Urgent Ellis family Visa Prayer Request!

Hello everyone,
We pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are ready for this new year! We are still in California, visiting family and supporters, on our way toward Taiwan. We have an urgent prayer request to ask of you all. In order to apply for our visas in San Francisco, we need some official letters from the government of Taiwan. Our papers were turned in in October, and they still have not been approved. Once they are approved, they still have to be mailed to us here in the U.S. Once we have them, we apply and then it takes at least 3 days to process them here, more time if there are any problems. We leave for the San Francisco area on Tuesday, and only have about 12 days there. We need those papers to be approved and sent from Taiwan and make it here super fast! If they don't, all the options for us are very expensive (like come in on a tourist visa, and then all fly to Hong Kong to process our visas, which would be 6 tickets, hotels, etc...)
We also have to ship our things soon from the U.S. to Taiwan, and have to be in Taiwan when the shipment arrives, so once we send the shipment, we HAVE to be in Taiwan 3 weeks from that time. Visa delays would be a disaster for receiving our shipping.
God has come through in so many amazing ways as we have prepared to move. He has provided finances, confirmations, and encouragement. Just the other day, Katie's mother took us on a tour of a historical site here. Our tour guide had lived in Taiwan, and before that lived in Hawaii! 2 places we have lived. She encouraged our children, and said that they would love Taiwan. She even had moved her kids there and sent them to the same schools that our children would go to! This is the second time something like this has happened. In Yosemite Park this summer, we ate in the lodge and the people who helped us were from Taiwan and Hawaii!
Please pray that God moves miraculously and that the visa is approved, and makes it super fast to us in the mail.
Thank you all for your prayers. We also still need to raised $4,000 for a van and $5,000 to clear dental and medical bills (on our credit card). Praise God and thank you all that we have our tickets, shipping, and some initial start up money already covered!
many blessings,
Sean, Katie, Sophia, Max, Joseph, and Kai Ellis

Status Update on Our Move for December 18

We just slipped into the last month before our move to Taiwan. Montana is now thousands of miles behind us, as we packed up, sold, or gave away every last item we had there. We treasured our five years serving the Youth With A Mission campus and the School of Biblical Studies. Over 200 missionaries trained, hundreds sent out on long and short term outreaches, and 5 new Bible schools pioneered marked a fruitful time of ministry. After our 200 for $20 fund raiser goal was met, we have the following update on our totals needed for the move:
1) passports/visas, packing materials, & health exams: $2,000 (covered!)
2) tickets to Taiwan: $3,600 (covered!)
3) shipping expenses: $3,000 (covered!)
4) furnishings for apartment: $3,000 (covered!)
5) 2 mopeds: $2,000 (covered!)
6) kids' school fees: $5,000 (still needed)
7) van: $4,000 (still needed)
8) medical/dental bills from time in Montana: $4,000 (still needed)
You can see that over $13,000 in donations has come in already! Praise God! We still need another $9,000 to cover the move, and $4,000 to clear away the debt from things our insurance wouldn't cover. If you would like to give to any of these, you can click on the Donate button on the top right, and use your credit/debit card to give through Paypal. If you would like a tax deductible receipt, please follow the instructions on our support page to mail your donation in by check.
Thank you to everyone who has given, prayed, or encouraged us in the midst of this time. It has been awesome to see God provide and confirm this step into Asia.

Mega 7th Ellis family Fund Raiser Update

Hello everyone,
It has been several days since our last 200 for $20 fund raiser update, and we wanted to let you all know some amazing news! One couple wanted to give for 50 people, and another two people gave for 5 people, so now with some more $20 donations, we are up to 201 for a grand total of $4,020. God and all of you did it! We reached our goal of 200 for 20, and even went $20 over! We have been blown away by all of your encouraging messages and generous offerings since this whole fund raiser began. This money will go a long way in helping us get over to Asia for missions. If you want to see a full update of our progress on the move to Taiwan, you can check out the next blog entry above. If you missed out on the 200 for $20 fund raiser, we still have other needs you can give to listed there. Just click on the Donate button in the top right corner if you would like to give, and leave a note in the comments if you want it to go to a particular part of our move. Check out our new video update below. With each day, we are one step closer to moving to Taiwan for missions.
blessings,
Sean, Katie, Sophia, Max, Joseph, and Kai Ellis

6th update on Ellis family fund raiser

Hello everyone,
It has been several days since our last 200 for $20 fund raiser update, and we wanted to let you all know the great news! One couple wanted to give for 50 people, and another family gave for 5 people, so now we are up to 136 for a grand total of $2,720. A few people have chosen to go above the $20, and now we are only 64 more people away from our goal! Thank you all, and if you would still like to give, please click on the Donate button in the top right corner. Check out our new video update below. With each day, we are one step closer to moving to Taiwan for missions.
blessings,
Sean, Katie, Sophia, Max, Joseph, and Kai Ellis