CHALLENGERm o u n t a i n m i s s i o n

The Quarterly Newsletter of Mountain Mission School Spring 2014

INSIDE: 2013ANNuAl REpoRt

Grundy, VA uSA Serving kids in need in the name of Christ since 1921.

Together We CanChange the World

By Elie Bizimana

Seeing God Every Day

With Yodit Kifle

MMS Alumni Association News

MMS Senior Elie Bizimana with two younger MMS Kids.

Together We CanChange the World

By Elie Bizimana – Class of 2014

was born in 1994 in the east African country of Rwanda, just after the 100-day genocide that killed over half of our population. Unfortunately my father did not

survive. Though I never knew him, my mother told me he was a prayerful, generous and kind man.

The only thing my mother wanted her kids to have was the one thing she never had—an education. So I studied hard, in three different countries with three different cultures: Rwanda, Uganda and the United States.

At school in Uganda, because I couldn’t speak the language, for almost two years I couldn’t talk to friends or write down notes as required. We awoke every day at 3 a.m., and every day I was beaten with a cane. But despite the hardships, I grew spiritually more than ever, and I saw God working in my life like never before.

One day my mother came to visit me at school. It was a special, funny and unforgettable day. We laughed, we ate, and she told me wise sayings just the way she always did. Three weeks later she was dead of cancer.

I never knew she was even sick.

I was left in the house with my stepfather and two stepbrothers. My stepfather treated me harshly and unfairly, and eventually told me to pack up my things and leave the house. I felt so hopeless and helpless. With no money for school, it seemed I had no future.

But four days later a miracle happened.

Other family members stepped in, paid for me to finish my schooling in Uganda, and prepared the way for me to come to the United States, to the small town of Grundy—to my new home, Mountain Mission School.

I grew up in a country where children are abused, both physically and mentally. They are repeatedly told they are stupid, useless and unable to make it in life. They are beaten, caned and harassed. Many become orphans. Some run away. Too many become street children and prostitutes.

I got the chance to escape this end. And I want to leave a legacy that will never be forgotten. “Help the hopeless kids around the world”— that’s my vision. That’s my future.

I hope to create a brighter future for these kids by sending a crystal-clear message to all people with ability and resources: Stop for a minute and look at what’s going on around the world and do something. Together we can change the world. My greatest wish is not

just to change this generation, but the next generation, as well: to give children a reason to live, a reason to go to school, and the strength and courage to face life.

That’s my plan after college, may God help me. My mother taught me to “love your neighbor as yourself”— and that with a little help here and a little push there, you can change people’s lives.

All it takes is a little push.

i

“Help the hopeless kids around the world” —that’s my vision. That’s my future. Jimmy Hooker, president

MMS Alumni Association

mmsKids.org

Lead Like Jesus, a global leadership development firm founded by best-selling business author Ken Blanchard, recently awarded Mountain Mission School its first-ever scholarship for its brand new IGNITE Student Leadership Course.

LLJ’s Fred Waggoner (center) visited last semester to present the award. Waggoner had visited MMS once before — as a little boy, almost 50 years ago!

Leading Like Jesus

• HOMECOMing 2015... Mark your calendar and reserve your hotel room now for the next MMS Homecoming: April 24-26, 2015!

• Toddler Hall playground... MMS Alumni blessed the school’s elementary students with a new playground in 2012 — now we’re raising funds for a new playground for Toddler Hall! We’ve raised more than $10,000 toward our goal of $20,000. These youngest ones need a playground yesterday, so make your contribution today!

• give to the Alumni Association... You can also use the attached envelope to send a check to the MMS Alumni Association. Just write the check to “MMS Alumni” or to “Mountain Mission School” with the word “Alumni” on the memo line.

Jimmy Hooker, presidentMMS Alumni Association

Congratulations to Tim platt, MMS Class of 1984, for being named one of ComputerWorld magazine’s “100 Premier IT Leaders 2014”! The eldest son of Paul and Jenny Platt, Tim serves as vice president of information systems and security at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America in northern Kentucky.

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MMS GradNamed Top 100 IT Leader

2013 Financial Reportwith Projected Expenses for 2014

UnCOMMOn MiniSTrY

Every day Mountain Mission School serves more than a thousand meals and maintains hundreds of warm beds and and hot showers.

Every month, we spend thousands of dollars on power, thousands on water, and thousands on gas.

This is what it takes to operate a home, church and school for nearly 250 Pre-K to high school students—with 50+ staff members there to help day and night.

We do what we do as efficiently as possible. While boarding schools in our region charge between $30,000 and $50,000 per child per year, it cost us just $17,000 to feed, house and educate each child in FY2013.

By the grace of God, the guidance of a wise and godly board, and the support of many faithful partners, Mountain Mission School continues to operate debt-free, holding firm to the “pay as you go” philosophy established by our founder, Sam Hurley.

But it isn’t easy. Every year we struggle to try to meet our operating expenses.

While our contributions and our investment income increased in 2013, so too did our annual operating expenses, as we re-established vocational training, rehabilitated old facilities, and expanded our global reach.

HErE’S A lOOK AT OUr nUMBErS pAST, prESEnT And fUTUrE:

2014 2013 2012COST Of OpErATiOnS (projected)

Instructional 670,000 679,853 638,479

Institutional Support 940,000 948,700 1,013,196

Auxiliary Services 750,000 763,234 705,985

Academic Support 120,000 129,887 104,666

Student Services 170,000 192,815 131,510

Physical Plant 1,250,000 1,369,015 1,225,035

3,900,000 4,083,504 3,818,871

We rely heavily on contributions to sustain our long-term mission of rescuing kids,

raising leaders & reaching nations.

mmsKids.org

UnCOMMOn rESUlTS

MMS Kids are often praised for four things: their talent, their joy, their manners and their hard work. While few could ever afford the opportunity Mountain Mission School gives them, almost all can work, and we make sure every child of age works at least two jobs, in order to teach them industry, responsibility and money management.

We work hard to offer our at-risk youth a full complement of childhood activities: choir, athletics, drama, art, vocational studies, youth groups, church camps, community service projects and more.

95% of our high school seniors go on to college! And that’s just a small part of the MMS story. We’re baptizing new believers into the Lord, training up children in the way they should go, breaking generational cycles of poverty in families, and impacting cultures around the world soli Deo gloria — to the glory of God alone.

None of this could happen without partners like you. Thank you for being part of our ministry, for giving faith, hope and love to MMS Kids from all over the world.

We can’t do this without partners like you. To help rescue kids, raise leaders and reach nations along with us, use the attached envelope to send in your tax-deductible gift to “Mountain Mission School” or to “MMS Alumni” today. Thank you!

Mountain Mission School functions as a full childcare facility (home, church and school) for children with legitimate needs regardless of the child’s race, age, color or creed. We operate as a nonprofit charitable organization, incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Donations are tax deductible.

Give Today

MMS Kids TodayAn international children’s mission in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains? There’s just no other place like Mountain Mission School! MMS Kids come from Canada, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Portugal, Ethiopia, Poland, Senegal, France, Kenya, Argentina, Eritrea, Rwanda, Thailand, the Congo, Zimbabwe, and from states all over the U.S.!

Here are glimpses into just a few of their stories:

• She was an abandoned baby, left to die by the side of a river. Rescue came in time for her—but not for her twin sister.

• Terrorists burst into the family home at night and murdered his father, a Christian minister, right before his eyes.

• She saw her father kill her mother. And then she saw her father kill himself.

• His dad died just weeks after being released from prison.

Most MMS Kids have lost at least one parent. Almost all are rescued from impoverished, high-risk environments. All are children just like yours, with hopes and dreams like any other child.

odit Kifle, Class of 2005, just published her first book, Every Day With My Maker: A 30-Day Devotional That Will Awaken You to See God Every Day, In Everything.

Yodit graduated from William & Mary in 2009 and serves as corporate citizenship & sustainability specialist for Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ.

An excerpt from her book:

I remember walking in New York City for the first time and feeling as though I could disappear and nobody would notice. It’s ironic to feel that way in a city as big as NYC. It hit me one day that if I felt like this, then how many people out there in the world feel like this? How many people do I walk by every day that I’ve completely ignored because I was focused in my own world—a population of one?

There are many people in this world crying inside for just a “hello”—for just a smile. And what do we give them? We give them nothing. So they keep the hurt inside.

Do you realize how many people around you need to be noticed? Do you realize that you are meant to notice them? That person next to you is crying out. That person next to you is your ministry for where you are now.

It’s no coincidence that God has placed you on their path. Our prayers should reflect a heart of sensitivity to those who are hurting. Our lives should resemble that of Christ’s, a heart that wasn’t concerned about how big the crowd.

With all the authority and power He had been given, Jesus still noticed the crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda. He noticed the Samaritan woman who was shunned by everyone else. He noticed the woman with the issue of blood.

Jesus noticed.

The person next to you is crying out. Do you hear her? Do you hear him? God has given you this platform. Make a difference.

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Seeing God Every Day

in Everything

mmsKids.org

Yodit at age 5

A Soldier in the Making

John Samuel, Class of 2013, recently joined the United States Army and sent us this note from Basic Training:

Ergo Rex Touring This Summer!Mountain Mission School’s amazing worship band, Ergo Rex, will be touring as “musicianaries” this summer in an effort to minister to young people and spread the MMS word at Christian churches, retreats and camps. Hear their music and learn more at ErgoRex.com — and find their music on iTunes and Spotify! Contact us today to schedule a concert.

John in 6th grade

John in Basic Training

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• Serving Christ by serving children in need since 1921.• Serving children of all ages, from more than 60 countries.• Serving as home, church and school to 250 children a year.• relying on private donations from churches and individuals.• receiving no state or federal financial aid.

Rescuing Kids.

Reaching Nations.Raising Leaders.

Mountain Mission School functions as a full childcare facility (home, church and school) for children with legitimate needs regardless of the child’s race, age, color or creed. We operate as a nonprofit charitable organization, incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Donations are tax deductible.

mmsKids.org

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