2017–2019 Mission Grant #18: Restoration Programs for Native Hawaiians—Lutheran Indian Ministries; $75,000; partially paid

Pictured are Kristen Kolell, LWML South Wisconsin District (SWD) VP of Mission Grants, and Jan Ladendorf, LWML SWD Recording Secretary, presenting a check on January 15, 2019, to Lutheran Indian Ministries Grant Administrator, Tim Youngeagle, for Grant #18 — Restoration Programs for Native Hawaiians. Tim stressed that there is great opportunity for ministry as the majority of native Hawaiians live in poverty which can contribute to dysfunctional behaviors in families, substance and sexual abuse, violence and suicide. You are making an impact with your prayers and mites helping native Hawaiians know the only true source of Truth, Hope, and Restoration. Tim has just returned from visiting Clarence DeLude III, a native Hawaiian, who has a Master’s Degree in Lutheran education and is enrolled in the Cross-cultural Ministry Center (CMC) program at Concordia, Irvine, CA, leading to ordination. Clarence is using various Gospel-oriented programs for youth and adults, as well as “Sacred Ground,” a healing program addressing addiction and trauma, as part of reaching out to the large homeless native population. This grant provides funds to support the outreach programs and aid in funding Clarence’s theological training

Pictured: Tim Youngeagle, Kristen Kolell, and Jan Ladendorf

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

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Lutheran Children’s Books for Families Worldwide — Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF); $100,000; partially paid

Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) has provided Bible storybooks for 30,000 families worldwide! You are Making an Impact through your prayers and mites for LWML Mission Grant #6 — “Lutheran Children’s Books for Families Worldwide.” Jen Bagwell of Lutheran Heritage Foundation shared, “the seeds of the Gospel are being scattered far and wide, and the Holy Spirit is causing deep roots to grow through His Word, written in a language children can read and understand.” Dr. Matthew Heise, LHF Executive Director, wrote, “...as always, we at the Lutheran Heritage Foundation are deeply thankful for the ongoing and generous support shown to this mission by the women of the LWML.” Several more titles are still to be printed with the funds from this grant, and updates will be given as the books are printed.

LWML funds have provided these books to date:

• A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories (Farsi, spoken by immigrants from Iran) — 9,000 copies
• A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories (Bahasa, spoken in Indonesia – Southeast Asia) — 5,000 copies
• A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories (Russian) — 3,000 copies
• A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories (Thai, Thailand) — 2,000 copies
• A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories (Vietnamese) — 3,000 copies
• A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories (Jingpho, Kachin — Burma, also called Myanmar) — 3,000 copies

Coming soon is:

• Lutheranism 101 for Kids (Bahasa, Indonesia) — 5,000 copies 

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Mercy House for Women & Children, Flint, MI; $100,000; fully paid

Your mites have made an impact to the Women and Children of Flint, MI!  As an extension to the Franklin Avenue Mission (FAM) a future home for women and children, adjacent to the FAM Site, was purchased and the interior demolished.  Since receiving the funds for this grant, FAM has redesigned, remodeled and added-on to the structure.

From the January 31, 2019 Update Newsletter of the Franklin Avenue Mission we received the following: Mercy House chugs along towards a spring Ribbon Cutting with deck completion and landscaping as soon as the weather breaks. Photo shows, "From check in hand to spring 2019 completion."

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

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Family Scholarships for Short Term Mission Trips; $60,000 partially paid

You are Making an Impact with prayers and mites for an estimated 10,000–15,000 lives through Grant #21 — Family Scholarships for Short Term Trips. “It was a pleasure to present this partial payment for their Mission Grant!” said Susan Gruber, LWML Michigan District President. This partial payment for $20,000 will help provide scholarships for families participating in mission trips as the voice, hands and feet of Jesus. They will share their gifts and talents to help people in need by “empowering the found in reaching the lost.” Sarah DePriest from MOST shared, “We appreciate you all coming out and sharing a meal with us too … it’s always great for the board to put faces and names together and for them to know who is supporting us!”  In order for LWML members to hear “first hand” how mites are impacting lives, short term mission trip participants receiving scholarships will do post-trip presentations which include sharing their personal mission trip experiences in how the Gospel is engaging, equipping and encouraging others with the love of Jesus.

Pictured:  Sandy Hardies, Past District President (PDP); Susan Gruber, Current President, LWML Michigan District; Jan Gerzevske, Chairman of the Board of MOST; Barbara Hoffmeier, PDP; Anita Beyersdorf, PDP.  All of the Past District Presidents and President Susan have been on Mission trips through Mission Opportunities Short Term (MOST).  Sandy Hardies and Barbara Hoffmeier are team leaders.

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

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Prison and Jail Ministry Synod-wide Conference in 2018; $36,500 fully paid

I was in prison and you came to me ... (Matthew 25:36). Though you may never personally enter a prison cell, you are making an impact for those who have. This grant of $36,000 to help fund the third Synod-wide Prison and Jail Ministry Conference for 2018 has been paid in full thanks to your mite donations and prayers! Many of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) districts have or are organizing a Prison and/or Jail Ministry. This conference provides an opportunity for participants to share the difficulties and struggles for LCMS Volunteers ministering in our correctional facilities; receive training and support; and network with others in this very challenging ministry. The goal of this conference is to equip beginners, coordinators, and professional church workers and laity involved in prison/jail ministry with purposeful information through the workshops.  Attendees will also be furnished with special resources specific to this ministry from the LCMS, Concordia Publishing House (CPH), Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM), and other Recognized Service Organizations (RSOs) of the LCMS.

“We are very grateful for the generous grant monies we received from you in January, 2018. We praise the Lord for this blessing. With the use of the LWML Grant Monies, we are very busy preparing for our next Synod Wide Prison Ministry conference on August 17 and 18, 2018 at the Hilton St. Louis Airport. Our Theme and Scripture Verse is: ‘Captive Souls - Mercy for All’ from Romans 11:32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all,” shares Rev James Rivett, Head Coordinator of Prison Ministries of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Southern Illinois District.

Rev. Rivett also requests that if not attending, “please be praying about the Conference and direct others you know who are interested in or are already doing Prison or Jail Ministry to join us. It is very important that we get connected, share resources, and celebrate our Lord using us.”

From left to right----Rev. David Kollmeyer, Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Conant, and Zion Lutheran Church Pinckneyville (where the presentation was made). Pastor Kollmeyer is the Associate Coordinator of the Prison Ministry for the Southern Illinois District LCMS. Next are Mr. Jeffrey Fick, the Schools and General Executive of the Southern Il District of the LCMS; Helen Mayer, Past President of the SID LWML and Rev. James Rivett, Head Coordinator of Prison Ministries of the SID Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Inmates form a choir

Inmate receiving communion

At this conference is a panel discussion regarding funding - the panel includes from the left – Pastor Rivett, Pastor Kollmeyer. Pastor at Zion, Conant and one of the Southern Illinois District Prison Ministry Coordinators; Mr. Roger Smith, member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Greenville, IL. And Pr. Jeff Nehrt, Pastor of Our Redeemer and a SID Prison Ministry Coordinator.

Pastor Herb Mueller, presenting at a Conference

During the Conference: discussion time at each table.

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

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Christian Eldercare Home in Haiti — Ministry in Mission; $100,000 fully paid

Look at what’s happening in Jacmel, Haiti! Construction is underway for this home for the elderly!  The foundation is complete can “settle before the rainy/hurricane season.” The home will be completed by the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019.  Mission teams are scheduled to build the walls: Shepherd of the Hills from Appleton, WI is to help in April; teams from Concordia Seward, the Iowa West and Ohio Districts in May; and teams from Kent State University, Lutheran Campus Ministry, and other Ohio churches in July.

LWML Ohio District President Jeanne Schimmelmann, LWML Ohio District President, is presenting a check for $50,000 to Jackie Rychel, Founder and Grant Administrator of grant #10, Christian Eldercare Home in Jacmel, Haiti.  Jeanne shared, "It was such an honor to present this check to Ministry in Mission. After hearing Jackie and the others speak about the lack of services and assistance for the elderly in Haiti, I knew this money was certainly going to have a tremendous impact on improving the lives of those elderly people. Ministry in Mission is certainly reaching out to the lost and forgotten and sharing God's love with them." 

Jaclyn, Grant Administrator for Christian Eldercare Home in Haiti, says she’s working with other Recognized Service Organization partners for help to train the Haitians in Eldercare, help in collecting and shipping of furnishing for the elderly, and with other groups that would donate bedding, blankets, and other humanitarian supplies.

Thank you for making possible a safe, caring, and healthy home for those elderly Haitians that have out-lived their families where they can have clean water, beds, food, and care while also being fed nourished with the Gospel.

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

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Lutheran World Relief Quilt and Kit Shipping Fund, $80,000

Shipping Hope

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 
We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:2–3).

Every year, countless Lutheran groups and individuals, including many Lutheran Women in Mission, join their hearts and hands in a labor of love: sewing quilts and assembling personal care, baby, school, and fabric kits to be distributed to people in need through Lutheran World Relief (LWR). This faithful labor turns ordinary items into tangible symbols of God’s extraordinary love for people all over the world who may feel they have been forgotten.

Making the quilts and putting together kits is the first step in this ministry that has been the hallmark of LWR since 1945. The next step is delivering these important materials to the person who needs it most, a long and sometimes complex path. 

LWR’s Quilt and Kit Shipping Fund helps to ensure there are funds available to navigate that path. Thanks to the generosity of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, the $80,000 mission grant is supporting the ministry of extending Christ’s love to vulnerable people through the tangible gift of a quilt. This mission grant provides the necessary funds, over the next two years, to deliver more than 35,500 quilts, valued at nearly $675,000, to our neighbors in need around the world. 

Since receipt of the first portion of the mission grant, LWR has sent shipments of quilts and kits to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Peru. In the DRC, we partner with Hope for Angola, which serves the population in and around Angola that lives on an estimated one U.S. dollar per day, per family. 

In Peru, a large shipment of quilts and kits is split between local partner CARITAS and LWR’s country office. CARITAS provides basic necessities as well as other social services to people struggling with poverty in Lima and in remote areas. LWR’s staff distributes items to families participating in ongoing long-term projects, working alongside farming communities to move them from a place of subsistence to a place of sustainability. This shipment will assist nearly 37,500 women, men, and children across Peru.

In 2016, Sabina Carranza received a quilt through LWR’s projects in Peru. Sabina lives high in the Andes mountains, where temperatures can drop to below freezing. She is a weaver, and receiving an LWR quilt from a fellow fabric artist meant so much to her. On average, a blanket takes her up to three weeks to weave, leaving her little to no time to make anything for herself. At the time she received her quilt, it was terribly cold, and she needed five covers to keep warm at night. She particularly loved the leaf pattern in some of the squares on her new quilt, and hoped to find a way to work that design into one of her blankets! You can see more about Sabina and some of her neighbors in our Quilt and Kit Pipeline video at lwr.org/videos/quilt-kit-pipeline.

In every instance, the quilts and kits you help make and ship around the world are a tangible expression of God’s grace and love. Together, each stitch in a quilt, each dollar in a Mite Box is part of God’s kingdom bursting forth in the world every day. Thank you to the LWML for your faithful work, your labors of love, your hopeful endurance that make this ministry vibrant. We truly thank God for all of you! 

Download or print the story.

This story was originally featured in the Winter 2018 Lutheran Woman's Quarterly. Order your subscription here.

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