Emergency Food Update

 Allen and Trish, currently in Florida, have been called into blog-post action because the Sowers4Pastors staff members on the ground in Honduras are simply too busy right now to add one more thing to their plates. This week’s update covers a little bit of everything: praise reports, prayer requests, emergency food distribution, and news about the sponsored children. So fasten your seatbelt and keep your arms and legs inside the imaginary vehicle. We have a lot to cover!

As we’ve mentioned recently, Sowers4Pastors is in the middle of an emergency food distribution effort. By the time you’re reading this, at least 137,500 pounds of food will have been distributed to families of sponsored children. That’s a tremendous amount of food—and a tremendous amount of work.

The school year in Honduras is wrapping up, and for many schools, the S4P food distribution is the final activity before they close for their annual vacation. In a typical year, this would also mark the beginning of coffee harvest season, when children and their families can find work and earn much-needed income. But this is not a typical year. Because of the ongoing drought, there simply isn’t much harvesting work available.

S4P staff members are hearing one heartbreaking story after another from families barely managing to get by. One family of three has been trying to survive on just four pounds of food a week: one pound of beans, one pound of cornmeal, and two pounds of rice. Families are selling off their animals and whatever possessions they can spare to buy food.

As Allen explained, “One chicken can be sold for about $11. With that money, families will be able to buy maybe 20 - 25 pounds of rice. They are going for volume. They are selling off the pigs they were raising for Christmas celebrations. They are going through their possessions and selling off anything they have, in order to buy enough food to get by for a while longer. It’s pure survival mode at this moment, for a lot of people.”

And the difficult reality is that this crisis is not likely to be short-lived.

“I don’t know if we've explained sufficiently how long this situation will last,” Trish shared. “During a normal year, the dry season runs from January - April. No crops can be grown then, even if the people have seed. And, when you are hungry, you eat your seed - the beans and corn kernels. May is the first month when planting might be possible - and then the harvest comes in August or September. That’s a long time to wait, when your pantry is already bare.

The 2026 May crops didn’t make it. The prediction is that, due to the continuing super El Niño, it will be no better - and will possibly be worse - next year. We’re hoping that the prediction will be wrong, but they got it right this year.”

There is, however, some very good news on the food front. S4P currently has two containers full of food in process. One should ship within the next two weeks, and the other is expected to ship within the month. Allen has also been working hard to secure additional containers of food. The need is enormous, and the ministry is doing everything it can to get more supplies moving. The cost of the three upcoming containers of food is around $52,000. 

There’s another container-related praise report, too—this time involving backpacks.

On November 7, a container full of backpacks collected from sponsors was shipped. These are the backpacks Kirstin, Mary Faith, and JR spent September driving around collecting. A second container of backpacks is being loaded in Maryland on the 7th. Those are the backpacks people made for children who don’t have sponsors, and for children who aren’t in a sponsorship program.

Last year, S4P faced enormous difficulties getting the paperwork needed to ship containers. Only one container of backpacks made it to Honduras, and the ministry had to rely on the extra backpacks and supplies already stored in the bodega, for the unsponsored children. That surplus is now gone, so it is a huge praise that the current administration seems to be doing a better job of approving the dispensas required for container shipments! S4P is taking full advantage of the opportunity and plans to ship as many containers as possible.

This is particularly good news for the Cofers, whose home and property have effectively been taken over by unshipped donations for the past year. We suspect they are ready to see those piles and boxes go on a very long trip!

During the time when government paperwork wasn’t flowing, the ministry was also not able to move containers of food. The flow of food is especially important now, and everyone is very grateful to God for this answer to prayer.

What About the Sponsored Kids?

Allen and Trish also want to reassure sponsors who may be wondering how their children are doing as the school year comes to a close. The Christmas greetings from the kids traveled to the States with Allen and Trish. They are in the mail and should be arriving to sister churches or directly to sponsors soon. As far as the supplemental meals given to kids goes, the end of the school year does not mean the end of the feeding program.

During the school year, children receive one meal a week at school and another through their church. That church meal will continue during the school holiday, and S4P supports any pastor who expands the program to provide two meals a week during this time. Everyone is working to make sure the children continue to receive food and support, even while school is out.

“The pastors are stepping up to the plate,” Allen said. “They are trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”

That commitment is especially important right now. And there is something else Trish wants people to understand about the ministry’s approach to emergency food distribution: the food is not conditional on a spiritual response.

“Sowers4Pastors doesn’t equate giving food with giving the Gospel,” Trish explained. “While we do hope the food will be an answer to prayers and that the people will see God through this process, the food doesn’t come with strings attached.”

The ministry wants to meet an urgent physical need while continuing to share the love of Christ. 

Prepared for a Time Like This

As overwhelming as the situation is, Trish sees reasons to be grateful for the way things have come together.

“It reminds me of the story of Joseph – how, when famine came, he was ready. We didn’t see this coming, but we can look back and see many ways we were prepared for this. The guy who keeps our trucks running had just been on our property for two months getting all of our vehicles in their best possible condition (taking into consideration their mileage and the roads they travel on) - so we have the ability to put a convoy of trucks out at one time. We have more staff than in years past. We couldn’t have done all that we’re doing with a smaller staff. They are doing a phenomenal job of putting it all out there. Brandy’s military logistic skills are coming through as he leads convoys of food through the mountains. It’s all coming together.”

Ironically, this would normally be a season when S4P staff members could catch their breath and catch up on other work. Instead, they are pushing themselves to get this done. The first round of food distribution is just 2/3 complete, but the next major undertaking is already approaching: organizing backpacks and preparing for the backpack distribution teams.

Please pray for the staff as they continue to juggle these extra responsibilities. Pray for strength, stamina, wisdom, and encouragement. Pray for the families who are facing months of uncertainty and for the children who depend on these meals. And pray that the incoming food containers—and hopefully more after them—will arrive without unnecessary delays.

Finally, Allen wants everyone to know that Sowers4Pastors is open to hosting additional teams, to help with the food distribution. There is plenty of work to be done, and extra hands are always welcome.

There’s no shortage of challenges in Honduras right now. But there is also no shortage of people stepping up, doing the work, and finding ways to help. That’s something worth celebrating—and something worth praying for.

 - posted by Christi

If you’re interested in helping support the emergency food distribution, here’s the link to that donation page: LINK

Additionally, if you would like more information about sponsoring a child, here’s the link for that: LINK

Food Distribution: The Rubber Hits the Road!

SPOILER ALERT: In an effort not to bury the lead, let’s get straight to the point. On Tuesday of this week, Sowers4Pastors began emergency food distribution for families facing devastating crop losses.

That’s right. The ministry has moved from talking about the need, crunching numbers, and figuring out how to make it happen to loading trucks and delivering food. And the story of how they got here is a pretty wonderful reminder of what can happen when people take God at His word.

Remember Matthew 6:26–29? Those are the verses where Jesus reminds His followers not to be anxious about basic needs like food, drink, and clothing. Instead, He points to the birds of the air, which God feeds, and the lilies of the field, which He clothes. In modern vernacular, Jesus is essentially saying, “Chill! I’ve got this.”

Those are the verses S4P staff members are sharing with children and their families as they distribute emergency food packages. The message is simple: You matter to God. He loves you. And He knows what you need.

It’s one thing to talk about trusting God to provide. It’s another to watch that provision arrive in a truck loaded with 12,100 pounds of food.

When Brandy and Allen first started crunching the numbers to figure out how much it would cost to provide emergency grocery bags for families affected by the drought, the numbers practically crunched back. They were looking at a need of approximately $90,000.

As Brandy put it, “That’s not a little number.”

A need that large could easily have led to a few deep sighs, some head-shaking, and the conclusion that the ministry simply couldn’t take it on. But that’s not what happened.

“We weren’t scared of the amount,” Brandy explained. “We felt like God was putting emergency food distribution on our hearts. And He is our provider. He’s the boss, you know! We started to share the situation with others and began looking around to see where to buy food for the best prices. As soon as we made the need public, people started helping and making donations. We were able to buy some things without having all of the money yet. We are not sure exactly how much everything will be, but we are trusting in the Lord.”

And now, the food is on the move.

Tuesday, three large S4P trucks were pushed to their limits carrying 12,100 pounds of food to a school connected with the new Sowing Hope sponsorship program. As usual, the staff introduced themselves, sang a couple of songs with the children, and shared a short devotional. This time, the lesson focused on those birds of the air and lilies of the field. The children were reminded that they are important to God, that He loves them, and that they can trust Him to provide for them.

Then came the announcement that S4P had brought a grocery bag for every family. The children went from sitting at their desks to jumping up and down with excitement.

Parents had been asked to attend because the food packages were far too heavy for children to carry home. But only about half of the parents showed up. Apparently, the offer sounded too good to be true, and some parents weren’t convinced that they would actually receive the food.

Those who did attend quickly began calling the other parents when they realized they would each be going home with 55 pounds of food. Some parents mentioned that this was the first time any real help had arrived.

“When we showed up with the food, we gave each family a yellow ticket that they would exchange for 25 pounds of rice and a blue ticket that was good for 30 pounds of beans, oatmeal, sugar, and corn flour,” Brandy said.

Think about that for a moment. Fifty-five pounds of staple foods can make a real difference to a family facing the loss of its crops. This wasn't a little treat or a token gesture. It was practical help for people wondering how they were going to feed their families.

There was another important detail, too. In the past, food distributions from other sources had often come with a catch. This time, families were assured that they didn't have to do anything to earn the food or give anything in return. They could simply come and receive it.

Brandy said, “It was good to see how we surprised them. Some of the parents were saying it was the first time someone had done something like this without wanting something in return. It was a blessing to their community and we were all happy and excited.”

The families were told that the food was a blessing from God and a reminder that Jesus loves each of them. That is what makes this distribution about more than rice, beans, and corn flour. The food meets an immediate physical need, while the message accompanying it reminds families that they are seen, loved, and not forgotten. And S4P isn't finished.

Wednesday, the team was at another location, delivering 14,475 pounds of food, and 12,375 pounds went out on Thursday. Friday saw 13,860 pounds delivered. The old trucks are earning their keep — and then some.

“It’s a good thing we have those big old trucks,” Brandy said. “We are so happy and excited. We are seeing God’s hands in this. We believed that God was going to provide. It sounds crazy to buy $90K in food. But nothing is crazy when God is the One providing.”

S4P wants to thank everyone who has donated to make this possible. Brandy emphasizes that every dollar counts, regardless of the amount.

“It doesn’t matter how much people are donating. If they are doing it, they are doing it because God has put it on their hearts. Thank you to everyone willing to do that — to accept the call to help. We are doing the physical labor. Other people are praying for the endeavor. Thank you to everyone for making this possible. I promise they will see pictures and videos of this soon.”

And while the staff members are busy buying food, loading trucks, and making deliveries, there is still plenty to pray about.

“Please pray for the staff and for our old trucks, which we are pushing to their limit,” Brandy said. “We are expecting a second delivery, and, possibly, a third one.”

Please pray for safe travels, for the staff's strength and endurance, for the families receiving food, and for the resources needed to continue these distributions. The need remains enormous, and there is still much work to do.

But look at what has already happened. A $90,000 need that could have seemed impossibly large became a step of faith. People responded. Food was purchased. Trucks were loaded. Families received groceries, and children heard that they matter to God.

Jesus' words in Matthew 6 remind us that our heavenly Father knows what we need. This week, S4P is seeing those words lived out in a very tangible way — and hundreds of families are experiencing a little more of that provision firsthand.

Thank you to everyone who is praying, donating, and helping turn faith into food on the table. Here's the link to help us purchase food: Donation Page Here If you'd like to help in a different way, you might consider sponsoring a child in our public sponsorship program. You can find more information about that program HERE.

 - posted by Christi

The Power of a Letter

Today’s blog post has been a long time coming! Why? Because it was the first time Secia had a blog post interview of her very own. She was joined by fellow S4P staff member Camila, who served as translator. That was a good thing, since the person writing this understood approximately every 20th word in Spanish!

Together, this dynamic duo shared what goes into giving and receiving sponsorship letters. Spoiler alert: It’s a LOT!

“The sponsorship letters are very important (muy importante),” Secia explained, “because they are the way the kids and their sponsors are able to relate to each other.”

The children send letters to their sponsors three times a year. If that doesn’t sound like a big deal, let’s break it down.

Three times a year, letter questionnaires are created and delivered to approximately 2,000 children at 32 different locations. Teachers then have three weeks to help the students complete the questionnaires. After that, someone from S4P returns to all 32 locations to collect them. Secia, Kirstin, and the translators then sort through the mountain of paperwork.

And that’s just the beginning!

Each of those 2,000 letters must be processed. Someone (usually Secia or Kirstin) matches each child’s name to their sponsorship number and sponsor’s name. Then, every letter is painstakingly translated, and the original is stapled to its translated version. A huge shout-out to Camila and everyone else who helps with the translating!

Sponsors receive letters for backpack season, general greetings, and Christmas. As you might imagine, all this takes time.

In the past, sponsors didn’t receive their Christmas letters until March. This year, the children wrote their Christmas letters in June! Processing the letters takes approximately a month and a half. The good news? The translated Christmas letters will be mailed this month, meaning sponsors should receive them in time for Christmas.

Now, let’s do a little math.

If it takes a month and a half to process 2,000 letters, and the children send three letters each year, that adds up to four and a half months devoted just to processing letters from children to their sponsors.

And that doesn’t include the time spent creating those adorable questionnaires, delivering them to 32 locations, and returning three weeks later to collect the completed letters.

Guess what else that calculation leaves out?

The sponsors write to the children, too! Those letters must also be processed, translated, and delivered. Remember that spoiler alert? We weren’t kidding. It really is a LOT!

But there’s a reason the S4P team puts so much time and care into this process.

“When the children send or receive a letter, it’s not just a card to them,” Secia emphasized. “We do this because of the importance to the children and their sponsors. We know that receiving a letter and photos from a sponsor is a way of building a connection between sponsor and child.”

For the children, those letters are an opportunity to get to know the people who care about them from far away. They’re excited to learn about their sponsors’ daily lives. They ask about their work and their children, and they love receiving pictures that help them put faces to names and feel connected to their sponsors.

And that makes every bit of the work worthwhile.

“That’s why it’s all worth it,” Secia said. “I see their happy faces and how much joy they receive from one letter.”

Secia has a challenge for sponsors: Make it a goal to write at least two letters to your sponsored child each year. Send one at the beginning of the year, which also marks the beginning of the child’s school year, and another at Christmas.

Ask your sponsored child questions. Answer the questions they’ve asked you. Share a little about your life, your family, and the things that matter to you. Include photos when you can.

It may take the S4P team months of work to get those letters where they need to go, but the joy a single letter brings to a child is something you can’t measure in hours or paperwork.

Your letter is more than a piece of paper. It’s a connection, a reminder that someone cares, and a relationship that grows one message at a time.

 - posted by Christi

A Roadside Prayer, An Unexpected Answer

Sometimes, a moment that seems small to us turns out to be much bigger than we realize. A conversation on the side of the road. A prayer offered in the middle of a difficult situation. A phone call from someone who cares. God can use all of these things to remind people that they are not alone.

Today, Brandy is sharing a story about the power of a roadside prayer — and how compassion can make a difference when a family is facing something frightening and unfamiliar.

Back in July, Sowers4Pastors was hosting a visiting team from Edgewater Alliance Church. After the day’s VBS program, Brandy and the team went looking for Pastor Lorenzo. They traveled to the village where he lives, expecting to spend some time talking with him at home. Instead, Brandy spotted him riding down the road on the motorcycle he had received with help from S4P’s motorcycle ministry.

“I got happy and excited when I saw him,” Brandy recalled. “We stopped him and spent some time talking on the side of the road. Pastor Lorenzo said he was on his way to preach at a church in a different village. He was on duty. I was excited to see him doing the work he has been called to do. During the time that we visited with him, Pastor Lorenzo shared about a situation in his life.”

The situation was weighing heavily on Pastor Lorenzo and his wife. Their daughter had been diagnosed with cancer in the United States and was in the hospital receiving treatment. Because she was so far away, her parents were understandably worried. She had no family with her in the States and was going through this frightening experience largely on her own.

Lorenzo’s wife, in particular, was struggling with the distance and uncertainty.

As Brandy pointed out, there are significant differences between the healthcare systems in Honduras and the United States. Pastor Lorenzo and his wife had no personal frame of reference for what a hospital in the States would be like. They were imagining a poorly equipped facility where family members might be expected to provide basic care and necessities for their loved one. Without knowing what was happening day to day, they had plenty of reasons to worry.

So, there on the side of the road, Brandy and the VBS team prayed with Pastor Lorenzo.

“It was a good, but emotional moment,” Brandy said.

And then life moved on. The team continued its work, and Pastor Lorenzo continued his ministry. But the prayer — and the need behind it — had not been forgotten.

Two weeks later, S4P was hosting a team from Lighthouse Church. Brandy shared the situation with Pastor Lorenzo’s daughter with the team members. One woman was particularly moved by the story. As a healthcare worker herself, she was in a position to do something practical: she contacted the hospital to get more information and help the family understand what was happening.

Sometimes compassion looks like praying with someone on the roadside. Sometimes it looks like knowing whom to call and what questions to ask.

A few weeks later, Brandy spoke with Pastor Lorenzo again. At first, Brandy didn’t quite understand why the pastor seemed to be feeling so much better about his daughter’s situation. After all, the family had tried repeatedly to obtain a visa so Lorenzo’s wife could travel to the United States to be with her daughter. They had been scammed once and denied by the U.S. Embassy twice. Eventually, they gave up on the possibility of making the trip.

None of that sounded particularly encouraging.

But Pastor Lorenzo explained that someone had been calling the hospital to check on his daughter. Since those inquiries began, the hospital staff had been more compassionate and attentive toward her. Pastor Lorenzo didn’t know exactly what had happened behind the scenes or who had made the difference. But he knew that things had changed.

“I don’t know what she said or who did it, but I know that God answered our prayers,” he said.

His daughter is expected to have surgery this month, if she has not already undergone the procedure. The fact that people in the United States are praying for her and taking an interest in her care has brought encouragement to her and to her parents. They still face a difficult journey, but they no longer feel quite so alone in it.

“Maybe it’s a small gesture to call or email a hospital to check on her,” Brandy said, “but it is an answer to prayers. Lorenzo is full of gratitude. Thank you to all of the people who pray for the pastors here. The prayers work.”

It’s worth pausing over that. The woman who contacted the hospital didn’t need to solve the entire situation. She couldn’t take away the cancer diagnosis, erase the distance between a daughter and her parents, or guarantee an easy outcome. But she could make a call. She could ask questions. She could help ensure that someone who was far from home knew that people cared about her.

And that small act mattered.

Pastor Lorenzo had prayed that his daughter would not feel alone. Through a roadside prayer, the compassion of a visiting team member, and the concern of people willing to reach out, his family received a reminder that they had not been forgotten.

“I wanted my daughter to not feel alone,” Pastor Lorenzo told Brandy. “God is answering my prayers.”

We may never know all the ways God works through a prayer, a conversation, or a simple act of kindness. We may not even realize when we have become part of the answer to someone else’s prayer.

But we can show up. We can listen. We can pray, and when there is something practical we can do, we can do that, too. Sometimes the beginning of an answer to prayer happens right there on the side of the road.

 - posted by Christi

Calling for Prayer, for Drought-Stricken Lempira

 A note directly from blog-writer, Christi:

Rarely, if ever, have I written any part of this blog in the first person. But today, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

Having written for Sowers4Pastors for over ten years, there is one thing I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt: Allen and Trish do not create sensational headlines simply to raise funds. They weigh their words carefully. In fact, they frequently say things like, “We don’t want to come across as alarmists, so let’s rephrase that.”

I’m sharing this because I want you to understand that when Allen and Trish say a situation is serious, it is serious.

And the current food crisis in Lempira is serious. (If you missed the previous post, about the food crisis, here's a link to that.)

Today, Trish began our call about this blog post by saying, “What we need is a loaves and fishes miracle. This is a food crisis of a very big scale. We need whole food containers to be multiplied.”

They had held off on saying that when things first looked bad, because they wanted to wait and see if the situation would improve. They were hoping and praying it would improve . . . but it hasn’t.

The areas S4P serves did receive some much-needed rain, but it came too late to save the first harvest and too early to help with a potential second harvest.

As Allen put it, “The crops from the first planting were already dead. With the rain, they were just dead and soggy.”

The Honduran government is actively discouraging people in the drought-stricken areas from planting a second harvest, because there is no rain predicted for them during that growing season. Planting requires precious seeds, time, and energy. If there is not enough rain to produce a crop, families could lose those resources as well. People are already beginning to run out of food.

Last week, we shared Brandy’s plan to assemble grocery bags to help families hardest hit by the drought. Since then, Allen has encountered another difficult reality: local sources are reluctant to sell S4P large quantities of food because they want to preserve their own stock for their stores.

The ministry is looking for other potential suppliers, but time is not on their side.

There is some good news. S4P has finally received a dispensa — the government authorization needed to ship one container of food into Honduras. But one container does not provide immediate relief.

“That means that we should have one container of food available to ship in 4–6 weeks,” Allen explained. “If everything goes smoothly, we could have that shipment on site in two months.”

Two months is a long time when families are already running out of food. And the need will require multiple containers. That means S4P will need additional dispensas. They're starting to work on that immediately.

Allen and Trish estimate that there are easily tens of thousands of children in their area who need food. Once adults are included, the number could reach into the hundreds of thousands. The scale is almost impossible to comprehend.

Some missionaries have already managed to hold food distributions, but their supplies have not been enough to meet the need of the location. If you show up with 100 bags of food to distribute and 500 families show up hoping for help, things can get crazy - even violent.

“We don’t have the resources to help everyone,” Trish said. “Normally, we let the pastors decide who is most needy. But that is now putting them in an awkward spot. How do you tell one hungry family that they qualify for help while another hungry family does not? And the situation will almost certainly become even more serious. We are going to have to figure out a boundary line unless God decides to shower containers of food on us.”

“If these families run out of food and they have no money — no coffee to pick for cash — the next time they can potentially have food they’ve grown is next September,” Allen said. “And there is already a prediction for a water shortage next year. The current Super El Niño has not yet hit the middle of its cycle. There is no human solution for that.”

Pastor Lorenzo talks about how the drought and food emergency is affecting his area. 

 

No human solution. That is a sobering statement. S4P can make plans. They can search for food. They can ask for dispensas. They can find suppliers, fill grocery bags, coordinate shipping, and distribute food through the pastors who know their communities best.

But they cannot manufacture rain. They cannot make a failed harvest grow again. They cannot make food appear in an empty warehouse.

They will do what they can do — and pray to the One who can do what they cannot. That is why Trish used the story of the loaves and fishes.

Jesus took what was available, blessed it, and multiplied it to feed thousands. The need before S4P is enormous, and the resources currently available are nowhere near enough.

Allen and Trish are asking for something bigger than a successful fundraising campaign or a smoothly approved shipment.

They are asking God for a miracle. They are asking Him to provide food where there is not enough food, open doors that seem closed, multiply what is available, and make a way through a situation that has no obvious human solution.

“This can’t wait another year for a second dispensa to be approved,” Allen said.

And so this week, S4P is asking us to pray boldly.

Pray for food. Pray for suppliers. Pray for the additional dispensas. Pray for the families who are already hungry and the pastors who are trying to care for them. Pray for wisdom as S4P decides how to distribute limited resources. Pray for rain in the places that need it. And pray for loaves and fishes. Because sometimes, when the need is far greater than the resources, there is only one place to turn. To God.

- posted by Christi

Possibly the Biggest Physical Crisis We've Seen as Missionaries!

We've never faced anything like this before!

As we've shared in the past about the poverty in the mountain villages around Gracias and our ministry's response to it, we've always been careful to differentiate between malnutrition and starvation. The people, we explained, aren't typically starving — they suffer from chronic malnutrition.

But that's no longer the case.

There are families in the communities S4P serves that are already out of food and have no way to get more. Others are stretching the little food they still have by eating only one or two meals a day.

Because of the drought, the majority of the subsistence farmers in the area have lost most or all of their crops. In a normal year, these families plant during the rainy season and grow the corn and beans that will feed them until the next year's crops are ready. They aren't growing food to sell. They're growing the food their families will eat.   

Normally, there are two plantings of corn and beans each year, though the second is a bit riskier. The main crop is planted in May, at the beginning of the rainy season, and harvested around September. A second crop can then be planted in September and harvested at the end of December or early January - but even in a normal year the weather doesn't always cooperate enough to make that second planting worthwhile.

This year, the drought came right during the most important growing season - and most farmers lost nearly all of that first, main crop.

There's no way to soften this: many people are starting to starve.

Now we're trying to figure out how our ministry can respond to a crisis so enormous that it's hard to imagine how we can do more than make a small dent.

At the same time, it seems that many Hondurans don't fully recognize or understand what is happening. Those who have salaried jobs and purchase their food at a store experience food very differently from families who depend on what they can grow.

Since most of our blog readers fall into that category too, we've asked Brandy to help explain what a failed harvest actually means for the families we serve.

While he was recently celebrating the Day of the Child in all the communities where S4P has sponsorship programs, Brandy took the opportunity to intentionally ask the local pastors how the drought was affecting their communities. He also went out to look at the cornfields and farms himself.

“Lempira is a rural department,” Brandy said. “This economy is based on agriculture. It’s the main income for the people in these villages, so I wanted to talk to the pastors about what they are experiencing. It’s easy to see how each community is affected by looking at the cornfields.”

Recently there has been some rain in Lempira - though still not as much as a normal year in this area - and many people are planting again, hoping there will be enough rain over the next few months for a second crop to grow.

But there is another problem looming.

“The thing that worries me,” Brandy said, “is that the government has already said that the rain is expected to stop again from October through the first part of next year. That will not be enough rain to grow the second crop of corn and beans.” If that happens, it could mean little or no significant rain for the remainder of what should be the rainy season, leading directly into the normal dry season, when months without rain are expected.

For families who depend on those crops for the very food they eat, that isn’t simply a bad forecast. It's a disaster.

Brandy understands what it is like to rely on crops for food.

“My grandparents used to live like that. They had a room where they would store the corn and beans. If the second harvest was good, they also used a hallway in their house where they could store the extra food. I remember going to their house when my school year finished and shucking the corn and removing the kernels from the cobs with my brothers. It was a family activity."

Most families in our sponsorship programs live much as Brandy's grandparents did. The corn and beans they harvest aren't supplemental. They are the family's food supply.

When those crops fail, there is no paycheck waiting to replace them.

And the problem doesn't stop there.

Coffee is traditionally the one important source of cash income for families in the area. Brandy estimates that the S4P coffee farm has already lost about 50% of this year’s harvest, and we're seeing that situation - and worse - all over the area.

That affects more than the people who own coffee farms.

For many families, harvesting coffee on other people's farms is their only chance all year to earn cash. So the same families who have lost the corn and beans they grow for food may also lose much of the seasonal income they depend on for everything they can't grow themselves.

They have lost the food they normally grow — and they are losing the income they would need to buy food instead.

No food, and no money to buy food.

Missionaries in other parts of Honduras are dealing with the same situation. It is still relatively early in this crisis, but families are already struggling and asking for help.

We have recognized this as a serious and urgent need, and S4P is preparing to respond by putting together grocery bags filled with staple foods for families affected by the drought.

At this point, our plan is that each bag will contain 10 pounds of beans, 20 pounds of rice, 10 pounds of enriched corn flour, 5 pounds of enriched oatmeal, and 5 pounds of sugar. That's 50 pounds of food.

Brandy has checked current prices, and each bag will cost approximately $36.

That is remarkably inexpensive for 50 pounds of food. But when you begin multiplying $36 by thousands of families, the scale of the need becomes daunting.

S4P plans to begin with the families of the children in our sponsorship programs. There are currently about 2,500 children receiving program benefits — including sponsored children, children still waiting for sponsors, and children in participating schools who are not available for sponsorship.

Providing just one grocery bag for each of those children will cost approximately $90,000.

And we don't want to stop there.

Our plan is also to provide additional grocery bags to area pastors so they can help other families in their communities who are struggling.

Those pastors understand this crisis, because many of them are facing the same losses themselves. They, too, depend on crops to help feed their families.

“The pastors are suffering firsthand, but they are trusting in the Lord's provision,” Brandy said. “That's an encouragement to me. They are the ones seeing the impact face-to-face, and they are trusting in the Lord. That says a lot.”

If you would like to help, you can give through the Sowers4Pastors donation page. In the dropdown menu for the purpose of your donation, make sure it says: Emergency Food.

Donations given through that option will go directly toward filling these grocery bags for families whose food supply has been affected by the drought.

And, as always, we need your prayers.

• Pray for rain — not simply enough to make the mountains green again, but enough to allow crops to grow and produce food.
• Pray for the families who are already feeling the effects of the failed harvest.
• Pray for the pastors who are carrying the needs of their communities while facing many of those same needs in their own homes.
• And pray for S4P as we work to get food into the hands of families who need it. The logistics - purchasing the large quantities of food, storing it safely, packaging it for distribution, and hauling these truckloads of food out to the communities - are daunting.

Thank you, as always, for being a part of this ministry.

- posted by Christi

A Little Sandwich, A Lot of Joy!

Earlier this month, Brandy shared about the preparations for Sowers4Pastors’ annual Day of the Child celebrations. Now Alejandro is back with a joyous recap of what happened when all those preparations turned into two weeks of parties, treats, Bible lessons, and a whole lot of very excited children.

It took two weeks for S4P to visit 32 separate locations. During the second week, they were joined by a team of 16 people from CEAD church in Tegucigalpa, many of whom were experiencing the sponsorship program for the first time.

Alejandro said, “It was an amazing time for the kids. The church provided sandwiches for the kids each day. Every day sandwiches were prepared and given out along with bags of candy, cakes, and piñatas.”

Now, a sandwich may sound like a pretty small gift to those of us in the United States. But in these communities, something as simple as a chicken sandwich can produce a level of excitement that deserves its own reenactment.

Overpunctuation Warning: The excessive use of exclamation points is entirely intentional. Apparently, that is what happens when you announce chicken sandwiches to a crowd of children who are already excited about candy, cake, and piñatas.

Alejandro described it this way:

S4P spokesperson to the kids: Does anyone know why we’re here?
A chorus of kids: Because it’s the Day of the Child!
S4P spokesperson: We brought candy!
Kids: Candy! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
S4P spokesperson: We brought cakes and piñatas!
Kids: Cakes! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Piñatas! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
S4P spokesperson: We brought chicken sandwiches!
Kids: No way! Chicken sandwiches, too! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

“It’s incredible how we can bless others with something so small,” Alejandro reflected.

And there were a lot of children to bless. At each location, S4P was greeted by more children than expected. By the time the celebrations were finished, more than 2,700 kids had participated. Somehow, there were enough treats for everyone. In fact, at some locations, there were enough to share with parents and other family members as well.

But the children weren’t only receiving food and treats. S4P and the team from Tegucigalpa shared songs, hugs, and Bible lessons with the groups. They prayed with the children and their parents, creating opportunities to celebrate the kids while also sharing the reason S4P is there in the first place.

For many of the members of the Tegucigalpa team, it was their first time seeing the sponsorship program up close. They were stunned by the sheer size of the program and by how much the visits meant to the children, teachers, and parents.

And that may be one of the sweetest parts of the whole celebration. What looked from the outside like a couple of weeks of parties was actually a much bigger picture: churches working alongside S4P, sponsors making the celebrations possible, teachers welcoming the teams, parents joining in, and thousands of children hearing the Gospel.

Alejandro wants to offer a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who helped make it happen.

“Thank you to all of the sponsors in all of the churches. This is the work of a team. We wouldn’t be able to do it without your help, prayers, and sponsorships. All together, we are making a difference in these schools. We are taking the Gospel to the kids and we know that, when they grow up, a lot of the kids will say, ‘Someone shared the Gospel with me and now I can share with others.’”

         

That’s the hope behind every sandwich, every bag of candy, every Bible lesson, every prayer, and every Day of the Child celebration.

Sometimes ministry looks like a big, complicated undertaking involving 32 locations and thousands of children.

And sometimes it looks like handing a child a chicken sandwich and watching their face light up.

Either way, God can use it.

 - posted by Christi