we came across TEAM's plans for an intercultural member care center on their website. The description sounded eerily familiar. We met with TEAM, and were introduced to their Portugal team leaders who just "happened" to be in Portland on home assignment. Their vision and our vision were clearly from the same source, and things started to come together from there.

Portugal, as it turns out, is a really great home for a member care ministry. It is a beautiful country to visit, and it is easily and affordably reached from all over Europe as well as northern and western Africa. It has a very temperate climate, similar to the Mediterranean, that is generally nice year round. So no matter where a person is coming from, or what time of year they visit, it is typically not too hot or too cold, and rarely has any kind of severe weather that could impede restful and restorative activities.

FAQs # 2 - Lacy Dog

One of the first and most common questions we get from people about our ministry is:

Is your dog going with you?

Our answer is, of course, YES!!!

This seems to bring relief to most people, and surprise to some. Lacy, our yellow lab, is an important part of our family, as well as a part of our ministry vision. We knew when she chose us, that she had the perfect personality and temperament to become a great therapy dog. Our hope is that she can help people feel comfortable at the retreat center, and provide the kind of extra care and experience only an animal can give.

How do you get a dog to Portugal? Does she have to go into quarantine?
Thankfully, Portugal is one of the EU countries that does not have any type of quarantine, so she will be with us the entire time, from our home here in Portland, to our new home in Portugal. She already has a special international microchip, and when we get closer to go she will have her very own pet passport and travel documents. Just like us, she will be flying there on a plane. We are hopeful to be able to get a direct flight from the east coast to Lisbon to minimize her travel stress.

What is a therapy dog, exactly?
Unlike a service dog, or an emotional support dog, who work with a single individual as their "person", a therapy dog is trained with their handler to provide care and comfort to anyone. These are the dogs you might see in libraries, hospitals, care homes, schools, etc. Dogs are naturally in tune with emotions, and seem to know just what people need in times of stress, sadness, or crisis.

How does a dog become a therapy dog?
Lacy current goes to work with Risa once a week. She is very good at her job of interacting with clients, and is working on proper office manners and behavior. Later this spring she will undergo a temperament and obedience evaluation to be certified by a therapy dog organization. To prepare for that we are working on loose leash walking and politely greeting people.

FAQs # 1 - Financial Questions

Hello dear readers!

When we are meeting with people, a number of the same questions keep coming up, so we thought, "why not post some of the questions and answers here?" So with this post we are starting a series as a place to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about our ministry. Our plan is to post a few at a time, every couple of weeks, so please stay tuned. We plan to discuss things like finances, what our roles in the ministry will be, who can stay at the retreat center, and even our dog Lacy! If you have a question you would like to see answered in a future post, please leave it in the comments below and we will add it to the list!

Our first set of questions deal with the financial side of raising support. We get a lot of financial questions because most people want to know where their money is going, and what kind of meaningful impact their investment is going to have. We totally understand because we feel the same way, so that is why we are starting with this topic!

FAQs #1: Financial Questions

How much of the money donated actually goes directly to your ministry?

Whenever we donate money, this is always one of our first questions. Where does the money go? Does it actually go to help people, or does it go to some administrator? When you donate to us through TEAM, 91% of your gift goes directly to us and our ministry. TEAM then uses the other 9% to cover administrative costs. TEAM's administration helps us in a number of ways including accounting, taxes, marketing, visas, medical help, member care, and other important logistics that we need in order to get to, and stay on, the field. TEAM currently has one of the lowest administrative percentages among US missions organizations. 100% of your donation is tax deductible.


What is a Pledge exactly?

When someone joins our support team as a financial partner, they make a pledge to give a specified dollar mount monthly, quarterly, or annually. Some partners pledge to start giving right away, and others pledge to start giving later. Even if a partner pledges to start giving in the future, the amount they have committed to giving can still be immediately counted towards our monthly financial goal. For example, we have to have 60% or more of our monthly support pledged before we can attend our next training, even if some of our partners are not yet giving.


Do I start giving now if I am a monthly partner? Where does the money go?

We have two different financial goals to reach before we are allowed to go to Portugal. The first is monthly support that our financial partners will contribute on a regular basis. These are the finances that will enable us to live in Portugal and run the retreat center ministry. The other goal is for our one-time outgoing expenses. These are the finances that we will use to get to Portugal and set up life there, covering expenses like visa applications, plane tickets, moving costs, purchasing a car, and language classes.

All monthly support and one-time gifts that come in between now and when we leave, will go into our outgoing expenses account. The sooner our financial partners start giving their monthly pledged amounts, the more quickly we can raise the funds for our outgoing expenses. 100% of both monthly and outgoing goals must be fully funded, not just pledged, before we can depart.