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There are people in need all over the world as well as right here at home. Montana on a Mission is blessed to be a blessing!
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They say, home isn't a place, it's a feeling. You can make your home anywhere but what really makes a place home is being safe with those you love. With your help, Montana on a Mission is constructing two new safe places - homes - for two families in the Philippines that desperately need them.
Lenneth Palma has faithfully and cheerfully cooked for our school lunch program for 7 years. Her present living conditions are absolutely miserable with a totally inadequate “house”. Construction of a new house began in September and Lenneth's new home will be ready for her and her family to move in very soon.
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Lenneth's new home is under construction and will be completed and ready for her and her family to move in at the end of the month.
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Lenneth's current house, outdoor kitchen and bathroom
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The second home will be for Rablena Gatchalian, a single mother of two children. Her husband left her about 10 years ago. She was forced to go to Manila to find work, leaving her children in her parents' care, which is very common in the Philippines. Last year a neighbor tried twice to rape her 4th-grade daughter! Rablena returned home and when we heard her story we knew we had to do something. Rablena’s current living conditions are grim, so Montana on a Mission will be building her a small, safe home. She's so excited and we are excited for her!
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Rablena and her children currently call this makeshift shelter home.
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This school year, 2019-2020 marks the seventh year of the school lunch program at Calunasan Sur Elementary School, Bohol, Philippines! We started this program with only 43 students in 2012. Last year we began serving the entire student body, currently 129 students and growing every year. The parents are so happy that lunch is provided for their children at school. The students who attend the school are from very poor barrios (neighborhoods) and the school lunch is often the best meal they will have all day. Vicky Acain, a local woman who supervises the program, along with three cooks, does a fantastic job of preparing and serving the food. Rice is always on the menu – a staple for a Filipino. However, the prices for food in Bohol have increased sharply, making it impossible for us to provide the same level of nutrition as in prior years. We would like to increase the budget so that more fruit and meat could be served. If you feel led to give to the lunch program, or if you are already a supporter of the program, would you consider raising your support to $18/month? Every penny will go towards the lunch program and feeding the children a nutritious meal each day.
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We are working with two new communities that are in desperate need of water. We first visited both communities in November of 2018, nearly one year ago. Neither community had access to clean water and the women were walking an average of two miles each way to collect water from dirty, contaminated sources.
Thanks to your generous donations and prayer we were able to drill at both locations and both boreholes yielded extraordinary amounts of clean, fresh water.
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Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
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The system at Emurua Dikkir has just been completed and is serving more than 2300 people, including a school of 300+ students.
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Ropile is a rural community of approximately 800 people and includes two small schools of 120 students.
The area is on the plain, neighboring a wildlife conservancy. The women not only walk more than 2 miles each way to collect water (from a contaminated source), but they must walk through the bush in the conservancy and often encounter dangerous animals!
We are in the final stages of planning the solar lift system with the contractor and the on-site work should begin soon. God willing, the community will be fetching clean water from the borehole by year-end!
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Fetching water at Ropile
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Drilling at Ropile in July
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Homeward Bound is our annual multi-day service project at home. Our goal is to bring our community together and mobilize 200+ volunteers to serve right here in Sweet Grass county. This year marked the event's 5th year and the program looked a little differently from past years. Rather than working together for an entire week, we spent one Saturday as a group "making Big Timber more beautiful". About 25 people gathered with dump trailers and canvased town taking unwanted trash to the dump. The city graciously waived the fee for dumping.
Wednesday was teen service day when approximately 60 student-athletes from Sweet Grass County High School went out to the businesses in the community to help with clean-up and other odd jobs.
Other projects and community needs brought to MOM for Homeward Bound have been matched with individuals and groups to finish on their own timeline. We were also able to, once again provide 25 backpacks filled with school supplies for students in need at the local schools and assist the Big Timber senior center (Hospitality House) with $1000 to go toward a painting project in their building.
Thanks so very much to all who volunteered to show love to our community!
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Thanks to an incredibly generous donation we are able to keep supplying Bibles in the Maasai language to pastors and families in Kenya as well as Vasayan language Bibles to Bible study groups, kids groups and youth groups in the Philippines!
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-12
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As you can see, God has been up to some great things and we are blessed and humbled that we can be used by Him to show His love to a hurting world. If you would like to learn more please visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/montanaonamission and our website: montanaonamission.org
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