A Southern Baptist congregation in South Carolina received a Mission Match matching contribution to help fund a mission trip to Alajuelita, Costa Rica. According to the congregation's Mission Match application, the "project involves spending a week in Alajuelita, Costa Rica, a suburb of San Jose working with 6:8 Ministries. The name of the Ministry comes from Isaiah 6:8 where Isaiah says to the Lord, 'Here am I, send me.'" The application materials indicated that the "mission team of about 15 members will serve the people of Costa Rica with the purpose of pointing them towards a relationship with Christ. Unemployment is around 65% while prostitution and drugs are common. These are the people we are focused on serving. We will serve them through home repair and construction, home visitation and prayer, children's ministry and feeding stations." Additional information on the application indicated, "Our team will be prayer walking, working in feeding stations, visiting homes, distributing gospel tracts and Bibles, and sharing the gospel of Christ. We will also have the opportunity to work in construction projects and children's ministries, all with the purpose of sharing God's love with the people and telling them about Christ." Follow-up comments from the congregation indicated that, "The money was used to build a new house for a family which was living in unbelievable deplorable conditions in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Costa Rica. At first we were only going to build them a floor, but ended up tearing down the structure and building a new house. The happiness on the face of the family was a great blessing but even greater was the fact that the mother received Christ as her Savior. We are confident that the Lord will use her to bring others to Him."

A Southern Baptist congregation in the State of Washington received a Mission Match matching contribution to help fund a mission trip to Kenya, Africa. According to materials received from the congregation on the Mission Match application, the mission trip was to go to Nairobi, Kenya and the city outskirts. Comments on their application from the church indicated, "After much research and praying we have been led to Kenya this year. Our goals are two-fold -- educational support and humanitarian support. Our team plans to teach theology classes, help get their computers and lab up and running, provide training for the staff and conduct a leadership seminar. Our team will also provide curriculum and teaching both in English and subjects to be determined. Our church will be collecting shoes, food, medical supplies and Bibles to donate. We also will build houses for widows." Follow-up comments from the congregation indicated, "The goal of our project was to develop a relationship with the Kenyan people in order that we might minister to them year after year. Our congregation was looking for a place to serve, with the talents and passion we had to offer ... and that's where God led us. Our team had a hard time leaving the country. It was emotional—we fell in love with the people, and we couldn't stop talking about them and future projects all the way home! We have already initiated three projects with the Kenyan people and a second trip is planned. A water tank was set up so that orphan children could have relatively clean water. One family house of 46 orphans received shoes and socks and a pantry full of food. The mud house building process was used to build a new house for a widow and her 9 children along with an aunt and two grandmas who also took up residence in the tiny house. We have set up a pen pal program between students in Kenya and our children's department at our church. Already over 60 letters have arrived from Kenya and our kids are eagerly returning them. They are learning about Kenya and about giving of themselves for the greater good. Mission Match has helped our congregation grow in their mission giving for sure. Because we had the goal to raise funds, our people were challenged by the Holy Spirit to give beyond their means and then watch to see how God used their faith for His glory. Our church is over 60% senior citizens on a fixed income! When the team reported back to the congregation what we were actually able to accomplish, it was incredible to see the joy and satisfaction they had in their hearts for getting to be a part of it all. It was as if they had gone themselves!

   A Brethren in Christ congregation in Pennsylvania received a third Mission Match matching contribution to help fund a mission project. This one was in a city in Pennsylvania, USA. According to the application materials received from the congregation, the plan was to join with other "local churches to minister to the homeless and to do small work projects for those in need." Additional comments on the congregation’s application stated, "The last two years we have seen our mission giving grow. Now we are seeing a new crop of outreach minded people who want to serve God!"

   According to information received from the congregation, some of the pictures from the mission trip include "children gathering for club time and using chalk to write encouraging messages to those who passed by and children hearing stories about God’s love for them." Pictures also include "children making crafts that connected the Bible story, memory verse and their lives. These crafts were meant for children to take home and share with their families." Additional comments indicated, “a block party was held for those in the community. Over two hundred people showed up for face painting, games, food and community building.”

   Upon completion of the mission trip, the church follow-up comments stated, "We were able to share the Gospel with children and adults throughout the city in Pennsylvania. Thank you for sharing this opportunity with us. We had an excellent experience. What a joy it was to watch a teenage girl share the Gospel with a child and teach that child to pray. What a joy it was to see God use the members of the team to do things they never thought they could do. The team’s growing trust in God has begun to spread to our congregation, encouraging others to step out in faith and trust God."

A Free Methodist Church in Illinois received a Mission Match matching contribution to help provide medical work in Iraq. Follow-up comments from the congregation stated, "This project helped our people be aware of challenging countries."