Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Covid-19: The Ministry Work Continues, But Not Unimpeded

You would be hard-pressed to find someone completely unaffected by Covid-19. This is to update you on how it is affecting the Sowers4Pastors ministry.

You might recall that Allen and Russell were busy with a big church construction project in Quelecasque. There was already a time crunch because the church has no place to meet until the project is completed. Even though they are not allowed to hold church services until the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, they are looking forward to a time when they will be able to meet again. The pastor is hoping that the project will continue, but at this point, they are in need of lumber. Sowers4Pastors has already purchased the lumber. It has been cut and is just waiting for someone to transport it to the church site. However, thanks to the new travel restrictions, that is not possible. This is rough lumber needed for things like making support posts, scaffolding, etc. The guys are at a point where they cannot continue beyond this week until they get the necessary supplies. To quote Trish, “In the course of people dying, it’s not the biggest thing. But it’s a thing.”

Much of the food from Allen’s birthday fundraiser had already arrived in Honduras, prior to Covid-19’s appearance on the scene. Sowers4Pastors has always relied on the pastors to tell them when they need more food for each feeding center. A surprising number of calls came in shortly before the virus altered life as we knew it. While it was a head-scratcher at the time, it can now be seen as purely providential. Most of the pastors collected a normal 3-month supply shortly before the country’s new restrictions.

Since there is now a restriction on the amount of people who can gather in one place, the pastors are not able to operate the feeding centers in the same manner as before. There’s a chance that the supply will last a little longer. It is up to each pastor to distribute the food as he sees fit. That may mean feeding only the neediest. Or it could mean that pastors will continue to feed each child enrolled in the program. The Sowerses believe in the competency and the heart of each pastor with a feeding center. They are praying that each pastor will hear God’s direction in how to best distribute the food. Allen, Russell, and Trish also think it is possible that the government will give them special permission to meet pastors at a drop-off point to replenish their supply of food.

Everyone needs some good news, so here’s your daily dose. Kim & Jonathan Hall, along with their kids, were able to return to Honduras. They were in the U.S. when the borders were closed. Since that time, the government had only been arranging flights for people who were visiting Honduras to return home. This week, they also arranged a few flights for people wanting to return home to Honduras. That is how the Hall family was able to travel. They will be in three weeks of intense quarantine.

There is more good news associated with the Hall family’s travel adventures. They went to the U.S. loaded down with letters the sponsored kids had written to their sponsors. Those letters were translated and distributed. They were also able to fly back to Honduras with 250 pounds of letters from sponsors to their kids. Normally, the letters would have been sent with a visiting team, but… With things as they are, the letters would likely have been stranded in the U.S. for a long time. Since more teams will probably have to cancel their scheduled trips, Manna 4 Lempira will be switching to email correspondence from sponsors for the foreseeable future. Transporting the letters was a great personal sacrifice for the Halls. 250 pounds of letters meant that they couldn’t bring many kinds of foods they would have liked to take with them.

Thank you for your prayers for matters big and small!

 - posted by Christi

No comments: