Shipping Containers and Hurricanes

 It’s time to talk about shipping containers. And hurricanes and tropical storms. And how hurricanes and tropical storms affect shipping containers. There’s a lot to talk about right now. 

The biggest news is that Florida is being hit by Hurricane Nicole. This comes about a month after Florida met Nicole’s angry relative, Hurricane Ian. 

The empty shipping container was supposed to arrive in Florida on Thursday. On Saturday, the boxes in the Florida storage container are supposed to be moved onto the shipping container. As of Wednesday morning, the arrival of the shipping container is being delayed by one day. Please pray that it doesn’t get delayed beyond that. Also, please pray that there will be enough manpower to move the heavy boxes from the storage container and onto the shipping container. Edited to add: the shipper had to change us over from having the container all weekend - so we could take our time loading it - to having just a two hour window to load (with $200 in extra charges for every hour after that). Please pray we are able to get this changed back!

Here’s the thing: Sowers4Pastors understands that people who've been hit by a hurricane have bigger things on their minds than the S4P shipping container. The timing stinks! But loading the shipping container is still a job that has to be done if children in Honduras are to receive their backpacks in time to begin a new school year. Similar circumstances were at play when Allen arrived in a rental truck filled with boxes that had to be moved into the storage container. People were dealing with cleanup from Hurricane Ian. Allen was grateful for both the help he received and for the fact that he was able to help with some cleanup efforts.

Oh, and to make matters more interesting, the Maryland shipping container is also expected to have a run-in with Nicole. By the time she gets to Maryland, she should be a tropical storm instead of a hurricane. 

2021 loading in Florida

Sowers4Pastors has been involved with the shipping of containers for many years now. And, as Allen pointed out, “Every container seem a bit more difficult than the one before it. There is an onslaught of red tape that we have been receiving to get a container through customs.” He also explained, “We started this whole process almost an entire month earlier than usual this year.”

Trish jumped in with the reminder that there’s a limit to how early they can start the paperwork. If they file it too early, it could expire before the containers arrive. It’s a bit like an intricate dance. Timing is everything.

Allen mentioned that even some visiting team members have had difficulty clearing customs with donation items they’ve brought in their suitcases. Allen also spoke of the gentleman in Ohio whose organization donates food to Sowers4Pastors. That organization ships food all over the world and he has reported that the cost of shipping to Honduras is 2nd only to shipments going to Haiti, in this hemisphere. Sowers4Pastors and anyone else trying to get a container into Honduras is forced to pay government fees. They are being charged extra by shipping companies because the shippers know there’s a good chance their containers will be tied up in customs. 

“We are asking people to pray that we don’t get hit with any undue delays,” Allen said. “We’re also getting ready to start working on shipping two containers of food in the not-so-distant future.”

As you pray for everyone in the path of Hurricane Nicole, please remember to pray for the backpacks. Those backpacks are really so much more than meets the eye. Each backpack represents the opportunity for one child to attend school. Sowers4Pastors needs to have the backpacks in hand before teams start arriving in the middle of January in order to distribute them. The sorting process takes a while, so it would be phenomenal if S4P had the contents from the shipping containers before Christmas. 

 - posted by Christi

The Tropical Weather Blob - A MAJOR Prayer Request

 In preparation for this blog post, Trish wondered, "What should we talk about today?" Then she waited for inspiration. Trish knew there was one thing she didn’t want to talk about. She didn’t want to talk about the weather! How could we talk about the impact the rains are having on Honduras when so much of the U.S. is still reeling from Hurricane Ian? No, we definitely shouldn’t talk about the weather. Anything but that! So, Trish spoke to Allen about possible topics. "What should we talk about today?"

"The weather!" he replied. "Talk about the weather and the impact flooding and excessive rain are having on Honduras." Okay. Trish chuckled to herself because that really is the most pressing topic. She describes it as a “slow motion hurricane without the wind.” The result is still devastating even if there isn’t a single BIG weather event. 

For the past few days, the weather in Honduras has been a little dryer and people were hopeful that the country has been through the worst of the flooding, mud slides, washed out bridges, damaged roads, etc. But there is another storm system that looks like it will be hitting Honduras next week. It’s too soon to know what to expect. Hurricane? Tropical storm? As Trish said, “We don’t know, but the forecast shows there is a tropical blob of weather heading our way.” And that is why Trish should really have her own show on the Weather Channel. Because a lot more people would care about meteorology if we could talk about tropical blobs of weather.

Why is this blob - that may or may not develop into a storm - such a concern? Because Honduras is in a very vulnerable state right now, as was mentioned in this previous blog post. 

(Trish is editing this to add: Since speaking with Christi yesterday, the blob of weather has been developing. It is now expected to hit land as a category one hurricane and continue through Honduras as a major tropical storm.)

Here are some reasons that Honduras is so vulnerable right now, and why we are asking for prayers:

Washed out dirt road

• Many of the homes are made from dried mud. When dried mud gets saturated, it just becomes mud again. Plus, homes in western Honduras are often built into the hillsides, because there is so little flat land up in the mountains. People scoop enough earth out of a hillside to make a flat spot to build upon. When heavy rains come, the area surrounding the homes can slide down. One family in the Mercedes sponsorship program recently woke up to find their home filled with mud. They lost everything they owned. The family is rebuilding their home and donations were collected to help them replace some of the basics, like clothing and school supplies. Stories of destroyed homes are regularly in the news around Gracias right now!

• The Honduran infrastructure is fragile and limited. There aren't many roads, and the ones that exist often aren't well built or well maintained. Both dirt and paved roads are experiencing severe damage this year.  Water projects are also taking a hit. The parts of the system that collect the water from the river are battered by the strength of the flood waters until they break. When a part breaks, it can’t be repaired until the flood water subsides.  

Newspaper report about serious damage to major roads in the country

This bridge accesses villages in one of our sponsorship programs!

• Much of Honduras' economy is agricultural. In the northern part of the country, a lot of fruit is grown for export – especially pineapples and bananas. That is a lowland coastal area that is always the first to flood. Large areas of homes have been lost in that region. In the area around Gracias, a lot of subsistence food is grown – things like corn and beans. And, of course, there’s the coffee. While gardens tend to like water, there is a limit to how much they can take. The plants especially don't like when they are washed down the mountainside by mudslides!

Flooded homes in a flatter part of Honduras.
The massive rains we are getting in the mountains flow down to these areas.

When there is a single, catastrophic weather event, people rush to send help and money. Since the situation in Honduras has been gradual, over the course of several months, the situation really hasn't created much interest outside of the people who are affected. Please remember Honduras in your prayers – particularly as the upcoming tropical weather blob approaches!

 - posted by Christi

Special News Report: Hurricane Ian

 Everyone with Sowers4Pastors was watching the path of Ian even before it was posing an imminent threat to Florida. At that time, it was a tropical storm heading west, right on the latitude of Honduras. That is a common hurricane pathway when they’re first beginning. The storm was predicted to turn north, and it did.

The concern for the people in Western Honduras was that the area is already waterlogged. Or, as Trish so aptly put it, “We’re completely flooded and up to our gills right now!” 

Trish explained the situation further by saying, “Any interaction with the hurricane would have dumped more water on us. Fortunately, we were spared. It turned north, as it was projected to do. We caught tiny pieces of the edges of the hurricane. Essentially, we’re in the same, somewhat dangerous position as before - but at least we're no worse off.”

As you undoubtedly know, the northern turn means that Hurricane Ian is headed toward Florida. Trish’s father is in Sarasota where Ian has approached with sustained winds of 155mph. As of this morning, Trish believes her father’s home has lost power. Christopher and Audrey also live in Sarasota, but they left town to attend a wedding. Then they weren’t able to return home due to airport closures. That means they aren’t there to check on Trish’s dad. Ian is nearing Category 5. The official word is that it is time to “hunker down.” Trish’s sister and niece live on the east side of Florida. That area is facing tornadoes and heavy rain. 

Many people have asked how this is affecting backpack collections. The backpacks that have been mailed are on the east coast of Florida. They are vulnerable due to an elevated risk of tornadoes and flooding. There are still a few individuals on the west side of Florida who are in possession of backpacks to donate. Some boxes of backpacks are in a truck moving from Maryland to Florida. The truck is currently in Virginia. There is the possibility that Allen will be driving south as the storm moves north. The Maryland backpacks (including those collected on the first leg of the trip) are safely stored ther.

This is around the fourth time a hurricane has affected a backpack collection trip. 

Because flooding and Ian weren’t enough to deal with, two earthquakes occurred in Western Honduras on Sunday. The epicenter was near San Pedro Sula, a three-hour drive from Gracias. Each quake was about a 5 on the Richter scale. Trish felt them in Gracias. However, her children who were in a warehouse store in San Pedro Sula didn’t feel a thing! The earthquakes are being blamed for three houses collapsing in Lempira. The collapses were likely the result of the combined effects of earthquakes and saturated soil. 

Please continue to pray for the safety of everyone affected by Hurricane Ian. Add to that, prayers for the backpacks. And, while Honduras was spared the brunt of the storm, please pray that rains will subside and the ground will have a chance to dry out. It is interesting to note that tropical storms are a greater threat than hurricanes in Honduras since most damage from the area occurs from rain, not wind. 

 - posted by Christi

Motivation to Keep Truckin'

Regardless of the decade of your birth, you likely remember seeing some of the famous motivational posters of the 1960-70’s. Who could forget the posters of the “Hang in there” kitten clinging to a tree branch for dear life? Or the yellow smiley face posters urging you to “Have a nice day”? But do you remember the 1970’s “Keep Truckin’” posters? This post is all about Sowers4Pastors effort to keep truckin’, hang in there, and help thousands of Hondurans have a nice day.

A few months ago, Allen checked on rental trucks for the 2021 backpack trip, but he wasn’t ready to schedule anything yet. Last week, he called back and got actual quotes. Yowza! He was prepared for a price increase, but we’re talking about a PRICE INCREASE! The truck for the first leg of the trip, from Seattle to Frederick, MD has skyrocketed from last year’s price of $3200 to $7600! The second truck that is needed from Indiana to Frederick has increased from $800 to a whopping $2400. Um, yeah, that’s substantial. And that doesn’t even take into account the higher gas prices and increased shipping costs.

Shipping costs could easily be 3-5 times what they were last year. That means the price of shipping one container could go from $5000 to $15,000-$25,000. If shipping is astronomical, it won’t make sense to ship items from the U.S. Let that sink in for a moment. There is a container filled with donated food that should be ready to go in the not too distant future. Another food container is expected to ship in January. Higher shipping costs could make it cost prohibitive to accept gifts of FREE food. And much like the kitten clinging to the tree, the future of backpack trips is hanging in the balance.

Sowers4Pastors is struggling to keep truckin’ in another way, too. Honduras was hit with back-to-back hurricanes in 2020. The loss of life wasn’t as grave as it could have been, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t damage. Some areas along the Northern coast received 100 inches of rain. Roads were wiped out, bridges were destroyed, and a whole lot of people were left homeless. There are still some people living in tents as a result of the storms. The government of Honduras took all of its (admittedly) meager resources and diverted them to helping the North coast. That was the right thing to do, but now other areas are suffering.

The roads in Western Honduras have never resembled the autobahn, but now they don’t really resemble roads either. There are areas where the roads have completely disappeared and you’re left to drive on dirt. Those patches are preferable to the roads where there’s still asphalt riddled with potholes 8-10” deep. Allen said you might encounter hundreds of potholes per mile. Naturally, this is doing a lot of damage to the vehicles. Trish mentioned that on one particular outing, Allen heard something and knew that it was time to find a welder. Allen and Trish had to stop mid-trip to find a welder to repair the piece that holds the radiator in place.

There are nine people who regularly drive the ministry vehicles. The vehicles aren’t exactly straight off the showroom floor to begin with. Some are circa 1997, while others are from 2007 or 2008. The cream of the crop are the vehicles used for transporting teams. They are only 8-years-old. The best type of vehicle for this terrain is hands-down a kind of Toyota that isn’t sold in the U.S. or Canada. It is popular in places with rugged terrain and exceedingly bad roads. There is currently a 6-month waiting list to get a new Toyota Hilux. Sorry, but I didn’t catch the actual name. It’s not like Sowers4Pastors would be purchasing brand new vehicles, but this shortage means that used Hiluxs are going for the same price as the new ones would be if there were any new ones to be had.

Here’s where everything stands: Sowers4Pastors needs your prayers. They want to make wise decisions and be good stewards of the resources God has given them. They need to decide things like whether they should be doing full repairs to their existing vehicles or just enough patch jobs to keep them limping along. They need to decide the best way to go forward with the scheduled backpack trip.

2020 saw donors rise to the occasion. People were very generous and stepped up when Sowers4Pastors was trying to bring in food. Now that things seem more normalized, giving has dropped back to pre-COVID levels. But there are still rising financial needs on the ground. Please consider sacrificial giving so that Sowers4Pastors can continue to help send children to school, operate feeding centers, and have the vehicles needed to visit those feeding centers.

Thousands of good days are depending on you.

- posted by Christi.

What is "Normal", Anyway?

Some people think that "normal" is a good thing, while others think "normal" is a boring thing. At Sowers4Pastors, a boring "normal" isn't really a thing that exists! Obviously, this year has been anything but typical, so we do have some current events that don't fit the mold. They do, however, represent things on the To Do list, a concept that is very familiar for the crew. As the Sowerses try to return back to what passes for “normal” life around here after being in the States for several weeks, months, or years (depending on which member of the family you're considering), we thought we’d do a quick update on some of the current happenings, some of which are “normal” (for us) and some of which are not. Lots of excitement, lots of running around, and lots (AND LOTS) of things to get done. 

Damage to the water line – Russell knew we had taken some damage to our water supply line during the second hurricane, and he had been told it happened where the water is picked up on the mountain. Because we have a water tank with enough stored water to last us for weeks, no one had been up the mountain yet to assess the damage - there was just too much going on between coffee harvest and hurricane relief efforts. Allen was able to go up Saturday with a crew to take a look. Unfortunately, because of the massive amount of rain water running down the river, the pick up site was completely washed away. Allen says that the pick up site dropped six feet in elevation due to mud and rocks washing down the river! This means the pick up site will need to be moved further up the river, as the system is strictly gravity fed, so the new pick up site has to be the same elevation as the old one. Allen estimates his crew will have to lay about 500 ft of pipe to get from undamaged pipe up to the new pick up site. Thankfully, it looks like the owner of the land will probably permit him to do so (Hint, hint, prayer warriors). The Sowers4Pastors compound has two large water tanks to store water, so we haven’t run out yet, but the coffee farm is about to start burning through the stored water as coffee season gets into full swing. The water is needed to wash the coffee as it is de-pulped. Please pray with us that these repairs go quickly and smoothly. It’s hard to run a coffee farm without water!

Containers – The Florida backpack container is packed! Thank you to the Edgewater community, and especially the Richardsons, for tackling this huge undertaking. From Edgewater, it will picked up by a trucking company either Monday or Tuesday and taken to the port, where it will be loaded on the ship and sent on its way to Honduras. Once there, it will start the process of going through customs. Very soon, the Maryland backpack container will be following it. We will have teams on the ground late January looking to pass out backpacks to their sponsored kids, so we have a bit of a deadline. The Maryland food container is currently in customs, and we are praying it will be released and on its way to Gracias any day now. Please pray with us that these containers will arrive quickly, safely and especially that the customs process will go smoothly.

Ongoing hurricane relief efforts – We want to stop and say thank you to anyone who donated hurricane relief funds. Shannon Hopkins and Kim Hall are busy coordinating rebuilding and repair efforts in our area, with Russell consulting on the projects and providing some of his expertise. You know, when he’s not neck deep in coffee farming, being a full time missionary, and the husband of a very pregnant wife.

Iris and the baby – Still no word from Iris and Russell yet what they are going to name their little one. Praise God, Iris’ pregnancy is still going smoothly. The doctor’s hope is that the pregnancy will make it to the middle of December without any issues, then they will perform a C-section. Please join us in praising God that Iris has had no problems so far! We also continue to pray that Iris and the little one will both continue to be healthy, and that Iris’ C-section will go smoothly. Just in case you were wondering, RJ and Abby are both super excited to be getting a little sister. Abby warned me that babies are pretty boring at first, until they big enough to play with.

Coffee farm – Things are going well with the coffee farm. Russell is busy prepping a new storage building as we come up on the busiest part of the harvest season. Of course, it’s bad timing, between hurricanes and a pregnant wife – but coffee harvest waits for no man!

Kirstin (FINALLY) moves to Honduras – While we are on the subject of “normal”…. It’s a little strange for me, moving back after being gone for over 10 years, but I’m settling into my new room, and enjoying easy access to lychees and nephews/nieces. It is definitely nice to finally be in Honduras after being unable to enter the country for almost seven months! Technically, this is my first time going to the field as a missionary, rather than as an MK, and some adjustment is expected – but because I spent so much of my childhood as an MK, I’m not sure how much. Please pray that my (re)adjustment period to my new normal will go smoothly!

Lychee fruit: Something normal that's not boring?

- posted by Kirstin S.

Aftermath of Two Hurricanes

Over the last couple of weeks, people have been asking about the damage from Hurricane Eta and how bad it was, and now about Hurricane Iota. The news is very much a mixed bag of blessings and reports of devastating news.

On the praise side, it is estimated that only around 100 people died in Honduras in both hurricanes combined. There are also about 40 people still missing. While we pray for the families dealing with loss at this time, considering Hurricane Mitch's death toll was somewhere over 10,000, this is a major blessing, and we thank God that the death toll was not higher!

The damage to property and infrastructure, however, was horrendous. This post covers the damage and some of the numbers from Hurricane Eta. Hurricane Eta flooded the north coast,  wiping whole cities off the map. Hurricane Iota traveled more along southern Honduras. While southern Honduras was somewhat less affected, as it is more mountainous and less prone to flooding, there was some damage to that area in the form of landslides and damaged roads - and all the rain from Hurricane Iota traveled down the mountains and flooded the north coast, for the second time in as many weeks! The San Pedro airport, where most of our teams fly in, flooded both times. The second time the flood waters reached to 7 feet.

The Ramon Villeda Morales airport in San Pedro

Going back to counting our blessings, the area we work in was again only minimally affected. Russell does not think our coffee harvest has been noticeably damaged, and that only one significant bridge in our area took any damage. This bridge is on the road towards Santa Rosa, and the bridge itself is intact - the road approaching it was damaged, and has already been repaired enough that travel is possible. There have been reports of landslides and deaths in our area, but as far as we know none of them in villages we have worked in. 

In other parts of the country, the loss of bridges and roads is causing major disruptions. Currently Permanent Commission for Contingencies (COPECO) is estimating that 185,000 people are isolated from the rest of the country due to damaged roads. COPECO also estimates that 88,700 people are currently in shelters, but that estimation grows higher everyday. The exact number of people who have been displaced is unknown, as many families have moved into the homes of relatives. Unfortunately, this opens up new concerns - people in overcrowded shelters are at much higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Besides the loss of housing, the ongoing food crisis in Honduras will only be made worse by these hurricanes, as many people have lost crops during the rains. 

Please, continue to pray with us for the Honduran people! A year of lockdown, topped off with not one but two devastating hurricanes, has taken its toll on these people. We know that God can and will use this disaster to spread His Kingdom. Pray with us for the pastors and church leaders throughout the country who are ministering to their congregations, some of whom have lost everything and now face possible starvation and exposure to COVID-19, that they would help shine God's light during this dark time. 

- posted by Kirstin S.

Still on the Spiritual Wrestling Mat

When Allen began sharing information for this post, he wanted to begin with Ephesians 6:12:

”For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.” 

He barely had “wrestle” out of his mouth when Kirstin pointed out that this verse was recently used in another post about spiritual warfare. While Bible Gateway suggests 99 other verses on the topic, let’s stick with Ephesians 6:12. 

Allen described it as “feeling slammed as a ministry.” Sowers4Pastors is working against the enemy and he is responding by continually knocking them down on the wrestling mat again. By this point, Sowers4Pastors is looking to tag some more wrestlers/prayer warriors to help them through this onslaught. Here are some specific needs to remember:

• First, there was Covid-19 and the devastating economic effects on Honduras. Just as starvation levels were going down, the country was hit by not one, but two, hurricanes in quick succession. The limited government resources have all been diverted to help people along the coast, and to start the lengthy process of repairing roads and bridges. Please pray for the Honduran people during this difficult time!

• Historically, this is a time of year when Sowers4Pastors sees fewer children living with food insecurity. The hurricanes hit right in the middle of the gardening season and at the beginning of the coffee harvest. Because of the rainfall dumped by Hurricane Eta, coffee pickers around Gracias lost five days of picking. Now that Hurricane Iota has arrived, they will lose even more time. The harvests are being damaged, so there is fewer coffee to harvest, meaning there is less work for many people whose only income is coffee harvesting. 

• A container of food for Sowers4Pastors is scheduled to arrive in Honduras on Saturday. Scheduled being the operative word in the previous sentence. Please pray that it won’t be delayed. The hurricanes have been putting a lot of stress both on the ports the containers come in on, and the government officials in charge of approving the containers.

• The next three containers to be shipped -- 2 of backpacks and 1 of food -- are still in paperwork limbo. If the shipping paperwork is not approved quickly, Sowers4Pastors runs the risk of having future teams on the ground and no backpacks for them to distribute. This also means that many kids will be starting school without their school supplies. Please pray that the backpacks get to their destination in a timely manner, and that the food arrives before supplies from previous containers run out.

Russell picking up backpacks

• Shipping containers aren’t the only things needing to be in Honduras in a timely manner. It took Kelsea multiple attempts to return. Allen, Trish, Kirstin, Rachel, and little Nathan all need to make it back home in the near future. Since Russell will be picking them up from the airport, it would be good for all concerned to avoid any trial runs. Kelsea had trouble both with bad weather leading to her flights getting cancelled, and trouble with the airlines accepting her negative COVID-19 results. They kept finding a different thing to nitpick. Please pray that all parties get in on the first try, otherwise Russell will have to make several 8 hour round-trip runs down to the capital to pick people up.

• Please pray for the ministry’s finances and for wisdom regarding how to best use resources. Allen pointed out that their resources are not enough to meet all of the needs. Please join everyone with Sowers4Pastors in praying that they will continue to be good stewards and that their energy is going to the advancement of the Gospel. They want to be sure there’s a continued focus on the spiritual side as they meet physical needs. 

• Remember to pray for 3rd time expectant mom, Iris, and the unborn baby. Iris has had preeclampsia with each pregnancy. RJ and Abby were both delivered by C-section and that is the plan for this baby, as well. They are hoping the baby will wait until at least December 1st to make an appearance. If the baby isn’t here by the 13th, the doctor will deliver it at that time. Weighing what is best for both Iris and that baby, that’s a couple of weeks before a full-term delivery and a couple of weeks longer than what Iris needs. 

• Overall, the past 8 months have taken an emotional toll on the Sowers4Pastors crew. Between hurricanes, COVID-19, backpack trips, and just the general stress of the ministry, pretty much everyone is feeling completely drained. Please pray for them as they try to keep focusing their spiritual energy on what’s important. Please pray for them to feel a little more of God's joy and little less stress.

And now, a couple of praises!

• Trish is enjoying her time at the writer’s conference. She is making new friends and learning new skills!

• Everyone is safe after the hurricanes, including Rachel and her family. Rachel’s house is near a river that did flood during the hurricanes, but her house was untouched.

• While parts of Honduras are practically wiped off the map during the hurricanes, the area where Sowers4Pastors operates has mostly had minimal damage. While there is some recovery work to be done in their area, it is nowhere near as bad as some of the pictures you might be seeing online. 

So, this is a call for all prayer warriors to redouble your efforts in praying for the Sowers4Pastors’ crew and their ministry! Thank you for your continued intercession. They couldn’t do it without you!

- posted by Christi.

Some General Updates, Including Hurricane Relief and Coffee Farms

UPDATE: This post was written before the arrival of Hurricane Iota, so it only includes hurricane information from Hurricane Eta. We will have an update once we have assessed the damage from Hurricane Iota, which is a currently developing situation. 

Russell is not one to over-dramatize things. When gearing up to tell me about the aftermath of Hurricane Eta and everything else that is going on at the homefront, he started with the following quote:

“Things in Honduras are a little bit crazy right now.”~ Russell Sowers 11/11/20

If any of you are crafty, you might want to needlepoint that on a pillow to give Russell for Christmas. While most of the update of the hurricane’s aftermath is going into a separate post, here’s some of what’s happening with Sowers4Pastors.


Welcome Home, Kelsea

Kelsea is back in Honduras for the first time since June. Between COVID-19 shutdowns, the road trip to collect backpacks, zany airport antics concerning what constituted acceptable COVID testing, and a tropical storm, her trip was a little longer than originally scheduled! You can read about her adventure in her own words. She is planning on returning home for Thanksgiving, if possible. However, her ticket is for a flight from the airport in San Pedro Sula, which is flooded.

Now that Kelsea is back, she’s enjoying all of the leisure time of someone who returned to four months worth of stacked up work. She is charged with keeping the ledgers of items the ministry purchases in Honduras. Or as Russell summed it up, “She’s working on lots of administrative stuff.”


Extending Helping Hands

Kim and Jonathan Hall with Manna 4 Lempira are down on the North coast of Honduras right now. They headed out with a load of clothing and other items to extend help to those hit hardest by Hurricane Eta. Pastor Omar’s church is connected with sister churches in that area and he joins the Halls in lending a helping hand.

Coffee Harvest

The coffee harvest started on November 9th. This isn’t one of the little “first fruits” harvests. This is the super-colossal coffee harvest. If coffee harvesting were a sport, this would be what Russell and his crew have been training for. Not to oversell it, but this is the Olympics and Super Bowl of coffee harvesting. There are currently about sixty people working in the fields.

On top of the harvest, Russell and some of his crew have been building two coffee patios for drying the coffee. The hurricane threw a wrench into the process, but they are back at it now. They are also working on building a coffee warehouse for storage.

- posted by Christi. 

Aftermath of Hurricane Eta in Honduras

UPDATE: Prayers desperately needed! Tropical Storm Iota is expected to hit Honduras early this week! Honduras is not ready to deal with this so soon after taking a bad hit from Hurricane Eta. Please pray!!

As you are probably aware, Honduras has been having a very rough year. COVID-19 and the lockdown had really made life difficult for the people here. Honduras is a poor country, and many Hondurans barely scrape by as it is. Now they've had a hurricane thrown on top of a pandemic!

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 WITH HURRICANE RELIEF!! 

For us Sowers, it feels almost like coming full circle - we arrived in Honduras almost exactly 20 years ago in response to Hurricane Mitch to build a hospital in Guanaja, long before we had made it our mission to empower Honduran pastors or moved to Gracias. So while we are NOT a humanitarian organization, we do have a history of helping with humanitarian efforts. During normal years we don't have much disaster relief work, but here we are this year, working on pandemics and hurricane aftermath.

Similarly to Mitch, it was not the wind from Hurricane Eta that really did the damage, but the rain. Widespread flooding and landslides have knocked out bridges and roads throughout the country, but especially along the North and East coasts, making relief efforts difficult. Exact numbers are unknown and are all rough estimates at this time, but CARE International estimates that around 38,000 Hondurans have been displaced from their homes. Mr. Allen suspects, once all damage is accounted for and all communities thoroughly assessed, that that number will be far higher, perhaps into the hundreds of thousands. This estimation is based on damage reports from specific communities, such as La Lima and El Progresso, that experienced flooding in almost 100% of households.

Sadly, around 60 people have died in Honduras - but considering that during Hurricane Mitch that number was estimated to be between 10,000 and 11,000, we do have much to be grateful for. 

Unfortunately, the bridges and roads being out is making it very difficult for relief efforts. Porta Castilllo, one of two shipping ports in Honduras, is currently having a difficult time sending out supplies. Mr. Allen is concerned that this means Porta Cortez, where we normally send our containers, will be overwhelmed by incoming shipments that have been diverted from Porta Castillo. This has the potential to delay the arrival of our containers of food and backpacks. 

We are extremely grateful that the Lempira area was not hit too hard. For more information on the damage and our relief efforts for our area, see this post. We are more worried about the potential delay to our containers - the school year is coming up quickly, so we are feeling a little bit of a time crunch to receive and sort the backpacks. The food of course is an ongoing need in response to COVID-19, but it is possible we could get it expedited as disaster relief supplies. 

Please pray with us for Honduras during these difficult times! Here's our current list of prayer requests:

- Please pray that the containers make it in promptly, with no delays. 

- Please pray for the relief efforts, that they would be effective.

- Please pray for strength and healing for Honduras.

- Finally, please pray that all God will use all of this for His Glory, as we know He will!

- posted by Kirstin S.

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 WITH HURRICANE RELIEF!! 

Hurricane Relief and Missionary Syndicates

On Tuesday, Russell had a meeting with a fellow missionary in Lempira, Mr. Shannon Hopkins, to discuss consolidating hurricane relief efforts. There are four or five local missionary families and it simply makes sense to join forces right now. Russell struggled to find just the right word for this teamwork, so here are a few suggestions: a consortium, a fellowship, an alliance, or my personal favorite, a syndicate. The world needs more missionary syndicates right now. 

Elderly citizen being carried to safety during the aftermath of hurricane Eta.

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Shannon had already sat down with the mayor of the county (similar to a county commissioner in the U.S.) to discuss the current COVID and hurricane relief needs. Even though the area around Gracias was not the hardest hit, the needs are still very real. According to the mayor’s statistics, sixty houses in the county were seriously affected by Hurricane Eta. Of those houses, forty of them need new roofs. The other twenty were completely destroyed.

Russell explained the benefits of working with the local government and the team of missionaries. It will help control the possibility of people going from one person to another asking for help. Besides those in need of housing help, the mayor said, “Here is a list of 200 families who are not finding a way to get enough food.”

Shannon and the mayor calculated that $200 per family will be enough to see them through to the end of the year. That comes to $40,000. With your help, Sowers4Pastors has been working diligently to get additional food resources for the extra burden COVID-19 has placed on their feeding program. Allen and Russell anticipate that some of the food coming over by container at this time can be used for this cause.

For those with damaged or destroyed homes, it makes sense to begin with the 40 houses in need of new roofs. It costs $1000 to fix a roof on one house. That comes to an additional $40,000, but you probably already figured that one out in your head.

In case you’re wondering how assistance is given, please know that it is not like Santa Claus tossing out candy from a float in a Christmas parade. There is nothing haphazard about this process. Remember that list of 200 families in need of help? Those are the people who will receive aid. Remember the 60 families whose homes were damaged or destroyed? They are the ones who will receive help with construction.

Sowers4Pastors is not trading its mission and becoming a humanitarian aid organization. They are still empowering pastors. The people being helped will be ministered to spiritually as well as physically. The pastors will continue to evangelize. This is not an either/or proposition. As Christians, we are instructed to help the poor among us. Nowhere in the Bible are we told to help people until we are bored with it, or until there is one tragedy too many in the same location.

Allen, Trish, and Russell are very cognizant of the fact that they just did a big push for funds for the food handed out during the COVID shutdown. As Russell said, “We weren’t expecting a hurricane to come in and wreck the country. Our area was hit less, but the aid that was being given has all been taken away and redistributed to those affected in the northern part of Honduras. Our area was affected. Now we are struggling and there are families left out in the rain.” Literally.

Solider carrying an infant during flooding 

He continued, “We are really short on time, as a ministry. Working with a team of other missionaries will help stretch both financial and time resources. We are hopeful that we will raise money to help purchase supplies and get a Honduran crew together to work on the houses.” 

Yes, this is a plea for money and a plea for prayers. Russell added, “We’re sorry to ask, but that’s where we are right now.”

Please consider donating to this crisis. It’s not like you get the chance to help fund a missionary syndicate every day!


- posted by Christi

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 WITH HURRICANE RELIEF!!