Shoe Unto Others

We got to unload 6,000 pairs of shoes to go around the world!  What does 6,000 pairs of shoes look like, well, the picture above is only half of them.  We use these shoes to take to our projects on trips.  Our trip participants get people to sponsor the shoes and help them go on the trip and put them on a child.  It is really amazing to watch the impact a simple pair of shoes can have on a child.

We Made The News

As most of you know, I was with a team in Mongolia this past October.  Part of our time was spent at our orphanage there.  We had the distinction of being named the number 1 orphanage in Mongolia.  They did a special news documentary on our orphanage that broadcast across Mongolia.  Unfortunately, it is in Mongolian, or I would send it out for you to watch.

However, our team interviewed me on the trip and they have put together a video with a few clips from the news broadcast, then to my interview about the orphanage.  I’m really excited about this project.  In the 10 years that it has been open, we have been able to adopt out of the orphanage 110 children to loving families both in Mongolia and around the world.  Here is the video:

https://vimeo.com/151664868

But, don’t take my word for it, join me sometime and see it with your own eyes.

Thanksgiving In Guatemala

We had a great trip with a wonderful church in Guatemala just before Thanksgiving.  It was a blessing to me, and I know it was a blessing to those in Guatemala.  We were able to visit multiple projects, and perform 8 home visits where we delivered food to a family in need and shared the Gospel with them. We were able to see around 10 people get saved during the week!  On one of the visits we went to a family that had 3 children with muscular dystrophy.  And, they had lost a son to MD recently.  The food was a great blessing to them, but the greater blessing was when 2 of the family members came to trust the Lord with their salvation.

We had a special Thanksgiving dinner with the orphans at our orphanage also.  They had never celebrated Thanksgiving since it is an American holiday, so we treated them to a great meal. They asked if we could all eat with them and pass the food like they had seen in the movies.  How touching!  The things we take for granted.

The final two days were spent in a Mayan village performing a Vacation Bible School and a lice and foot washing outreach.  We had a Christian clown as part of the event and it was a great way to reach the children and the parents that came. We are excited for the church to have their first ever service on Christmas Eve this year.

Here are some pictures of the trip.

Building a New Church

When people give to disaster relief many wonder what all the funds go towards.  In the case of MANNA, some of these funds went to rebuild a church on the north side of Kathmandu.  This church stepped out in faith to begin a building, and MANNA is honored to be able to contribute towards helping them to rebuild it.  Below you can see the before and after pictures.

IMG_8026 IMG_8027

The Woman at the Well

Wow, what an amazing realization we had when we did a water filter outreach.  We did it though the local church that had been planted in the village by the missionary we work with.  I was at the village earlier this year, and it is sad to see how many buildings have been destroyed.  However, there is hope amongst the despair.  We went to the homes of villagers and gave them water filters that will last their family for 10 years.  Through a translator, we were able to demonstrate how they worked.  This is opening the door for the missionary to reach them with the Gospel.

While we were distributing filters we came across a woman at a hand dug well.  She was filtering her water through an old rag into a bucket.  We began to interact with the woman and gave her a bucket, along with a demonstration on how it worked.  She was in disbelief to see us take the dirty water, filter it, then drink it.  These filters really are a huge outreach opportunity.  While, this encounter was not nearly the same magnitude as Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, it was awesome to be able to love on her, and her village.

Out of this earthquake, a feeding ministry has been birthed.  We are excited to announce the beginnings of a feeding program to help serve and reach the people in Nepal.  We were able to visit the kids and see the place were they meet.  A structure was made out of the materials from a shelter like the ones we helped raise money for.

Revisiting The Past

My second trip to Nepal was much different than my last trip this year.  The last trip was just before the earthquake. Many things look different this time.  It is amazing the doors that are opening after the earth shook.  The first day on the ground this time, we were helping to build a permanent home for a family.  In the pictures below you can see some of the earthquake damage and what the temporary shelters look like that people donated through MANNA to build.  Now, we are in our second phase of relief in helping to build some permanent shelters.  It was a great opportunity to interact with the villagers.

Ulaan Baatar

The second half of our time in Mongolia was spent in Ulaan Baatar.  It is the capital of Mongolia.  We were able to visit one of our feeding centers and spend time at our orphanage.  The orphanage was the top rated orphanage for Mongolia several years ago. Typically they require a yearly license, but because of the quality of care we offer, they have given us a lifetime license to operate in Mongolia.  In fact, the government brings other groups that are starting orphanages over to visit and show them how to run a quality orphanage.  Please be in prayer for the orphanage.  We have funding for it for the next year, but we need a church or business that would be willing to partner with us to help support it going forward.

While we were at church on Sunday, we met a lady that had travelled 1,400 km through Mongolia, just to meet us at church.  That is humbling.  While spending time at our feeding center, we met Moogii.  She started coming to the center when she was 8.  Now she is 15 and helping to lead worship at a local church.  She and her siblings were basically abandoned by their mother and our center has helped sustain her through the years.  One of the children we rescued was found in a ditch with his umbilical chord still attached and barely alive.  Words cannot describe the overwhelming emotions that come with hearing testimony after testimony of children being rescued, ministered to, led to the Lord, discipled, and now serving.

Into the Gobi

We have had an amazing time thus far in Mongolia.  The first part of our time was in the Gobi Desert.  We visited one of our feeding centers and got to really engage the community.  It really is amazing where people can live.  We drove 10 hours, one way, from Ulaan Baatar to a village on the edge of the Gobi named Erdene Dalai.  There were stretches of an hour or more where we did not see a single person or animal.  For 1/2 of the trip we were on a paved road, then we ventured off onto a trail that wandered through the desert.  The youth in the village had us play them in volleyball one night, then the next day a Mongolian champion wrestler wanted to wrestle us.  Needless to say we lost.  But, he told us how grateful he was for what we are doing for the children in the community.  We met a girl named Boldmaa who began coming to our center as a small child.  She is now 19 years old, learning Korean so that she can teach in the schools in Mongolia.  She was saved at our feeding program and she is now leading a discipleship program in the city college.  It is an honor to see how the Lord is moving in lives and to be able to play a small part of it.