Mission Grant #20 Music Outreach, Classes, and Resources on the Border — Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care, El Paso, Texas

Pastor Stephen Heimer writes,

“The grant and its timing have been a Godsend. We received it in early February and began talking to builders about the classroom building renovation possibilities. That is, of course, on hold during this pandemic. However, we started purchasing equipment for our online classes and recording/live-streaming plans.”

“When stay-home orders were issued in El Paso, we already had the equipment needed to be able to share our worship services online and also begin to share other online devotions, hymns, and music classes. This was one aspect of our outreach objectives in the grant and it turned out to be crucial to what our community needs right now.”

Pastor Stephen Heimer
Ysleta Lutheran Mission
 

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2019–2021 Mission Grant: Restoring Hope for Detroit Children and Families — Camp Restore Detroit, $100,000

Restoring Hope in Detroit

By Bethany Mrosko, Director of Christian Outreach Intern, Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Camp Restore Detroit, with Cheri Fish, Mission Editor

Look at the picture of this house; what do you see? Abandonment? Hopelessness? What about hopes? Dreams? Because the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League blessed Camp Restore Detroit (CRD) with a grant this last summer, they were able to purchase and make plans to renovate this house to make it part of CRD campus. This house will become an outreach center focused on children, while another nearby house will become an adult outreach center.

CRD’s mission is to demonstrate Christian hope while restoring the Detroit community. Groups of all ages from across the country serve on the campus. Volunteer groups are housed and fed at Mt. Calvary Lutheran, Detroit, and given service projects in the community. Everything CRD does is in partnership with members of the community. This campus expansion, as well as the services to be offered, will help CRD empower and encourage those who remained through the worst times of Detroit, working hard to restore the beloved city.

Historically, CRD has focused work and ministry on three specific areas: First, these houses clearly need a lot of construction work! The insides are completely demolished, with only subfloor and studs remaining. Restoring the space happens anyway they can dream up! The plans for the children’s outreach house are to create a large classroom space to use for music, art classes, and tutoring, a small lounge space, a handicap accessible bathroom, and a kitchenette. The second floor will house CRD offices. Hopes for the winter were to receive funds for a new roof and, possibly, begin construction inside.

The second focus is environmental care of the neighborhood. The area around CRD is less than 25% populated. Most of the land and houses are abandoned and unkempt. With the help of the community,

CRD is slowly working to bring beauty back to the neighborhood by caring for these abandoned lots. The house pictured was once one of those abandoned houses. Campers cleared the yard, cut down trees, and built new front steps, kicking off the beautification of this property.

Finally, and most importantly, CRD’s ministry of human care will be nourished with these Outreach Houses. Everything they do is centered on relationships: with the community, with campers, and with our Savior Jesus. The Outreach Houses provide an amazing opportunity to build more relationships, allowing CRD to share God’s love through words and service. Knowing that, even if every house in the neighborhood is restored, the only hope that will truly last is the saving hope in Jesus.

CRD is excited to begin working on these outreach houses and continue dreaming about the programming which will be shared in order to spread God’s love with this community. They truly appreciate each member of the LWML who generously supports this project through mission grants and Mite Boxes! Right now, the house might look hopeless. However, our amazing God specializes in taking the hopeless and devastated and uses them to bring hope and restoration.

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This story was originally featured in the Spring 2020 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2017–2019 Mission Grant: Laborers of Love — Lutheran Braille Workers, $100,000

Sharing the Good News THANKS to the LWML

By Jay Zemke, President, Lutheran Braille Workers, with Cheri Fish, Mission Editor

It sounds pretty significant, and it is! In 2017, Lutheran Braille Workers (LBW) received an incredibly generous grant from the LWML to develop braille plates and large print Bibles for the English Standard Version (ESV) translation.

This has been no small feat. The development and the integration of the ESV has required planning, hands-on labor, and a dedicated staff. The grant of $100,000 enabled LBW to transcribe and proofread the ESV Bible in braille and specialized large print as well as to offset the cost of the 2,287 zinc plates necessary for the production of the braille volumes.

LBW volunteers are working diligently to complete this massive undertaking. We have nearly 100,000 volumes already created! We have completed the New Testament and a few volumes of the Old Testament in braille. Zinc plates are being produced and shipped to the 33 Ministry Production Centers that specifically focus on producing the ESV Bible. The mission grant also helped open four new centers to focus on the creation of the ESV Bible!

The community being served are the blind and the visually impaired. Stunningly, an estimated 95 percent of the more than 253 million visually impaired people throughout the world are unchurched. LBW’s mission is to provide free access to the Good News of Jesus Christ as Savior.

Wonderful LBW volunteers print, assemble, bind, pack, and ship to individuals or organizations including: Spread the Word Ministry in Nigeria, and Logo Bible School for the Blind in India, and Love One Another Ministries in India. Every single volume continues to be distributed free of charge.

About Lutheran Braille Workers

LBW is a non-profit organization based in Yucaipa, California, that serves people who are blind or visually impaired throughout the United States and the world. LBW is the world’s largest non-profit producer of braille and specialized large print Bibles, as well as braille, large print, and audio Christian materials. In its 76 years of ministry, LBW has produced and distributed more than 14 million volumes of materials, all of which are provided for free to those who are blind or visually impaired.

LBW is still looking to increase the number of volunteers and Ministry Production Centers around this country. If you or someone you know have interest in supporting this ministry through volunteering, donations, or the formation of a new Ministry Production Center, please contact us directly. We still have more than 26,000 ESV braille and 21,000 large print requests to fulfill!

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This story was originally featured in the Winter 2019 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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2019 Convention Offering #4 LCMS Disaster Response/Community Relief

Below is a thank you to LWML from LCMS Texas District President Rev. Michael Newman for funds for relief efforts after tropical storm Imelda caused damages in the Winne, Hampshire, and Beaumont communities in Texas. These funds were raised during the 2019 LWML Convention in Mobile, Alabama for convention offering #4: LCMS Disaster Response/Community Relief. Video created by Rev. Michael Myer.

2019 Convention Offering #4 LCMS Disaster Response/Community Relief

An update from LCMS Disaster Response on September 20, 2019:

Dear Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the Name of our Savior!

Thank you for the Disaster Response Grant from your convention offering. Its timeliness makes me believe the Lord has touched this gift.

Yesterday, Rev. Ross Johnson, Director of Disaster Response sent me this email.

I just got off the phone with President Newman, he called to let me know about the devastating effects that Tropical Storm Imelda is causing in the areas of Beaumont and Winne (the “golden triangle” area of Texas). So far they have received 28 inches of rain and they expect 10 more inches over the next 36 hours. The in the “golden triangle”  area of Texas the flooding is equal to or worse than the flooding after Hurricane Harvey. President Newman went out of his way to let me know that he is looking forward to our participation and partnership in this flood response.

Julie Tucker is still our funded/contracted disaster manager in the coastal area of Texas until January 31, 2020. President Newman has Julie overseeing this flood response work. Several church workers are underwater. Also Trinity Lutheran Church in Port Arthur is located in the “golden triangle” and they are one of our “disaster response hubs” they are funded until the end of January 2020. Multiple churches and LERT teams across Texas have contacted Julie Tucker and the District and they are on standby to help “muck out” these areas.

As you can see, the timing of your gift was extraordinary. We’re hoping to have a Communications team down in the area next week. Dr. Johnson is also going there to work out strategies with the District President. One story I’m hoping to hear more about is the rescue of an LCMS Pastor’s widow who was trapped by the floodwaters. I’m told it’s quite a tale, but I don’t know the details yet.

What a joy that I’ve been able to have so many meaningful interactions with our LWML officers. It has been a special blessing to be able to be at so many meaningful events with President Debbie. I look forward to more and richer experiences.

May the Lord continue to use you as avenues of His mercy and love!

In Christ,
Pastor Bob Zagore

Rev. Robert M Zagore
Executive Director, Office of National Mission
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

A thank you from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod for LWML Mission Grants. Originally shown at the 2019 LWML Convention in Mobile, Alabama.

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• Instructions to download: Click the above link and the download page will open in a new window. From there, click the “Download” button, then click “Direct download” in the pull-down menu that appears.

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2017–2019 Mission Grant: Providing Food and the Gospel to Starving Children — Mercy Meals of Siouxland, $40,000

Mercy Meals — Providing Food and the Gospel to Starving Children

By Larry Jones, Director, Mercy Meals of Siouxland, with Cheri Fish, Mission Editor

Mercy Meals of Siouxland is a ministry of Faith Lutheran Church in Sioux City, Iowa. Community volunteers, in an assembly-line process, package fortified rice/soy meals that are shipped to hungry and starving children throughout the U.S. and the world.

Most of the packaging events are held in the parish hall at Faith Lutheran Church. Mercy Meals are packaged using a scientifically designed formula that meets the needs of malnourished children. Each bag contains six nutritious meals consisting of rice, soy, dried vegetables, and a vitamin-mineral powder. The bags are filled with the ingredients, weighed, and sealed.

All of the meals packaged by Mercy Meals of Siouxland are donated to Orphan Grain Train in Norfolk, Nebraska. Orphan Grain Train delivers the meals in the U.S. and worldwide at their cost. The meals are put into the hands of the children and families by a Christian organization so the children and their families hear about Jesus as well as receive nutritious food. In most cases, the meals are cooked by volunteers and served to the children.

Mercy Meals of Siouxland is one of 11 sites that package fortified rice/soy meals and donate them to Orphan Grain Train; other packaging sites are located in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. 

Orphan Grain Train delivered fortified rice/soy meals to the following locations in 2018: 71,280 to the Bread of Life Orphanage in Bucharest, Romania; 536,544 to Haiti; 189,450 to Liberia; 28,512 to Katanga, Congo; 634,092 to the Philippines; 20,088 to the Ysleta Lutheran Missions, El Paso, Texas; 71,280 to Puerto Rico; 141,480 to India; and 64,152 to Chongwe, Zambia.

One of the projects regularly receiving fortified meals is the Smokey Mountain Project, located in a garbage dump near Manilla, Philippines. Some of the people who live in the dump are 1,500 farm families whose land quit producing. The farmers moved their entire families into the dump and built their homes there. As garbage is brought into the dump, the families go out to rummage for items they can eat, use, or sell. Thankfully, Christian volunteers prepare fortified rice/soy meals and deliver them to the children in the compound. The children go through a feeding line to get their one nutritious meal a day. 

We want to express our gratitude to women of the LWML for awarding Mercy Meals of Siouxland an LWML Mission Grant at the 2017 LWML Convention in Albuquerque. Your generosity allows us to package and donate thousands of Mercy Meals to feed the bodies and souls of hungry children, including those in the Smokey Mountain Project. We are also blessed by LWML women who come to package meals as individuals and in groups, often times, bringing children, husbands, and friends with them. 

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This story was originally featured in the Summer 2019 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.

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