Additional SERIOUS Prayer Requests

It seems like Sowers4Pastors has been putting out some very significant requests for prayer this year . . . and today a few more of those are coming your way. The importance of shipping items from the US to Honduras, to the work done by S4P, is well known. You may or may not be aware of how much of the work in some of the sponsorship programs is done through the schools - but the prayer concern about the schools (below) is central to those programs. Please read through these situations and PRAY that God would show his power and glory, by making it possible for Sowers4Pastors - and other ministries in Honduras - to continue to help the people of this country and share the Gospel with them in these ways!

Food and Backpack Containers

Wherever you live in the world, when there are changes within the government, there are changes to various rules and regulations – new ways of doing business, as it were. Currently, the government in Honduras is cracking down on the way they deal with containers under duty-free regulations. That makes sense because there are people scamming the system by bringing in items under the duty-free label and then turning around and selling those items. Even though Sowers4Pastors doesn’t do that, the ministry is still swept up in the changes. They have been working to get duty-free shipping on a food container since November.  As a result of this lengthy process, the ministry is running out of the food it gets from the States. Right now, they aren’t even seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and they have no idea how soon they'll be able to get that food. This means that all of the S4P programs that involve feeding people are at risk.

As things already stood, the cost of shipping had increased exponentially in the past few years. But if the ministry has to rely on food purchased in Honduras, they will probably be looking at paying 6 times more than that! That would make it incredibly difficult to continue doing what they do in terms of food.

A second concern is that they may encounter similar issues when they ship backpacks. As Trish acknowledged, “It’s not like we have any real control over life but sometimes we see a way to move forward by putting in extra effort. In this situation, the only thing we can do is to apply earlier. We’re looking to apply for shipping backpack containers within the next two weeks. Last year, we got our paperwork filed in July and had to turn away donations of items that were offered after the paperwork had been submitted . . . for a container shipping (hopefully) in November. Although we can put some items (like backpacks and food for the feeding centers) on the paperwork this early, there’s no way we can predict other donations that might be offered to us between now and November. We may have to reject very useful donations, for that reason."

Clearly, this is a very important matter for prayer. 

Schools

The education situation is another matter involving the government. Several years ago, there was a push to improve the quality of education in Honduras by changing regulations. Previously, teachers in public schools were only required to have a high school diploma. Schools in the more remote areas routinely accepted people with the minimum qualifications. The change in regulations meant that everyone teaching within the public school system was required to have a teaching degree from a university. The government extended a multi-year grace period to existing teachers to allow them time to meet the new requirements. The grace period has ended and now there is a massive shortage of teachers. The teachers who completed their teaching degrees can have a higher standard of living in cities. The rural schools are struggling to find people willing to accept lower pay to teach in areas with no roads. The teachers may have student loans to pay off and they are understandably asking themselves, “Why would I go to all of that trouble if I’m not going to earn enough to live?” Therefore, rural schools are struggling to stay open. 

Remember that some of the ministry’s sponsorship programs are run through the public schools. If the schools stop offering classes, some of the sponsorship programs may have to be canceled. If the schools close, S4P can’t help children go to school. The results could be catastrophic. 

*Note from Trish: Since my phone call with Christi yesterday, I have learned that even well-established schools in the major cities are having to shut down classes because of the lack of teachers. The problem is more widespread that I had previously realized! Even beyond the concerns of our ministry work, there is a crisis in education throughout all of Honduras. The public schools only reopened for in-person classes this February, after being closed since the beginning of the school year in 2020 . . . and now many of them are unable to continue providing classes because of the lack of teachers. Many children are losing their chance of getting any education at all!

Here are some links (from the news) about student protests, demanding that the government send teachers so their schools can open:

(1) GRT Honduras - #GRTNOTICIAS//¡CONTINÚA PROTESTA! Alumnos del... | Facebook

(2) GRT Honduras - #GRTNoticias // Tomada amanece la escuela de El... | Facebook

Please pray for God’s intervention. Allen and Trish don’t know how else to pray.

Coffee Farm

While it’s not technically the rainy season yet, it is the time of year when Gracias is starting to get some sporadic rains. Things are starting to blossom and it’s possible to better assess how much of the coffee farm was lost to the blight that hit every coffee farm in the area. Allen has had several experts over to scope out the situation. Frankly, it’s not good. The consensus is that the farm took a hard hit.

In order to reestablish the farm and get things going again, they will be looking at one year of no harvest, followed by a year with an extremely minimal harvest. This will require a lot of trimming back and a lot of extra manpower, in addition to extensive treatments with fertilizers and such.

As it is, there is a manpower shortage. For the past two or three years, it has been necessary to travel an hour away to pick up people for harvesting. The money offered for harvesting coffee is much higher than what is paid for general farm labor the rest of the year.  The fact that there was still a scramble to find coffee harvesters does not bode well for the prospect of hiring people to save the farm.

This raises all kinds of questions from Allen, Trish, and the others working directly with the ministry. “How can we get people to come and do the work to cut 100,000 trees back to 2-feet tall from their existing average heights of 6 to 7 feet? Do we invest in the future of the coffee farm? Do we attempt to reclaim part of it? (Perhaps just 4 or 5 acres to begin with?) Is it even possible - or prudent - for us to take this on?”

In an ideal world, Allen estimates that they would need 10 full-time workers. They currently have three. They have been trying to get more people but have been unsuccessful so far. The farm itself was only showing a small profit before the blight. In 2013, when they started the coffee farm, it blessed the community with jobs and income. Manpower was available and jobs were needed. But that has changed.

Allen and Trish are asking for prayers for direction as they make some difficult decisions. Trish said, “We need leading from God. We have decisions to make, but if we can’t get manpower then we can’t get manpower. If we continue, it will be a leap of faith. We don’t want to be foolish but we also don’t want to be faithless.”

Thank you so much for reading through this very long post, and for praying with Sowers4Pastors as God leads them through this time of difficulties.

- posted by Christi