Immanuel

God is so good!

We have yet another story of his provision and how he uses us (humans) for his glory. On Friday, Caleb got to school and unlocked his classroom and walked inside. He hung up his coat and set his backpack down before getting ready to go back outside to finish off his last week of playground morning duty.

Then, before he turned away, he saw an envelope.

a present

That's all it said. Expecting a sweet card, he opened it up to find 200 Euro !! Again, God is so, so good. We have been doing fairly well with money, but as we've written before, we really need more support. 

This was a really encouraging answer to our prayers. Our Father is always here, always with us.

Immanuel.

To whomever decided to give us that present, we say, "Thank you. God truly used you to bless us and through that gift he is being praised and given all the glory."

We hope this short blog encourages you today. Let it settle on your mind, on your heart, that Jesus knows exactly what you lack and he desires to give it to you, or even better, give himself to you.

Immanuel.

Also, here's a picture of Caleb and his middle school students! One of his students cannot be pictured, but here are his other students. His class had a cultural day on Friday, so they all brought food representing their cultures, which include: Korean, Nigerian, Filipino, Jordanian, and Austrian. 

Peace,

Caleb & Britney 

Fred (And a Few Other Tidbits)

Hello friends and family! 

Here's a quick update:

•  This weekend we bought Caleb a guitar! This is a huge blessing, not only because Caleb loves it, but also because it will be used for ministry here. Here's a picture of Caleb's beautiful new guitar! 

•  Caleb is coaching high school soccer! The varsity team had their first game last week. They lost 2-3, but did a great job! The junior varsity team will have their first game tomorrow! 

•  Right now the elementary/middle school principal is also the 4th grade teacher because the actual teacher is not here from the states yet. Britney has been able to take on some of the workload for the principal. This includes: teaching 4th grade Bible twice a week, teaching 4th grade computer class twice a week, and occasional stepping in to teach other classes, such as writing. It has been a great way to connect with the students on a deeper level, and really get to know them. 

•  We have been getting to know other teachers at the school, and are looking forward to the friendships that may come. 

Prayer requests:
1.  Britney is really missing her grandparents. Unfortunately, they do not have internet and we have only been able to talk on the phone with them once since being here. It has been great to receive letters from them, but it is hard when that is our only form of communication. Please pray for Britney to have peace and know that those relationships will not be affected by our distance. 

2. Please continue to pray for financial support. We are trusting God and believing that he will provide, as he has already done. 

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support!
Peace,
Caleb & Britney 

The Facts - and God's Provision

Hello Friends!

Things are going very well here in Vienna! Quick updates:

• Caleb was blessed to play bass during worship at his childhood church, the Christliche Internationale Gemeinde (CIG).
• Britney has been getting to know the elementary students that she will be working with throughout this year. She is also still a part of a bible study here and she has been extremely encouraged through fellowship and digging into the Word with that group of women.
• Both of us have spent time with dear people here who care about us so much and have shown that through prayer, taking us out to dinner, and just spending time with us.
• We each have been so encouraged by your prayers and by the efforts you have taken to go out of your way and let us know you think of us and pray for us!
• A student told Caleb the other day that he wanted to grow up and be an ICSV teacher, so he could, "Help students like Mr. Dossett does!"

We are amazed at the Father's quick and steady hands that continue to catch us, when our stumbles are small as well as when our falls are long and hard.

In recognizing this, we have a need to share with all of you that we ask that you would be praying about. Through setting up a budget and talking with the financial manager at the school, we are realizing that we need to raise more support in order to meet all of our needs in ministry. Also, when we went to get our Visas, the authorities told us that we need to be making more money in order to stay. For us, as missionaries, this means raising more support.

This is hard news . . . raising support is difficult when we are in the same country as our team; now, it's even harder. Still, we trust in the incredible promises: God works everything to the good for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) and he will meet even our very basic needs (Matthew 6:19-34).

Our desire is to continually expose ourselves as the simple, earthen vessels that we are and Jesus as the king that he is. Though we have moments of panic, we choose to go to the Father, in faith. Your prayers are the crutches with which we shuffle to him.

Many of you are supporting us financially and many through prayer (many through both!). Below we want to share with you our basic budget, so you know exactly what it is we are looking for. Please be praying that God would set it in the hearts of others to join us in ministry by giving financially. Please be praying that IF IT IS GOD'S WILL, he would set it in your hearts. 

We are so thankful to those of you that are already supporting us financially. You are a dear, dear part of the service we can offer to the students at ICSV here in Vienna. You are vital to the ministry.

Thank you.

If you have any questions or want to contact us about anything, please email us at:
calebdossett@gmail.com

Current Support

approx. $2,000 per month

Bills per Month
Rent	$1,400.00
Phone	$40.00
Bank Fees	$20.00
Student Loans	$350.00
Renter's Insurance	$28.00
Internet	$17.00
Medical Insurance*	$250.00
Set-up Costs (owe ICSV)	$260.00
Food	$330.00
Tithe	$350.00
USA Travel**	$200.00
Misc.	$100.00
	$3,345.00

Additional Support Needed

approx. $1,345.00 per month

*We will hopefully receive our Visas soon, which will allow us to receive Austrian health care. Right now, Caleb has health care through his parent's insurance, so we only need to pay for Britney. So, this cost will disappear when we get our Visas because Austrian insurance is essentially free.

**We hope to return to the States in the summer to see friends and family and visit supporters, so we are saving for this monthly.

Let's Be Contagious

The following is a conversation between Caleb and one of the students in his class during a time of free-study and homework-doing. The identity of the student will not be shared. The awesomeness of God is going to be told about out the wazoo.

       Student: Mr. Dossett, you're a Christian, right?

       Caleb: Yes, I am!

       Student: Can I ask you some questions about the Bible?

Cue ecstatic inner jubilee.

That's about how it went a few days ago when Caleb had the opportunity to share a little bit about the Word of God and his faith. It was a brilliant time (we've been making some friends with some delightful British people here and it's affecting our speech) of learning for both Caleb and the student! The questions that were raised came from a perspective that was totally new to the Bible; this, of course, made for some enriching discussion about the Trinity, why Jesus told his followers to stay in Jerusalem (after his brutal execution!!) and the presence and power of God. What was especially cool about this experience was that the student was so eager to learn - what was especially, especially cool was that there was such freedom in conversation!

And that's why we are here at this outspokenly Christian school. We are here to provide enriching, excellent education, while being able to minister to students and live lives that are filled with the contagious light of Christ.

Please be praying for more conversations like this to take place.

Also, please be praying for certain students in Caleb's classes that are struggling a lot with learning English and making friends.

Thank you for your prayers! 

Peace,
Caleb & Britney

First Days

Hello! We are excited to update you with info about the first days of school, and pictures of Caleb's classroom. 

The first official day of school was August 22nd. Caleb is teaching ELL Middle School (Beginner) & High School (Advanced). He has the middle school students for ELL Social Studies, Science, Language, and English. So far classes have been going great. He is getting to know his students and connecting with them. 

Britney has been working for the Elementary/Middle School principal. She has been organizing anything and everything, mostly involving Elementary. Next week she will be testing students for their Reading Level, and eventually she will help as an Elementary teacher's assistant wherever she is needed. She is enjoying the work and forming friendships with other teachers. 

Britney has already found a Bible study to attend with 4 other teachers. They are studying 2 Corinthians. Caleb is going to help lead worship at the staff morning devotions. 

We will update again soon, but for now enjoy these pictures of Caleb's classroom! 

Peace,

Caleb & Britney

Abba

God is maniacal in his love, at least according to human standards. He provides, blesses, and gives in amounts that seem ridiculous, in predicaments that seem inescapable.

We want to share a short story of how God reminded us, once again, of how caring he is.

It's not a very long story and it's not one that will make your eyes pop out of your head (we hope) but it has a lesson. We were at Euro-Spar (a grocery store here in Vienna) buying ourselves lunch. At the cash register we handed the woman a 10 euro bill to pay for our 8 euro lunch. It was only after we had walked nearly out of the store that Britney realized she had given us 5 euro in change! 

We turned around and headed back to create a few quick moments of chaos (reckoning the amount of money in a cash register involves many more steps than we had realized!) and finally made it to the office in the back of the store.

There, the woman and her manager counted up the money and came up with nothing. No 5 euro deficit; no money was missing. They counted again, with the same result, and eventually shoo-ed us out, likely thinking that we had miscalculated how much money we had handed her in the first place . . .

But we hadn't.

5 euro is not a lot of money, but every bit we get helps us continue ministry here and our Father knows that. However, there's more to it than just the practicality of getting 5 extra euro.

God taught us something through that experience: he can pull money out of thin air. By all means, he is going to be able to provide for us, even as we continue to need more support than we have now and as school starts, as we get busy and probably stressed.

Abba Father is near and he is purposing to accomplish great things through each of us for his glory. He will be ridiculous in his provision.

Peace,
Caleb & Britney

ps: We are about done setting up Caleb's classroom and we will be posting pictures very soon!! Be looking for another post this week!

Vienna - Take 1

Hello from Wien! Or for those of you who don't speak German, hello from Vienna! 

We arrived in Vienna late Tuesday night. The flight was pretty good, but our layover was eternal. 9 hours in an airport, no matter what airport you are in, is rough. But...there are so many things we could share with you about how God blessed us while traveling. For the sake of length, we will share just a few. 

1. Originally we thought we would have to pay extra for two of our suitcases, which would have been around $120. BUT, we weren't charged at all! We were able to check 4 large suitcases for free!

2. There was an amazing part of our layover in Heathrow. When we first arrived it was about 8 am, and we had been flying for about 8 hours. In the airport we saw signs for lounges, spas, bedrooms, and showers and that sounded awesome, so we decided to check it out. We were able to hangout in a lounge for 3 hours, take a shower, eat some food, and Britney took a small nap in the Snug room. 

3. At the O'hare airport we were told that we might not be let in to Austria because we only had a one-way ticket and no visas. This was pretty confusing and worrisome. However, we had NO problems at all! We were let in and no questions were asked! 

These are just a few of the ways we saw God while we were traveling. Our flat is incredible! We were not expecting such a nice/clean place. We were also blessed with all of the furniture in our flat. The school, ICSV, gave us every piece of furniture for a very small amount of money...such a blessing! 

We have had our ups and downs. Some days, like yesterday, are fun and exciting. On those days it seems like all of our sadness disappears. But then there are other days. We both miss our family and friends so much. It is hard to put into words how much they all mean to us. Today, Caleb was having a difficult time with this, so he opened his Bible and read this: "And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields - whatever, because of me, will get it all back a hundred times over." Matthew 19: 28-30 (The Message) 

This was extremely encouraging for both of us. We know that God is going to use us here in great ways, and we are so excited to see that. 

Here are some pictures of our flat! We are still working on decorations, such as hanging things on the walls and such. But this is what we have for now! 

Side note: Vienna is having a crazy heat wave right now. According to one of the Austrian newspapers, today was the hottest day in Vienna in the last 250 years. CRAZY! So that is why our bed only has a sheet on it. 

OUR BEDROOM:

OUR LIVING/DINING ROOM: 

OUR KITCHEN:

OUR OFFICE/SPARE BEDROOM: 

OUR CLOSET ROOM:

OUR BATHROOM:

OUR TOILET ROOM:

HALLWAY:

TINY APPLIANCES (HAHA):

We eventually want to get an extra bed for our spare bedroom, and also have the desk in there. But this is it for now! Thank you all so much for your prayers. This has been a challenging, but incredible journey so far. Tomorrow morning at 7, so around midnight for those of you in Illinois, we are going to apply for our visas. We would love to have your prayers for this! For some people, visas come in about 2 weeks, and for others in can take up to 3 months. Hope to get ours soon! 

Peace,

Caleb and Britney