I deposited a stack of your checks yesterday morning! We have now received over $50,000 of your pledged loans and gifts—a fact that is amazing to write and even more amazing to experience.
Last night I opened a dozen more envelopes with checks. One (from a couple who encouraged me during my college days) contained a thank-you card with the words, “Thanks for giving us the opportunity of blessing you.” Another (from a bishop) included a note saying, “This is a swell idea.” Yet another had a note that said, “The girls need some mail, too, so the stickers are for them.” All three notes were surprising and delightful in their own way. 🙂
(For you who are wondering if we received your check, know that I plan to start sending official email confirmations today—and likely a few snail mail ones, too.)
Thanks to your generosity and the good hand of God, we are now poised to move forward with an offer on a house! So today I contacted our realtor to tell her that funds are in place.
Our first-choice house is still pending sale to someone else, so we plan to wait a while to see if that transaction goes through. If history repeats itself, the house will be back on the market within a week from now. Our realtor contacted the seller’s agent today, looking for more information on the house while we wait to see if it sells.
If this house does sell, it is back to house hunting for us. This means that…
We Still Need Your Help
- Please pray that God will provide the right house for us. We don’t have a clear second-choice in place right now. But God has full knowledge and power and love to care for us. We expect him to work.
- Pray for the pledger who lost his job. (See “One Story” here). Last night he told me that he lost his job one week earlier than expected. Pray for faith and finances!
- Spread the word to help us reach $80,000. About $10,000 more will get us there, giving the cushion that will likely be needed for repairs and minor renovations.
- If you want to join in, visit the “Official Launch” post and send your pledge info to [email protected]. Then join our Facebook group or subscribe to this blog to stay informed. Thanks!
Progress Report
(As of 10:00 p.m. EST, 10/29/2015)
We are 87% of the way to our goal of $80,000!
Total pledged so far: $69,635.05 (after tithe deducted)
Total pledgers: 88 generous friends
Largest pledge: $12,000
Smallest pledge: $75
Average pledge: $808.12
Most common pledge: $500 (38 this size)
Total loans with interest: $27,929.55
Total interest-free loans: $28,390
Total gifts: $14,795
Total tithe to share with those driven from their homes in the Middle East and the building purchase fund of the Missions Training Center in NYC: $1,480, plus nearly $2,500 in tithes from family gifts
Current maximum projected repayment time (if we receive more interest-bearing loans to reach $80,000): 11 years, 9 months
After we call a halt to this project, I hope to crunch some more detailed statistics, such as:
- A more detailed breakdown of the range of pledge sizes.
- How many pledgers we have never actually met. (Quite a lot!)
- How much was sent by each method: check, Facebook, PayPal, and Square Cash.
- Is there anything else you’d like to know?
Note: Figures here will fluctuate just a little after we know what exchange rate Canadian contributions actually receive.
I think that’s all for now. I just wanted to be sure you know that this churchfunding experiment is actually working! 🙂
If you have any comments or questions, please share them below. (A few “Praise the Lord!”s are welcome, too!)
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