Menu

Your Mite Offerings Have Made an Impact!

RSS Feed

Thank You LWML video

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

Download the Thank You LWML video

  • 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.

Go to Mission Grants main page
View More Grant Updates and Thank You's

Mercy Meals — Providing Food and the Gospel

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. 

Download or print the story.

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.

View More Grant Updates and Thank You's

Update from Sewing Center in Tanzania

2017–2019 Mission Grant #18: Tanzanian Sewing Center—Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT); $25,000; fully paid

An update from Tanzania: Sewing Project Graduation

null

We are so glad that the girls have graduated with very good results. They now know how to sew different clothes for themselves and for their  children and parents. They have learned also the life skills. We are glad that we planned to train 50 girls and we trained 53.  We got 19 girls got challenges and they did not finish. We recruited 70 of them because of the great need.

One girl got a child at the center and other 4 were taught how to nurture their children.

We pray for LWML to grow. And we thank them for this great work. We need to contunue to help more girls this year and ahed.

Thank you.
Emmanuel

null

 

The Tanzanian Sewing Center will be highlighted at the 2019 LWML Convention with a Mites in Action speaker and a special interest luncheon. Learn more about convention here.

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

Sharing the Gospel Through Life Issues

2017–2019 Mission Grant: Equipping Youth to Witness for Life — Y4Life, $25,000

null

Y4Life — Sharing The Gospel Through Life Issues

By Laura Davis Hemminger, Director of Y4Life, Lutherans for Life, with Cheri Fish, Mission Editor
 

The decision of how to confront an unplanned pregnancy faces teens and young adults more than any other age group. Out of the 1.2 million abortions that take place every year in the United States, most are performed on young, single women. At the current rate, nearly one third of women will have an abortion in their lifetime, so it is likely that Lutheran youth will come into contact with someone facing this kind of decision: possibly a close friend, family member, or even themselves.

At the same time that youth and young adults are facing these life or death situations, they are hearing the message of the Gospel less and less. Approximately 27 percent of those who have an abortion have no religious affiliation. Through this heart-wrenching situation, God provides us with a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel.

The purpose of the Y4Life program at Lutherans For Life is to equip young people to be Gospel-motivated voices for Life. Through education, training and service learning, these young people will be ready to provide guidance and information about Life issues and will be credible witnesses of the Gospel to their peers.

The $25,000 LWML Mission Grant at the 2017 Albuquerque Convention is being used to expand the current campus ministry programs to include all who attend Lutheran high schools: Lutherans and those of other backgrounds and faiths. These programs will equip youth to be Gospel-motivated voices for Life through identifying, training, and mentoring student leaders and faculty, as well as providing ongoing support to existing Life groups on Lutheran campuses.

Since 2017, we have been laying the groundwork for future success. This has included a college-age intern who is responsible for communicating with Lutheran high schools and researching their Life ministry needs. We have also expanded our existing programs hosting our first mini-conference for students at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. In 2018, our first year hosting the event, we had over 75 students attend, eager to learn more about witnessing to the Gospel through Life issues.

Ongoing outreach events will allow us to share our message and ministry, including our Y4LifeServant Event Program. Servant events are weekend-long trips that introduce high school students to life-affirming ministries in their own community: pregnancy centers, disabilities ministries, and senior centers. After the event, many students will continue to serve at these ministries with a newfound respect for life at all of its stages.

We also plan on adding a new full-time Director of High School Ministry to our Y4Life staff, as we currently have only one full-time staff member. Adding this new position will allow for more hands-on work targeted specifically at recruiting, training, mentoring, and supporting high school-aged leaders. We hope to officially launch the new Y4Life High School Ministry at the end of 2019.

We sincerely thank the LWML for this mission grant to enable us to reach out to answer a need by equipping young people to be Gospel-motivated voices for Life. This mission grant will provide education, training, and service learning for Lutheran students, not only to provide guidance and information about Life issues, but also to teach them be credible witnesses to the Gospel to their peers.

Download or print the story.

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

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

You are Making an Impact - Grant #6

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 
Farsi and Russian versions of A Child's Garden of Bible Stories
 
For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here
 

Your Mites Make an Impact for Native Hawaiians

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.

You Are Making an Impact – Grant #2 Mercy House

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.

Posts

LWML Resources