Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer.

Photo by Elizabeth Turk

Today in the Mission Yearbook: December 1, 2023

PRESBYTERIAN HIV AWARENESS DAY - During the past two years of Covid and other global crises, progress against the HIV pandemic has faltered, resources have shrunk and millions of lives are at risk as a result. This year, UNAIDS is challenging us to tackle the inequalities and inequities in HIV prevention and treatment. Inequity exists between countries and within countries. In Madagascar, only 15% of those infected with HIV know their status, while in the U.S.A., 87% of those infected know their status. Both countries are striving to reach at-risk populations.

The Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), the PC(USA)’s partner church, sees tackling the HIV problem as an important part of what it means to serve God ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Milka’s Story”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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FWM Images

Friday Story: “Milka’s Story"

Milka, 19, lives with spastic cerebral palsy, which hinders her mobility.

Despite the challenges, Milka maintains a consistently cheerful disposition, often discussing her accomplishments, her knack for reading, and her deep love for her mother, Valeska.

Milka needed a wheelchair, but her family could not afford one ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Freeing a Family”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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FWM Images

Friday Story: “Freeing a Family"

The gift of mobility is freeing a family in Kenya—the family of a little boy named Ian.

When Ian was born, he did not cry.

He was admitted to a hospital for two weeks and diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which affects his mobility ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “You helped make this happen in October”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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Friday Story: “You helped make this happen in October"

Wheelchair Arrivals

In October, 2,598 wheelchairs arrived in China, Kenya, Pakistan, and Uganda, with more en route to Chile, Ecuador, Eswatini, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Paraguay, thanks to your prayers and support.

More Stories from Free Wheelchair Mission ...

• Independence Multiplied: Story of a Life Transformed ...

• Churches Provide Mobility: Ways your church can get involved ...

• AARP presents FWM President/Founder Don Schoendorfer with Purpose Prize Award and Inspire Award ...

Season of Giving: Gifts that Make a Difference

Give meaningful gifts that make a difference this holiday season!

• Free Wheelchair Mission Christmas and Holiday Cards, which gift a free wheelchair to someone in a developing country who desperately needs one but cannot afford one. E-Cards are also available.
• Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World, the book by Don Schoendorfer, the proceeds of which will go towards providing new wheelchairs.
The Dignity Bracelet, which represents one wheelchair given.
• Or, you can give a donation as part of our “Season of Giving.” Make a tax-deductible, year-end gift by December 31 to take advantage of current tax laws.

Whether you order cards and books or make a donation, your transforming gift will provide more than just mobility. It will offer renewed hope, freedom, and independence.

• To order cards or donate, visit FreeWheelchairMission.org/Season ...

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 31, 2023

SHEEP AND GOATS
Tom Logan
MMM Co-founder and President

"He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.” - Matthew 25:32-33

As Jesus tells us, the sheep and the goats are separated not on the basis of their goodness or badness but based on what they did or did not do. They were separated by who had fed the hungry, who had given the thirsty something to drink, who had clothed the naked, who had cared for the sick and visited those in prison.

The cost of a well for an entire village is $450. This is a higher quality and better well, than the one we built in the 1990s for $500 (think about that for a moment).

A Marion Medical Mission well represents self-help. The villagers do what they can. They make the brick, and provide the stone, sand, and unskilled labor. A Marion Medical Mission well is one that uses the talents of the Africans. A Marion Medical Mission well is one the extreme rural poor know how to maintain and one they can afford to maintain. The impact of this self-help program has been dramatic. Its importance can’t be over emphasized. Self-help is a means for people to get up off their knees. Self-help frees people.

We want to follow Jesus; we want our Master Christ to live in us. Yet, we want to do it in a rational, logical, reasonable way where everything is in its proper place and order. The two don’t readily mix; they don’t completely match; the two don’t and won’t always work together and when they don’t, that’s when the Master’s light shines brightest. And we need to make sure we let it shine.

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 23, 2022

FIND GRACE TO HELP
Wayne Peterson
Volunteer, Illinois

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” - Hebrews 4:16

I became aware of MMM best through friends from our church making a mission trip to Malawi in 2017. The more I learned, the more special this whole mission appeared. Just the way it got started is interesting and meaningful. To correct the source of something wrong: the lack of good drinking water.

Then their Malawi trip was shared and it clearly showed people in need. The time was now – “In time of need.” So the next year I applied and did the process with interview, vaccinations, supplies, and prayer. Church and family were a support. It was a great experience to see the process of getting protected wells to these needy villages. Somehow I couldn’t quite believe how those folks were living with the little spots of water, not cleaned, shared by cattle and all. So the need!

For me it was kind of fun to drive one of those Toyota pickups, having grown up on a farm with uneven land and all. But being in Zambia it seemed mostly less hilly – God making it easier on my near 80-year-old body. There was mercy and grace from God to do this help.

But another part of this was seeing the native Africans at work; they knew just what to do and I learned that my duty there was not really digging wells, or even doing the well installation, but being a connection of Christians from America with those needy people in remote villages. And then they could continue to do installations during the pandemic which is significant to the operation. It reminds me of giving one a fish is food for a day, but teaching one to fish is good for life. In thinking about it some more, they are probably more efficient driving, knowing the territory, and if nothing else not so crowded in the pickup cab with one less person!

The need continues for some outside support, especially for purchasing certain things for the wells, as well as supporting the local workers. Those workers are well trained and devoted to the task.

Application Question: How might I find the grace to help others?

Prayer: Lord, we pray for mercy and grace for the local workers and for support for the mission; may it continue to grow. Amen

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 29, 2023

SO MANY BLESSINGS
Betty Samelson
Volunteer and MMM Board Member, Colorado

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” - Ephesians 1:3

My trip was shortened by two weeks last year. So, instead of sadness at not being at the wells, sharing the first sight of clear protected water with the villagers, I decided to count my blessings.

• The man walking in the road as we drove by, yelling out “God bless you.”
• The women at a well singing a new song I’d never heard in the 13 years I’ve come to Malawi, “May God bless you with wisdom to take care of others, so we have peace within our community.”
• The end of an installation when the headman gave us blessings, “For you, your family, and your country.”
• The man who said, “Since the world has begun, a well has never been put in this village.”
• An elder who followed us to two wells that were within walking distance. As we left the village each time, he caught our attention and said, “God must love you.”
• The large village with so many happy dancing women and children.
• Bringing water to hundreds of people.
• One young women who caught the attention of both my partner and me. Neither of us had ever seen a reaction like hers – not just total surprise and awe at the pristine water gushing from the pipe, it was bewilderment, almost as if we had pulled a rabbit out of our hats.
• And a t-shirt that read, “Life is simple. Are you happy? If yes, keep going. If no, change something.”

My trip was shortened but filled with so many blessings.

Application Question: Dear Lord, thank You for the blessings that You have shown me. Help me to remember to count these blessings every day. We pray in Your name. Amen

Prayer: Loving God, we give thanks and rejoice in the hard work, fun, and fellowship that our installers, field officers, volunteers, and all those unknown to us played in making our day a wonderful experience. May we find gladness and satisfaction in all of our successes and challenges. May this experience of teamwork and sacrifice strengthen our bond and deepen our commitment to our mission to serve our brothers and sisters. Grant to all of us rest and renewal so that we may continue to serve You faithfully and without ceasing. We ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 28, 2023

OUR IMPACT
Slade Exley
Volunteer, Mississippi

"Owe no one anything except to love one another. Love does no harm to a neighbor” - Romans 13:8,10
friend recently read this devotional from Moments With God by David Jeremiah. “A young, deaf girl in Tanzania heard about Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel from a church planting team visiting her school. Because she accepted Christ, her Muslim family rejected her and kicked her out of her home. A deaf church responded to her need and cared for her. They also helped her family by paying the medical expenses when her father became ill. Because of the love of the church and the testimony of his daughter, the father also came to Christ. The testimony from one team of church planters changed the life of this young girl. The sacrificial giving of one church changed the life of the father. and who knows how many lives will ultimately be changed – one life at a time – from the testimony of their lives.”

This story particularly struck me, not just because I served in Tanzania last well season, but more importantly, it illustrates the potential that MMM has every time we install a well in an African village. The words we speak to the villagers – that the well is being provided through the love of Jesus Christ – sends a message that Christ loves them. Our demonstration of sacrifice as it relates to our time and comforts shows our personal love to the villagers. “We may never know how God will use our witness in the lives of people we encounter or in their response to the Gospel. But we know that when we walk with Him, obey His word, and follow His will, He will use our words and actions to draw people to Himself” (Moments with God).

We are so blessed to have this opportunity to impact the lives of thousands of villagers through the gift of clean water, but we may never witness or know the many other blessings and impacts these acts of kindness will have on each person in each village. Praise God for this opportunity to serve him and have an impact on others.

Application: As you go about your day, look for a way to impact the life of one person for Christ.

Prayer: Gracious God, help us to show your love through our words, actions and deeds today as we visit each well to perform Your work. Amen

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From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Anh and Her “Best Friend””

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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FWM Photos

Friday Story: “Anh and Her “Best Friend”"

Anh is a seventh grader in Vietnam whose intelligence, friendly nature, and athletic prowess earned her the admiration of both teachers and friends alike.

Her dream of becoming a professional athlete seemed within reach when she was recruited to represent her entire province in sports.

But life had different plans ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 27, 2023

I AM BECAUSE WE ARE
Dan Selock
Volunteer, Illinois

"He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." - Ephesians 4:13

I have learned much about the essence of being human through Tom and Jocelyn Logan. The wells installed by MMM have enabled over five million villagers to have safe drinking water. Only a small number of them have ever had safe drinking water, “since the beginning of mankind,” according to one of the village elders my wife, Susie, and I met in Malawi in 2016.

The wells belong to the villagers; we were only there to assist. Only together, Africans and Americans, were we able to be who God created us to be. Only together did safe drinking water become available to thousands of villagers. Together, people of color and white people actualized a dream, became friends and established relationships, and served one another. Together, we sang songs and praised God for His goodness. The verses to one song are, “Who will enter into Heaven? Our Father is there. Only the holy will enter. You are holy. Enter into Heaven. Our Father is there.” Susie and I felt we had entered into Heaven for those moments of the song. Gestures of love from God’s children are powerful. The people of Malawi have such open and warm hearts.

Our experience in Malawi illustrates how people who are different can effectively come together and achieve a dream. In the United States the “American Dream” is at stake. The only way people of color and white people can actualize that dream is to become friends, establish relationships, and work together, as we did in Africa. The time for such an encounter is now; it is long past due. And, if we do not succeed today, what kind of world will our children and grandchildren inhabit tomorrow?

Application Question: How will I reach out to build relationships with people who are different from me? How can I demonstrate Ubuntu?

Prayer: Ubuntu; I am who I am because of who we all are. Many of us know very little about people who are different. Only through relationship building can we learn who we all are and, as a consequence, learn who each one of us are. I am because we are. Amen

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2021. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 26, 2023

PICK UP YOUR MAT AND WALK
Isaac Tindi
MMM Field Officer, Zambia

"After this Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was a pool with five porches; in Hebrew it is called Bethzatha. A large crowd of sick people were lying on the porches -the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. A man was there who had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, do you want to get well? The sick man answered, “Sir, I don’t have any one herewith to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.” Jesus said to him, “ Get up, pick your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking.” - John 5:1-8

n life we at times believe nothing can better our lives, we believe we are poverty- stricken for life. There are communities that need safe drinking water but they don’t have the where abouts; who does what at an appointed time. For 38 solid years, this man was lying on the porches, when asked if he wants to get well, he expressed ignorance.

People need safe drinking water and know that MMM through its African partners render the service, but they aren’t requesting. We need to explain to them, thereafter ask them if they need the well.

Tell them to take a step and move.

Application Question: How can we encourage others?

Prayer: Lord, help us encourage one another to pick up our mats and walk. No situation is permanent. Amen

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 25, 2023

WOMAN AT THE WELL
DiAnne Hughes
Volunteer, Nebraska

"Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - John 4:13-14

Jacob’s well had been there for a very long time, “since the beginning of time.” It still provides clean water today. The “woman at the well” came in the heat of the day. She did not come in the morning when most women would come with their family and friends. I imagine it would sound a lot like the women in Malawi, singing, talking, laughing. But at noon it would be very quiet. The woman would be there alone.

My ladies’ group has been studying Jesus and Women by Kristi McLelland. It discusses how women in Jesus’s time were low in society, even talking to a rabbi was not acceptable. The Samaritan, a divorced woman, was the lowest of the low. But Jesus loved and respected her. Jesus lifted her from shame to honor. She was to be the first person that Jesus explicitly told that He was the Messiah, the Christ. She became a witness to her community. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony” (John 4:39).

“He reached out with radical kindness and grace and in so doing, He changed her life” (McLelland).

He wants us to do the same. Reaching out not only to lowest of the low but reaching out to those who may make us uncomfortable. Those who are of different color, ideas, abilities, interest, religion... (you get the idea). Reach out to them to show kindness and to share the gospel.

Application Question: Today, how can you show kindness and grace to one who may be “different”? How can you follow John 4:39 and use your testimony to help others believe in Him?

Prayer: dear Heavenly Father, help me be Your hands and feet. Please, help me see how you see those You love and share Your truth with them. Thank You for the love and grace that You have shown me. Amen

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 24, 2023

ASKING FOR HELP
Jan Van Heiningen
Volunteer, Georgia

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” - Proverbs 3:5-6

Walking to a new well is obviously a group activity. This group includes our installation crew, a builder (who thankfully knows where the well is located), a Field Officer, one or two American volunteers, exuberant villagers, and giggling curious children. Without this blessed group of experienced Africans, all of the volunteers from the USA would be hopelessly lost! Often when I’m driving, I count my blessings that I am not in the bush without someone to tell me on which goat path to drive!

It was a typical day of well installations. We arrived at the vicinity of our next well and everyone exited the truck, gathered and double-checked all the well parts and took off down another dusty pathway. For some reason, I stayed a little longer at the truck and when I looked up – everyone was out of sight. I gathered my hat, my water bottle, the laptop, the truck key, and started down the unusually quiet path. Suddenly I found myself at the point where the path became two paths – one to the right, and one to the left. No problem – I thought – I can find our team by following the sound of the celebratory singing. I paused – I listened – I heard nothing. Venturing off alone was not an option especially since I was the one with the truck key.

Again, listening for and hearing no familiar well installation noises, I decided it was a good time to ask the Lord for some help. Leaning on my own understanding was definitely not working. As I opened my eyes, I looked down again at both paths, and studied the footprints in the dirt. In the left pathway, I saw the definite outline of a Nike tennis shoe that was nearly covered over by little children’s bare feet. I knew that the barely visible shoeprint was indeed my partner’s shoe and the left pathway was my answered prayer. I followed the path until I finally found our team surrounded by large banana trees that had obscured my view and had muffled the happy sounds of this village. Thank you Lord for showing me the way ... again.

Ulemu Kwa Mulungu - Glory to God!

Application Question: Why do we often call on God for answers to problems only when we are in trouble?

Prayer: Forgive us Lord when we try to figure out the answers to problems without Your guidance. Thank You for giving us answers to situations even when we don’t turn to You first. Amen

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Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 23, 2023

LOVE WITH ACTION
Happy Kamsonga
MMM Field Officer, Malawi

"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with action and in truth.” - 1 John 3:18

"Each of you should use whatever gift received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various form.” - 1 Peter 4:10

There is my heart, and then there is you, and I am not sure there is a difference. Loving someone without knowing how, or when, or from where. Loving you is simply without problem and pride. Marion Medical Mission loves villagers because it is only in this way to show love to the villagers through safe clean water.

With the gifted life that God gifted me I am so happy and proud being part of the team to change people’s lives in the rural areas by providing safe clean drinking water through MMM. It was like a dream since people never expected change in their homes, safe clean drinking water which will put their lives on the safer side. It was like a storm which covered them, never finding peace of mind as only open wells were the major source of water and full of contaminants. No hope among people in the village, as children becoming sick, high school drop outs, early marriages, and diseases. Hospitals were crowded due to sickness; infant mortality rate was higher. There was no rest among people in the village because each and every day we could see children dying due to unsafe water.

God indeed loved so the world. Marion Medical Mission is defined as love and blessings to people like us because it makes our lives better and gives meaning to many lives in Africa. With unconditional love from MMM, we are who we are today, and the well program forms one link with friends from the U.S. who come for well installation season. Marion is different from any other organization as it does exceptional work.

Now people in the villages have hope as the awaited rain has come, love from Marion Medical Mission is the only hope for people in the village. If we can, let’s do it today, and tomorrow shall never be the same.

Application Question: As sons of God, do we really communicate our love through touch or action not words?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, By the power of the holy ghost, I cast all unclean sprit to the lake of fire. I cancelled all the curses and evil from my life and I return all evil intentions and curses back to the originator ten-fold. Cover me, heavenly Father, from wickedness and evilness. In the name our lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 22, 2023

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Reverend Marlin Otte
Volunteer and MMM Vice-President, Illinois

"One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.” - John 9:25

These are the words of a man born blind who Jesus heals in John 9. For the entire chapter there is a huge debate: Was it his sin that caused the blindness? Was it his parents’ sin? Religious leaders investigate because it was on the sabbath: Who did this? By what authority? By what power? He can’t be from God, someone is lying. All the while the man born blind keeps on saying: “I don’t know about all of this, but I was blind, now I see!” Amazingly, the leaders eventually drive him out! His response is: “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I would never say that MMM is Jesus! But this passage came to mind when I read Betty Samelson’s quote in the Spring 2023 MMM newsletter. A village headman said after MMM had installed its well: “Since the world has begun, a well has never been put in this village!”

WOW! My first thought was, “That can’t be true!” In our country, protected water wells have been a part of our world since the first immigrants touched our shore 400+ years ago. They brought the technology of well building with them. But in that country, in that village, and in that man’s life he speaks truth! MMM brought the technology to them. Talk about making a difference: not since the world began!

Marion Medical Mission truly makes life changing, mind blowing, and yes, even never before seen in earth’s history! In each village where an MMM well is present, life is certainly healthier, it is easier. They have more time to work their fields, more food, more income, more time for their children to go to school, and every one lives longer because of it. MMM makes a difference. Another lesson to the John 9 story is that without God, MMM could do nothing. We truly believe it and seek to live it in all we do. What we are doing is as basic and life changing as what the blind man said: “I was blind, now I see!” That village was dying with bad water and now they have life giving water! “Glory be to God!”

Application Question: How can I make a difference?

Prayer: Dear God, use me, use my gifts, use my resources and empower my service to make a difference. AMEN

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 21, 2023

WITH ACTIONS AND IN TRUTH
Wayne Schultz Volunteer and MMM Board Member, Colorado

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” - 1 John 3:17-18

We often think this verse applies primarily to those who are wealthy and choose not to share with those less fortunate. Instead, it reaches to all who have resources and/or abilities that are available to help others.

For MMM it includes not only potential donors, but volunteers, coordinators, field officers, installation supervisors, builders and even villagers as they see the need that others ignore.

This need (clean water), although obvious, escapes the attention of those outside of MMM as too expensive, too much or beyond the realm of possibility.

The difference that makes the MMM mission possible is a Love of God among those who have accepted His gift of grace and have chosen to respond with actions and in truth by moving their feet in spite of the magnitude of the need or the lack of resources.

Application Question: How have you seen those in MMM reflect God’s love for them, and their appreciation for His grace as they work among those in need?

Prayer: Lord, thank You for all those in MMM who have recognized the needs of their brothers and sisters, and who show gratitude for Your gift of grace and demonstrate Your love for them through the work they do in Your name. Amen

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Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 20, 2023

UNTIL YOU DO SOMETHING
Reverend Fletcher Makala Mbewe
CCAP Nkhoma Synod, Malawi

"On that day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they have dug. They said “we have found water!” - Genesis 26:32

"For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” - 2 Thessalonians 3:10

“Whoever refuses to work is not allowed to eat.” Indeed, everyone of us has responsibility to do something so that an achievement is registered in our life. Our God had already put in place a lot of treasures in our communities which ought to be utilized for us to sustain a living. Some of the resources are land, water, animals, manpower, knowledge, and skills.

Therefore we must work to get water, so we dig a well, collect sand, break down stones into quarry, and mold and burn the bricks to have our well, to attract funding from Marion Medical Mission to be protected so that we can drink clean potable water.

To be honest, not all the villages manage to work hard and have a reliable water source within their villages. As such only active villages will benefit with MMM assistance if they work and report to MMM Field Officer that we have done our part hence come forth to us with MMM support.

We can’t expect breakthroughs in life if we cannot maximize our intention and skills to have clean water in our respective villages.

Application Question: Can we have a protected well in our village if we don’t do something?

Prayer: May the almighty God bless us all remember that we all have a role to play so that something helps happen to support our health and life. Amen

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From @FWMission ... Friday Story: “Martire’s Story”

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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FWM Photos

Friday Story: “Martire’s Story"

Meet Martire, a 26-year-old single father who lives in the fields of the Dominican Republic.

Martire faced immense challenges after he sustained spinal cord injuries in an accident that left him paralyzed. His world crumbled when his wife abandoned him and their young son, leaving him to rely on his devoted mother Eugenia to care for them both. Feeling useless, he fell into deep despair.

But a ray of hope pierced through the darkness when friends like you stepped in ...

• Read the rest of this story ...

From @mmm_water ... 2023 Well Season: Daily Devotional

September 1 - October 31 is Marion Medical Mission Well Season for 2023. The season will include daily devotionals - one for each day the U.S. volunteers are overseas, sharing the love of Jesus by providing safe, clean, sustainable sources of drinking water to the extreme poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Marion Medical Mission is one of our mission partners at Grace Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, and we STRONGLY encourage you to read these devotions to learn more about - and pray for! - their mission.

October 19, 2023

THE HEALING POWER OF WATER
Jordan Banda
MMM Program Coordinator, Malawi

" If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria,He would cure him of his leprosy.” - 2 Kings 5:3

Without water nothing can flourish or even exist. It maintains vitality in us, infused by God. Water has tremendous healing potential for the human mind, body, and spirit. When Naaman – the commander of the king of Aram’s army – was struck by leprosy, he needed the healing power of water to be cured from his condition.

When the first cholera case was recorded in the lakeshore district of Nkhata-Bay in Malawi in August last year, the outbreak spread rapidly to other parts of the country in no time. Lakeshore districts soon became a hotspot, recording a total of 1,514 cases. The nation was sick, the government panicked, and most social gatherings were banned from taking place in the hotspot areas. The Synod of Livingstonia’s annual general meeting was suspended from taking place in Nkhata-Bay and moved elsewhere, “It needed the healing power of safe drinking water.”

“If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria, He would cure him of his leprosy.” A call was made to Marion Medical Mission to be part of curing the sick nation. By the end of October, 240 wells were built in Nkhata-Bay District. People got a sustainable source of safe drinking water. These wells brought the power of healing to the area, so much that by the end of January of this year, cholera cases were reduced drastically, the nation was healed with no cholera case reported from the affected areas since mid-January. What a marvelous God we serve!

Application Question: God can do His part to change every situation for the good, but we have a key role to play to sustain it. What can I do to embrace the sustainability of MMM interventions?

Prayer: Our heavenly Father, I adore You. Thank you so much for this day You have made for us to realize how wonderful You are and the mighty things You can do for us. Help me to realize what I can do to embrace the sustainability of Your work. Amen

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Looking for Easy Ways to Help?

Follow us on social media! Liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts helps increase our exposure so that new supporters will find us! Writing a quick, 5-star review on Google or recommending us on Facebook are also great ways to share our mission!

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