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Laborers of Love-Lutheran Braille Workers


2017–2019 Mission Grant 14 — $100,000

LBW
Lutheran Braille Workers Grant #14

LBW’s ministry lovingly reaches out to people who are visually impaired to create a connection to the Word of God and His church. Lutheran Braille Workers, Inc. (LBW) is celebrating their 75thAnniversary on October 20, 2018 at their headquarters in Yucaipa, California. I had the pleasure of serving on their Board of Directors during the two years between being LWML VP of Christian Life and LWML President. LWML has been honored to be one of the keynote speakers at this anniversary celebration. LWML has long been supportive of LBW through mission grants. Many of us serve in Braille work centers across the United States and many of your LWML districts also support LBW with grants. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to present their grant check of $100,000 from our mite offerings when I go out there for the celebration? At this point, we only have half of that amount available. When you look at our mite offerings (www.lwml.org/mites-received) you will see just how far behind we are with them. Please pray about our mites. Then, I strongly urge you, individually and collectively, to do something specifically about it. What will you and your LWML group do now to help pay all of the grants selected at the Albuquerque convention, including this one for LBW?

Remember this grant in prayer: Lutheran Braille Workers (LBW) has been providing God’s Word to the visually impaired since 1943, utilizing the New International Version of the Bible for the past 25 years. With the use of the English Standard Version (ESV) by the LCMS, LBW desires to offer people with visual disability the opportunity to worship and study with the same translation of the Bible as sighted people of the Church. These funds will assist in the cost of the production of the zinc plates for each Braille Work Center along with producing the ESV Bible in large print.

Jesus had a special place in His heart for the marginalized of society and so can we. Our LWML family reaches out to the physically and the spiritually blind as part of our mission. With the help of the Holy Spirit we should strive to do the best we can in both areas! 

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in pathsthat they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them(Isaiah 42:16).

Patti

Lutheran Resources

LBW Servant Connections at the LWML Convention

Many of you work at a Lutheran Braille Workers work center, making materials available to share the Gospel of Jesus with the visually impaired around the world! Some of you may have worked with LBW in the Servant Connections area at the LWML Convention in Albuquerque. I wanted to share these notes from LBW President, Rev. Dennis Stueve and Janis Fisher.

LWML in Albuquerque
The women at the Lutheran Women Missionary League (LWML) Servant Connections in Albuquerque, NM were energized. What a wonderful opportunity this was for us to witness their love for missions and outreach to others.

Lutheran Braille Workers (LBW) had two projects at the Servant Connections. Our Large Print Department brought 2,900 calendars to be collated, punched and bound. All 2,900 were completed. Each month of the calendar has a scripture and a corresponding picture at the bottom of the page sharing the message of salvation. These calendars will be given to people who are visually impaired free of charge.

The Braille Department had two work stations equipped with Braille presses and plates to produce Volumes 1 and 2 of the Book of Jeremiah. By the end of the sessions they had completed 40 volumes to be sent free of charge to people who are blind.

It was good to see so many familiar faces and friends. Our thanks to the LWML for allowing us to share our ministry. Hope to see you all again in two years!

Janis Fisher, LBW Vice President Ministry Operations

Jesus Christ Above All

The primary work of every Christian is to be Christ’s agent of making Him known in a sinful world. There are lots of ways to do that. For Lutheran Braille Workers (LBW) that means reaching out with the Gospel to people who are blind or visually impaired. That mission spirit was very evident at the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League’s biennium convention as they celebrated their 75th anniversary under the theme, “Jesus Christ Above All.” I, along with many other Lutheran Braille Workers, were excited to join in the LWML convention and celebration. As always, LWML conventions are filled with joy, spiritual growth, and reconnecting with other LWMLers!

LBW was privileged to be part of the Servant Connection at the convention where participants produced Jeremiah and Lamentations in Braille and our faith affirming 2018 calendar in Specialized Large Print.

LBW also had an exhibit at the convention where many gathered and shared their stories and their connections with LBW. Almost every person I spoke with had some connection to LBW. Either they are, or were, Lutheran Braille Workers or their parents or grandparents were Lutheran Braille Workers! It was heartwarming to see these individuals share their stories with a smile on their face knowing that people who are visually impaired had been touched eternally with the Gospel!

LBW was also one of the ministries to be included in the LWML Mission Grants. Over the next biennium the LWML has pledged to provide $100,000 for the production of the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible in both Braille and Specialized Large Print. We praise God and give thanks to the women of the LWML for this mission grant that will allow LBW to touch the lives of people who are visually impaired with God’s saving Word!

LBW also hosted a breakfast on Saturday at the convention and I had the opportunity to thank those who attended for their support and commitment to the ministry of LBW. Others learned about the mission of LBW to reach out with the Gospel to people who are visually impaired who are often very marginalized by society. I noted that 95% of people who are visually impaired are unchurched and that we are called into that mission field.

Rev. Dennis Stueve, President LBW

I volunteer at the Tulsa Work Center and it is a lot of fun! Thank you for being involved in some way with LBW. An offering in your Mite Box will help a blind or visually impaired child of God receive the blessings of His Word.

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth … (John 9:1-41).

Patti