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I’m here to answer a few FAQs!

How can I donate online, with credit card?
Simply click the “Donate” button, under the “Donate” page/tab. Follow the prompts. You can make a one-time donation, or a recurring donation, where your credit card will be billed monthly, automatically.

How can I do automatic withdrawal, but have it come from my account, not my credit card?
Simply click the “Automatic Withdrawal” button, under the “Donate” page/tab. This form will need to be printed out, filled out, and mailed in to Great Commission Foundation
PO Box 14006
Abbotsford, BC
V2T 0B4 CANADA

Can I make a cheque out to you, personally, instead of Great Commission Foundation?
Of course!! This money will then be used for start up costs. The benefit of sending your money to Great Commission Foundation is for charitable receipt purposes. If you are ok without receiving a receipt, you are welcome to make a cheque out to “Matt and Lisa Wiebe!”

We will be holding our first fundraiser!!!! We cannot wait to celebrate our decision with you, and we are overwhelmed with gratitude for your support. How can we ever say thank you???

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Friday, March 27, 6-9pm
TerraPoint, Hwy 3
Dinner
Music by Zack Wiebe and Two Crows for Comfort
Silent Auction
Tickets for purchase are $30. This will help cover some of our start-up costs. There will be a donation table as well, if you wish to sign up for monthly sponsorship, newsletters, etc.

We are overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness, and His nudging. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you thank you thank you.

To reserve your ticket: text Matt 823-2150, or Lisa 384-5871,
or email mattlisawiebe@gmail.com
Payment can be made ahead of time (e-transfer, PayPal, cheque, cash), or at the door!
Bloom will have tickets for sale as well, if you want to pick yours up there!

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These two kiddos light up our whole lives, and we pray that God prepares their giant hearts for the transition ahead.

Matt and I had the honour of speaking at Westside Community Church last night, to the Young Adults. We just shared our hearts- our journey towards this decision, the way God has been working in our hearts, and the divine appointments He has set up.

Literally every single day something divine happens in preparation for moving to the Dominican. It’s like our sandwich story of how God is working becomes a double patty, extra bacon, melted cheese, mozza, all inclusive deluxe burger or something.

Dozens of stories of divine intervention, but the last few days a young family reached out to us- a missionary family heading back to the U.S. from their time in Jarabacoa (the town we will live in), offering to sell us their baby beds, dishes, furniture… I was overwhelmed with gratitude- the Lord knew my Mama heart only needed baby beds for me to feel safe + HOME. However, we leave in 5+ months, so the question was… where to store these items? Before the day was done, another young lady teaching at Doulos (“Doo-lose” the school we will be serving at) messaged me on social media; said she has an extra bedroom, can she store all our furniture for us until we arrive? 

 And then today, ANOTHER young mom reached out to me from our little DR town to ask if we would be needing a nanny (YES! Sawyer will need a nanny for mornings while Matt and I work and Hayden comes to Doulos for Spanish Pre-K). She has her heart and soul invested in a nanny for her babies, one that has been their whole world for years.. would we hire her nanny, as they move back to the states in July? 

 And so….. we fix our eyes not on what is SEEN, but on what is UNSEEN. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is ETERNAL.
2 Corinthians 4:18

PS. We received our financial information today, and all the documents and paperwork to begin raising funds! If you are interested in sponsoring us, click the link below:

https://gcfcanada.com/doulos-discovery-school/

We have booked our tickets! We have many mixed emotions, but are thrilled to be one step closer to the will God has for us.

We are still waiting for our Funds link to be set up. Because Doulos Ministries runs their office out of the US, all donors would not be able to receive charitable receipts. Therefore, we are channelling all of our funds through the Great Commission Foundation, located in BC. Their mission is to enable other missions, in exactly this situation. Therefore, all donations will be made out to them, and they will funnel it to us through a monthly salary. All donors can receive charitable receipts. In order for this process to be finalized, we are waiting for the last paper work to go through. Thank you to all of you who have committed to sponsoring us monthly to make this possible.

We have seen God work in the most incredible ways already. Matt and I talked last night about the unique situation this is. We are in awe of the divine appointments God has set up, and the way He has led us to specific people at specific times. We cannot wait to see what else God has in store for us.

Doulos is an English school, located in the mountains of Jarabacoa. It is made up of approximately 250 students. The majority of the student body is local Dominican children, while some of them are missionary kids. It is a private school, which means that families pay a tuition fee for their children to attend Doulos. Because Doulos believes in discipling and educating all children to become Dominican leaders, they seek out sponsors to partner with children of low socio-economic backgrounds. Over half of their student population are part of their sponsorship program.

Doulos requires high standards of education, education degrees, and constant professional development. I am honored to be accepted into this team of incredible educators, and I cannot wait to bring my passion and my knowledge to the table, as well as learn from others.

The beautiful thing about Doulos, is that subject areas are not segregated into separate blocks, timed by bells, and controlled by adults. Doulos is expeditionary based. Here, we call that inquiry based, or play based. Schools across North America are working towards this style of education. 

Based on the common knowledge that humans learn by DOING, Doulos seeks to provide meaningful opportunities for students to learn by doing. The curriculum at Doulos is similar to the curriculum we use here. The difference is, instead of teaching segregated units of Science, one a a time, they’ve incorporated all subject areas and all units into one giant year-long study. 

Teachers at Doulos spend weeks laying out the curriculum, and finding common themes and questions. As you saw, some of the Kindergarten units would have included learning about illustrators, community helpers, the outdoors, and family members. Instead of teaching each unit separately, teachers worked together to find the common theme of Creation. They incorporated the all units from all subject areas, as well as God’s word. Many of their projects included brick making, pottery, creating books, planting gardens, serving others, and many more. Other grades’ participated in expeditionary events such as creating a pond for the school to enjoy, mountain climbing, canoe trips, creating butterfly gardens, and many more. 

The beauty of this style of education is that it not only meets curricular/academic outcomes, but allows for students to make meaning and find purpose in their learning. They are able to naturally learning problem solving skills, think critically, and work together to be innovative thinkers. This style of education requires intense planning and preparation in order to be successful. Teachers must constantly be prompting their students to ask further questions, to explore, and to think for themselves. This is the opposite of the teaching styles we grew up with, where one person simply stands at the front of a crowd and unloads knowledge. 

I am so incredibly passionate about teaching + joining this team to further my knowledge and become a better educator and mom and wife. Aside from the teaching portion, we are so excited  to raise our children in a culture that is different from what we know. I am excited for my boys to understand that hot water doesn’t always come from a tap, that wifi isn’t a right, and that it might be uncomfortable to be a visual minority. I want them to learn acceptance, discomfort, love, and community. I am not naive in thinking this journey will be easy. We are not oblivious to the fact that raising kids in another culture will be hard. Painful. Uncomfortable. But we cannot wait to be transformed in the process, to be refined in who we are as a family, and to come back stronger and better people. 

Matt has been asked to work with their team of behind-the-scenes staff. He will be doing some Human Resource work, as well as some of the coordinating for the expeditionary events. Because we have our two very small children, Matt will work part time while I teach full day Kindergarten. Hayden will be attending Doulos’ half day Pre Kinder program, while Sawyer will be loved by a fellow stay-at-home mom. 

We have been in contact with four separate families who currently live and serve in Jarabacoa. They have enveloped us into their community and families already. One of these dear friends will be helping us find housing and a vehicle before we arrive. Our term begins on July 15, of this coming year, and we have committed to 3 years. We are overjoyed to serve with fellow Christians in a setting that empowers a culture in such a powerful way.

It’s been a long time coming. A dream expanding in my soul since that day we moved “home.” I was just 12, moving back to the tiny village of Reinland after 3 years in South America as a missionary kid. I knew it would be missions, somewhere, sometime, and I only dreamed it would be with a husband and babies. It was all I could think about. Taking my white babies to a Spanish country and letting them run wild in diapers while I did… something… anything… We didn’t know it was coming until it was here- slapping us in the face – in a good way. In a perfect way. It came fast and furious, and yet… I knew it was coming long before the adventure started. Since Hayden, just three years ago, I knew- I would finish my second mat leave, and we’d be gone. I didn’t know where, couldn’t envision it. But after mat leave number two in my head, my planning just disappeared. Dropped off a cliff. After mat leave number 1, I returned to my favorite place on earth and I worked for exactly 12 months before we awaited the arrival of Sawyer. He came, early, and I knew in my heart that February – while it was supposed to mark the return of work-/ marked a new adventure. We both knew. And then Adventure tumbled into our laps, spilled over in coffee dates and phone calls and interviews. It all happened so fast. And then …. silence. We waited. Weeks. And while the devil fought to use this time to discourage us, the Lord used it to refine us- to solidify what our hearts were after. We wanted Him. And we wanted Him fiercely. We knew the way this would unfold, heard the Holy Spirit loud and clear but the devil has a way of lying in a voice that sounds like truth. We fought hard to decipher his voice from the Lord’s and suddenly… We knew.. so clearly. We had answers.
But let me back up. To a simpler time.
His hands, tight on the wheel, our boys fast asleep. “Osteopathy,” I offered. “Why wouldn’t you look into that? Do something, I encouraged. You’re ready for a change, passionate about health and helping others… just try it. It can’t hurt.” You loved the idea, knew you’d thrive in the field but you shook your head. “Missions is next,” you said. “I don’t know where, or how we will ever make a plan, but missions is next.” Matt suggested the DR, said he couldn’t shake the Dominican from his heart.. and I said sure with the shrug of my shoulders. “Why don’t we meet with Bob and Carrie, who’ve lived the part and ask what we wanna ask?” I suggested.

It’s early September, and she’s agreed to meet between harvest season, her own new principal career and sending her boys off to university. She grabs her coffee, adds her soy milk and sits down across from us, buzzing with excitement. We fire questions at her, and she fires back. Life, organizations, opportunities, schools. We hammer through information and before our hour is over we ask her for contact information. Her voice, quiet, she gently warns us that should we choose to accept the contact information, and pursue this family she’s gushed over, we’ll be hooked. She whispers, it’s a dangerous game with these lovely people. They’ll love on you hard, immediately, and you’ll be gone. We looked at each other, nodded, and said
“We’re ready.” We parted ways in the dark that night. She hugged us both, and we knew. That was the week we contacted the family she had led us to. But that wasn’t the week we fell in love. Not yet. We chatted over email with them, exploring options and discussing their town. They forwarded us to an HR rep at the school they worked at.
And that’s when we fell in love.

She has a sweet southern drawl and I think we’re going to be great friends. She enveloped me with love, a thousand  miles away on a phone call explaining two specific jobs she had in mind.

She gushed over the importance of working with who we are, who God is asking us to be, not necessarily what we do. And while she was very excited about our skill sets, our characteristics, and our hearts, she continued to remind us that God calls we are and equips us . We discussed job opportunities, ways we could serve, our children, transition , life in Jarabacoa, hopes, fears… We talked about the fear of raising funds.  And she began to open my heart to better understand that our money has never been our own. And it is just that — money. It is a simple piece of paper with a number that we exchange for services and goods. And that’s it. We discussed the way our society has put so much power in money. We have idolized it, kept it a secret, let it determine our identity and our social status and our perceptions. 

I hung up the phone that day, changed. I knew that even in the decision of moving abroad to be missionaries would change who we are completely. Even if this would never work out, the process itself of preparing and planning and dreaming and following the Lord’s voice, would change our family altogether. Matt and I began to discuss the humility that comes from asking people for money.

We decided to follow through, fill out the application forms, all the while praying that either all of the doors will be open or all the doors would be closed. We talked to our parents, our mentors, our home group, and our best friends. And collectively we received an astounding answer. 

GO. 

We asked a few people if we were crazy, and they laughed and said yes: “Absolutely.. and that is the beauty of God’s work. He does not ask us to remain comfortable and cushy and satisfied. He Asks us to live a crazy love and a radical life and that looks different for all of us.”

We talk to our bosses and received glowing references, prayers, and encouragement. 

We spoke to our siblings, our church friends, our neighbors, and our extended families. We listened carefully to the words they spoke, the questions they asked, and the prayers they provided. And not one of them responded with the answer no . 

And without full details of what our jobs will look like, we accepted  positions of Kindergarten Teacher and Activities Coordinator, beginning in July of 2020. 

We have received so many questions about the ministry, the town, safety, and family. But mostly, people have asked us why we would move abroad with two small children. 

And I have the most beautiful beautiful story to accompany that question. The most incredible thing is that this has been done for generations in my family. And while Matt didn’t grow up overseas,  generations of his family have supported families like mine and encouraged families like mine to do these kinds of things. My big brother and I had a long conversation on the phone, and we discussed the significance of generational decisions. We discussed the incredible impact our grandparents’ decisions have on us, today. My entire family did not blink an eye when we presented this opportunity. Our entire families responded with a resounding “GO,” based on these generational decisions to live a life outside their comfort zone. Had my sweet, sweet Oma and Opa not made the same decision to move abroad with their tiny babies, my parents might not have done the same. But it is this generational decisions  that show us what is possible and what we are capable of alongside the Lord.

And that is exactly my answer. We are all human beings. Here. Across the world. Everywhere. And in the same way we fight for relationships, build community, and rely on our village in Canada, we will do the same in a new country. It will be hard. But it will be worth it.  And our babies will learn to adjust. They will learn to be flexible. They will learn to love others. They will learn to be accepting and uncomfortable and they will learn that the universe doesn’t always revolve around them. They will learn that hot water doesn’t always come from a tap, and that Wi-Fi is not a right, and that safety doesn’t mean a big white house on a beautiful bay with locked doors.. but rather that it means we feel safe with people we know. 

We are not alone in this journey, and we ask that you stick with us. Read our story. Spread it. Share it. Join us in prayer or financial donations or simply living out your own missional life each day.