Former ag teacher says Guatemala mission encourages self-sufficiency

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Want to provide a needy family in Guatemala with a way to provide food and income for their family?
Former Church Point and Iota high school agricultural teacher Randy Miller has found a calling in retirement, working on the Animal Project, a part of Mission Housing Ministries.
Miller has traveled to Guatemala four times in the past year, doing mission work in the rural area of Comitancillo and its surrounding villages.
Comitancillo is about a seven-hour drive from the Guatemala city and nearest airport. He has been doing mission work for about two years, and has volunteered with the Animal Project through Mission Housing Ministries this year.
"I have had a desire to get involved in mission work for a long time," Miller said. "I remember, as I was completing my degree in college, being torn between starting my new job teaching or volunteering with the Peace Corp for two years."
Miller has dug a water well in Nicaragua and went on a medical mission trip to Guatemala.
Miller learned of the Animal Project, sponsored by Mission Housing Ministries during his trip to Guatemala and called Eric Ferree, the mission president, about working on it. When the president learned of his background as a vocational agriculture teacher, he agreed Miller would be an asset. Miller is now the stateside coordinator for the project.
Families interested in receiving animals through the Animal Project are screened with the help of their local church. People have to agree to raise the animals for food and profit and are not allowed to kill the original animal for food.
Once approved, the participants are provided an animal along with feed and animal husbandry instruction.
The animals are raised to reproduce. These animals and their output of milk and eggs can then be sold to earn money for the family. Some people are now raising their third cycle of animals.
So far, the animal project has placed 150 animals with families, with plans to soon place a 100 more. 
A onetime donation of $20 can provide six chickens or two young turkeys. A $40 donation provides a family with a young pig, a goat or sheep.  Because it is a non-profit, donations are a tax write-off. Mission Housing Ministries does not beg for money and after a donation, other than a thank you note, donors will not hear from them again unless they sign up for the newsletter. If you get on their e-mail list they will not bombard you with requests for more donations, Miller said.
All stateside workers of Mission Housing Ministries and Animal Project are unpaid volunteers so that all money received towards the projects can go to Guatemala and be put to use into the project that you choose.
In other words, all office supplies, mission trips and other expenses are paid for by the volunteer. One trip costs on the average of about $1,800, so Mission Housing Ministries does allow people who want to help the volunteers with their costs to donate to a volunteer.
For more information, contact Miller at 337-580-2993 or ramillerag@yahoo.com. He is also on Facebook at Go Donate Me-Animal Project and the website ramillerag.wix.com/GoDonateMe.
"I'm hoping people donate for Christmas," he said.
To learn more about or to donate to Mission House Ministries, go to mhm-guatemala.org.
Miller said, "When teaching, you hope to leave a legacy behind with your students. When I retired, I missed working with kids. I found that the Animal Project in it’s on way leaves a legacy. And the children of the people in the project will contribute to the legacy as they learn to raise animals for food and profit and thus improve their quality of life. That's what agriculture does for people and as a volunteer, we can do what God calls us to do, and that is to serve mankind."