More about MKs, as they gather for CAMP

If you’ve been following along on Sowers4Pastors, you probably remember the fun I had talking to a bunch of MKs and some of their parents in phone interviews, during MK Youth Retreat. Well, I saved a little something back for MK Camp time. In case you’re confused, MK Youth Retreat is for mature 13-yr-olds and up. MK Camp is specifically geared for the younger missionary kids (though many of the older kids come too, as counselors). Rachel serves as director for both, while Allen and Russell do her bidding, and Allen assists with fundraising. It’s a good system! Especially for the MKs! MK Camp is happening this week!

Please, Don’t Eat the Dog!

Interview with Ella--Age 17

Ella was devastated when her parents announced they were going on the mission field. She was thirteen, at the time, and had grown up in the same town all her life. Upon arrival to Honduras, Ella attended a bilingual school. That meant 80% of her school day was in Spanish. It was a tall order for a young teen who didn’t speak Spanish!

She said their inability to speak the language fluidly causes frequent misunderstandings. We laughed over the story of her dad going to the grocery store for dog food. Rather than asking, “Do you have dog food?” he was asking, “Do you eat dog?” Oops!

Thus far, she has been homeschooled for high school. That’s about to change, though. Ella is moving back to the states this summer. She will live with family friends and attend school for her senior year. She’s sad to go, but feels it is the best choice for her academically, as she plans to go into medicine.

Ella has had plenty of opportunities to experience what it’s like to work in a medical mission field. She said, “One time, we were helping out with a bunch of islanders. They were asking if we had any dentistry stuff, but we were just doing general health check ups. We asked why they needed a dentistry clinic and learned it was because one of the women had a cavity and wanted toothpaste to put on it. They think toothpaste fixes cavities. Cavity? Use toothpaste! Sick? Take a vitamin. The way they view medicine is very different.”

What does Ella hope to do with a medical degree? She hopes to go into concierge medicine, which will allow for time off to travel and do third world missions.

She wants people to understand the loneliness that goes along with being an MK. She feels MK Youth Retreat and MK Camp are vital because, “You’re used to the lonely stuff and you’re with a group of people who get that. We know a lot of people who have moved on. Teams come down. You get attached to them and then they leave. We MKs understand how other MKs feel. We keep in touch with each other. It’s a lot of encouragement.”

One of the Chief Cooks and Bottle Washers

Interview with Tish (Ella’s mom)

Ella’s mom, Tish, helps out with the cooking for MK Camp and manned the kitchen alone for MK Youth Retreat. This is her third year to don an apron for the occasion. Why does she do it? Because, as a mother, she understands what the camps mean to the missionary kids. She also insists the kids are easy to please.

Tish said, “From a missionary’s perspective, it’s a very important time for my kids to connect with other kids who understand them. When they get together, they form an immediate bond. It’s a wonderful mental break for them. It’s a lot of fun. The Sowers do an amazing job with games, crafts, etc… The kids connect very deeply and keep up with each other all through the year. When your kids are doing well and have friends, you feel good."

She summed up her thoughts on MK Camp by saying, “For people in the states who don’t get why it’s important for the kids--the importance is for the kids and for their families… A lot of families don’t stay [on the mission field], and it’s often because of the kids. These camps facilitate and create a way for them to have lifelong friendships. Some of these kids are up in the mountains where trucks can’t even go. They would be more isolated without this. Isolation affects families’ ability to stay on the mission field."

Did You Hear the One About the Power Outage?

Interview with Mikayla--Age 17

Mikayla has lived in Honduras for 8 years. During that time, she and her family have lived in three different towns. She currently attends an international Christian school. Even so, there are few Americans in her school. In the past, she has attended a bilingual school, which wasn’t international.

She said that sometimes her Spanish is better than her English. The last time she was in the states, she didn’t understand the jokes and Americans didn’t understand hers. Mikayla said most of her jokes center around things like the electricity going out or running out of water. Yeah, those aren't things the typical American experiences on a regular basis!

After high school, Mikayla plans to go to the states, get a job, and go to college to study psychology. She has been profoundly inspired by Rachel. She hopes to be a camp director, herself.

She wants people to know, “Camp is my safe spot. Everyone gets me. No other Americans understand. No Hondurans understand. We [MKs] don’t have to pretend to get each other. We just do. It’s a place where everyone is accepted. It’s where I connect and help other people feel accepted."

- posted by Christi

Coffee Class is Now in Session

Prior to a recent phone conversation with Russell, everything I knew about coffee I learned from Juan Valdez, on a highly successful advertising campaign from my childhood. In short, I didn’t know beans about coffee production. Russell filled in the chinks in my coffee education, at least where the Sowers4Pastors’ Coffee Project is concerned. Now I shall attempt to do the same for you.

Altitude is Everything

Most coffee is grown in central South America, and, contrary to what Juan Valdez may have led you to believe, it doesn’t have to come from Colombia to be good. The Sowers’ coffee farm is at the lower limit of high altitude for raising a quality, higher end product. And, by higher end, we’re talking about a slightly better quality than Starbucks and basic grocery store brands. Russell is quick to point out they are not trying to produce and sell $30 a pound, artisan coffee. Why not? Because, the quality of coffee all goes back to the altitude at which it is grown. You might say, where coffee is concerned, altitude is everything!

Plant By Numbers

Full disclosure: Sometimes when people start throwing around numbers, my brain hears “math,” and sort of shuts down. So there’s a chance I don’t have the precise statistics, but let’s give it a go. Don’t worry. This information will not be on the test, but it is pretty cool!

Our 2016 Coffee Seedling Nursery: Photo Credit Rachel Bidwell

The Coffee Project has 40,000 coffee trees currently planted. That’s twenty acres, in case you were wondering. They are about to put in ten to twelve more acres. Nursery seedlings were planted in January and transplanted into bags in late March and early April. At the beginning of September, those 24,000 baby plants will be transplanted into the ground. That’s mighty impressive when you consider they had 8 acres planted in 2014 and 12 acres in 2014.

Currently, there are about a dozen men on the payroll, working to prepare the ground--spraying vitamins and  minerals, fertilizing, and clearing out weeds. At the beginning of August, they will begin digging holes, 12” deep by 8” wide, for the new plants. As mentioned earlier, those plants will go in the ground in September. That’s just in time for the rainy season.  

A Look to the Future

In mid to late October, harvesting will begin on the coffee planted in 2014. Russell expects to have ⅓-½ of a full harvest. It’s normally four years before coffee yields a complete harvest. For now, anything above ⅓ means they are ahead of schedule. By next year, the harvest should be about ¾ of the full amount.

Harvesting actually occurs on four different occasions, because you pick the berries as they ripen. First you pick for a week. Then there’s a two week break from picking. Pick for a second week. Then there’s a two week break. Well, you get the idea. The first and fourth harvests are on the small side, while the second and third are larger.

As the newer plants mature, there will be a much larger harvest, employing about 50 people for 3 - 4 months. That’s about three years down the road. In talking to Russell, I was struck by the fact that this venture will not only bring in cash for the ministry, it is also employing some hard working men in Western Honduras. By next year, the number of employed laborers should be at about twenty-five. After that, there should be about forty men picking the fields by hand and doing all of that coffee stuff that Russell and Juan Valdez taught me about!

Take That, Juan Valdez!

Here’s a little coffee trivia for you:

• Coffee plants are planted in a nursery nine months before being planted in the ground.
• The average “life expectancy” of a coffee plant is 25-30 years. Then it is cut down and some young, new, whippersnapper of a plant takes its place.
• Plants are pruned about every five years.
• For the Coffee Project, labor is by far the biggest expense. Approximately ¼ of the money goes to pay the men.
• A coffee coyote is someone who makes money buying coffee, doing some of the processes, and selling it.

Sell It Like It Is

In case you’re standing around with an empty coffee cup in your hand wondering where this coffee will be sold, you should know the Sowers haven’t quite gotten that far yet. There is a good chance it will be sold to a local person, who will in turn sell it to an exporter. It would be cost prohibitive for Sowers4Pastors to take on the project of exporting it, and as much as they would love to fill your mug, that probably won’t be happening in the immediate future. But don’t you feel well educated in coffee?

Class dismissed. - posted by Christi

A Preview of Coming Events

In case you’ve ever wondered what the Sowers crew does all day, here’s an abbreviated rundown of their schedule for August and part of September. Warning: You’ll need a break just reading it!

Camp, Kids, and Videos

This final week of July is being spent doing major remodeling on our small team house - as it is about to become a short-term home for Russell, Iris, and RJ! Toward the weekend, thoughts and actions will turn toward preparing for MK Camp. There are supplies to be purchased and vehicles to be packed. Allen and Russell will be leaving early so they can pick up incoming staff at the airport and do some grocery shopping.

Camp runs from August 1-7. Ben will be there as a camper. Even the three Sowers offspring who currently live in the U.S. will be there, working as camp staff. It’s a regular Sowers-Palooza, with the notable exception of Trish, who will be holding down the fort at home, and Iris, who's feeling a bit too pregnant for a road trip just now!

On August 2nd, Jenny Oetting, videographer extraordinaire, will be arriving to spend the month of August. She’s spending the time making videos of all of Sowers4Pastors’ ministries. Allen and Trish will be able to use those videos when they visit churches in the States. Jenny will be staying on the Sowers’ property. Somewhere. But I’ll get to the issue of housing in a bit! Patience, Grasshoppa!

During the second week of August, Ben will be back in school, but Trish will get some quality time with the Sowers kids who are visiting from the States. And, by “quality time,” I mean she’ll get to see them, while they run around doing what needs to be done! I almost said they’d be running around like chickens with their head cut off, but they are highly efficient headless poultry!

Team 1 and Team 2

On August 12th, a 2-man team from Fredericktowne Baptist Church in Maryland (Allen and Trish’s sending church) is arriving. The men will be teaching at Pastors’ Training School and getting a feel for what life and ministry is like for the Sowers. That’s great because they’ll be able to help spread Sowers4Pastors’ vision to their home church. The team will be leaving on August 20th.

Do you remember those visiting Sowers? Yeah, well, they'll be flying back to the U.S. during the time the visiting team is there.

On August 27th, a team from Lighthouse Church in Maryland will be arriving. They’ll be building a bridge-in-a-week. That means Allen and Russell will be busy the week before they arrive making sure all of the supplies have been purchased and delivered. If you’re going to build a bridge in a week, you can’t stand around waiting for supplies!

Coffee, Shoes, and Feeding Centers

During this time, Russell will be running the (approximately 15 member) work crew as they prepare ten new acres for planting coffee. There will be much more about the ins and outs of the coffee project in an upcoming post. For now, let’s just say they will be BUSY this planting season, which will spill over into September. There will be a break in coffee activity while the bridge-in-a-week project is going on. That’s because Russell’s head work crew leaders will be assisting with the bridge construction.

Of course, all of the regular ministries are still up and running. Manna4Lempira is awaiting a shoe delivery, which will be distributed to the kids at the Mercedes center. That will likely happen toward the end of the 2nd week of August.

Oh, and they will be registering about 200 kids for a third Manna4Lempira site. They will be getting ages, weight, height, and shoe sizes. Again, that will delay the farm work for a few days. In the overall scheme of things, the coffee farm has the lowest priority because that work isn’t as time sensitive.

Things with Wheels

But, wait, there’s more! Sowers4Pastors will be turning in applications to try to get funding for fourteen new motorcycles for indigenous pastors. The pastors each pay for half. The program is pre-approved for ten motorcycles, but they are hoping to fulfill all fourteen requests. Actually getting the motorcycles will mean multiple trips to the big city for purchasing, registering, picking up, etc…

And, hey, while they’re in the big city, they’ll put one of the Land Cruisers into the shop for routine maintenance. It’s a four hour drive to the city. They’ll do some necessary shopping, buy tires, handle other necessary things, and drive back.

A Place to Call, “Home”--Eventually!

Surely that’s all, right? Wrong! Do you remember the part about housing guests - specifically during the 2nd week of Aug, when there will be FOUR guests? That is complicated because the Sowers are currently working on a remodel of the team house (which has, in the past, served as bedroom space for guests). Once the remodel is completed, Russell and Iris plan to live there for a year or more. Before Allen and Trish visit the U.S., Russell and his family will move into their new, temporary home. Construction on the larger home will continue. Once that is completed, Russell and Iris will move into the new home and the old team house will be remodeled to become Allen and Trish’s new home.

I have a hunch you’ll be hearing more about that process in future blog posts. But, for now, I’m tired just thinking about it!

- posted by Christi (but Trish had to figure out all of the labels!!!)

Connecting the Dots - interviews with members of a visiting team

Allen, Trish, and Russell are always happy to have a short-term missions team visiting from the states. And, I must confess, when I get to speak to some of the team members on the phone, I share their excitement. Okay, so that’s only happened once - but it was exciting. I recently had the opportunity to speak to three of the six visiting team members of Life Community Church in Columbus, Ohio.

Pastors receiving gifts of soccer balls, for use in ministry, from the LCC team

The team from LCC arrived in Western Honduras on July 15th  for a week of working with the Pastors' Training Program. As Allen said, “It’s a time to connect the dots. They’re already aware of the ministry, but it’s amazing to see how much knowledge the visiting team has, versus the Honduran pastors. There are so many things they can share. Then they get to take their experiences home to share with their church members.”

Pastor Rick Tawney, Cell Group Pastor at LCC

Who better to ask about Pastors’ Training School than a visiting pastor? Pastor Rick has been on staff at Life Community Church for seven years. This was his first trip to Honduras and he found it to be a far cry from his own pastoral training. You see, Pastor Rick, like many pastors in the U.S., has a Masters Degree of Divinity. He also has Masters in Christian Counseling.

Pastor Rick teaching at the school

Far from feeling superior to the indigenous pastors he met and taught, he felt humbled by their intense desire to learn. In fact, that drive to learn is what most impressed Pastor Rick. After a long afternoon of teaching, he said, “I’ve been impressed with their commitment to the ministry down here. That’s a tough way to pastor - that’s for sure!”

Pastor Rick’s lessons to the students in the Pastors’ Training School included How to Do a Cell Model Church, Leadership Development, and Priests in the Old and New Testaments. He had just finished giving a lesson when I spoke to him. I’m not complaining, mind you, but the lesson did go long, requiring the call to be pushed back a bit. That’s due (at least in part) to the language barrier, necessitating for everything he said to be translated into Spanish and any questions to be translated into English.

Even with the language barrier, Pastor Rick said the team felt they “got connected to the pastors.” He said it was “a fun week--a good week for the team.” He was thankful for the experience and is taking home a desire for their home church to “get a partnership going with a sister church--start bringing down teams of teens and adults.” He expressed a desire to do ongoing work with the pastors, and for future teams to help operate Vacation Bible Schools. “When you bring people here, they get excited.” And that excitement leads to an ongoing commitment of support.

This trip was right up Pastor Rick’s alley. He said, “I’ve always said I’d love to train pastors in another culture--to give them training they can’t get.” He hadn’t done it prior to this because of the language barrier, but it is a passion of his. He continued by stating, “The education I have is great. When you take what you have learned and give it to pastors who have almost nothing, it makes you feel useful.”

What is Pastor Rick taking home from his experience with Pastors’ Training School? For starters, he’s taking home a tremendous appreciation for the fact that he can work as a pastor and get paid a living wage. Even though he isn’t wealthy by U.S. standards, he is able to support his family. Being in Honduras made him even more aware that isn’t the case for many pastors.

Doug Truax, Nationwide is On Their Side

Doug Truax, teaching

This was Doug’s second trip to Honduras, as he was there last year on a scouting trip for Life Community Church. A Nationwide Insurance employee in his daily life, he was able to spend a week showing the students at the Pastors’ Training School that he’s on their side, too.

Doug told me the reason LCC partnered with Sowers4Pastors is how well the Sowers work to empower the pastors. “Everything they do is to empower the pastors. We felt, as a church, we would be able to get involved with that,” Doug said. The team members from LCC worked to create their own curriculum, which they presented to the students in the Pastors’ Training School.  

When speaking about the pastors at Pastors’ Training School, Doug said, “It’s clear they have a passion for Christ and for their communities. None of us speak Spanish, but it’s still clear by the way they pray and worship. We deliver a session, but it’s through the questions they ask afterward that you can tell the passion they have for their ministries and people. They want to serve their people.”

Doug continued, “The pastors here need support. They are effective in what they do, but they need support educationally, financially, and with various resources to help them.  A lot of the pastors have the desire to reach villages further up the road, but they don’t have the resources. Their hearts are there, but they need help.”

“What confirmed, to us, why we got involved was how right it feels, and how effective it is to empower local native pastors/missionaries to support their work. As we leave, even if they just took one nugget with them, it was worthwhile. Ministry is hard. it’s hard to hear their stories about not having formal Bible training. They are trying to protect their sheep from false doctrine, which means they need to know true doctrine. I pray they will continue to grow,” Doug said.

Rachel Bidwell, Nurse Practitioner with a Newfound Talent of Cutting Plantains

This was Rachel’s first mission trip. She went for experience and exposure, and because she wanted to see the work the Sowers are doing, firsthand. While the men were teaching, the two women team members from LCC were busy cooking. That was an interesting experience because the LCC women don’t speak Spanish and the Honduran women they were assisting don’t speak English. Still, they managed to communicate mostly through makeshift sign language. Rachel also said, “We’ve learned a little Spanish. They’ve learned a little English.”

Team members Susan and Rachel prepare plantains
for the pastors' meals

When asked what she will tell people at home, Rachel responded,  “I'll tell them how many ministries the Sowers have, how earnest they are--how much they care for the people. How much they care even though it takes a lot out of them.” Rachel was glad to see the ministries up close and personal. She was also very impressed by how homey Trish has managed to make the warehouse-like building they currently call home. Ah, Warehouse Sweet Warehouse!

- posted by Christi

The Feeding Center Flashback Episode

If this blog were a television show, this would be what is known as a flashback episode. If this were a television show from my childhood, a slightly more attractive than average family would be sitting in their living room flipping through a scrapbook. We’re going to try to accomplish the same feel by having you reread a blogpost Trish published on March 19th of this year about a point of crisis in the feeding center program. You really should go back and read it for yourself, but I’ll give a brief recap.

Kids in Honduras are going hungry. (Insert some sad music because that is bad, bad, bad!)

The Sowers can ship and import meals for hungry children for 2 measly cents per meal. (That is crazy cheap, so we should insert gasps from the audience.)

Back in March, a pastor, representing himself and 14 other pastors, showed up at Russell’s house hoping to get food for the hungry children at 15 churches. Even though the Sowers didn’t really have the resources to take on an additional 15 churches, they stepped out in faith and trusted God to provide. God did provide! And God provided by using people like you! This link takes you to the list of previously sponsored pastors. (Aw. That’s nice. Insert “Hallelujah Chorus” sung by some really spectacular Gospel choir.)

Now, we can put aside the virtual scrapbook and focus on the present day situation. It is like déjà vu all over again, except this time we’re talking about taking on 13 additional feeding centers! Those with less faith might say, “Hey, we can’t feed the world!” The Sowers say, “We may not be able to feed the world, but God can provide the food we need to feed those who ask us!” And that is how they came up with the following list of pastors who have registered to feed children in their local communities of Western Honduras.

Please look over the list and pray about helping to sponsor the children at these feeding centers - the cost shown is the amount to feed those children for an entire YEAR! You stepped up to the plate before and Sowers4Pastors has full faith that people will feel led to step up to this current plate. Even if you can’t help financially at this time, you can pray for the ministry and share this post with others.

 - Alicia Margarita, in La Canada San Rafael, feeding 45 children - $90

 - Adelso Lopez, in Santa Teresa, feeding 193 kids (1x week) - $193
 - Berta Clara Guevara, in Gracias Lempira, feeding 250 kids - $500

 - Digno Aguilar, in Retumbadora San Juan, feeding 28 kids - $56
 - Danny Hernandez  Bautista, in San Rafael, feeding 72 kids - $144

 - Edmundo Perdomo, in La Iguala, feeding 55 kids - $110

 - Felipe Vasquez Miranda, in Montanita, feeding 52 kids (1x week) - $52

 - Felipe Diaz Perez, in Olominas La Iguala, feeding 28 kids - $56

 - Gladis Yolanda Ramirez, in Florida, Copan, feeding 58 kids - $116

 - Israel Galvez, in La Playona, feeding121 kids (1x per week) - $121

 - Juan Angel Benitez, in Rodeo Pinal, feeding 49 kids - $98

 - Jose Juvenal Erazo, in Berea, feeding 63 kids - $126

 - Miguel Chicas, in San Juan, feeding 17 kids (1x week) - $17

For information on how to donate to the Sowers4Pastors Feeding Program, click on that jazzy blue line. If you want to pay to sponsor one particular pastor's feeding center, from the list above, add that info into the donation form - and let Trish know that you've done that, so she can turn that name red on the list! (Cue the closing credits and theme song because this concludes our flashback episode.)

- posted by Christi

Brother, Can You Spare Some Time?

Do you ever feel like you have information overload? Unless you’re living off the grid and happen to be reading this because a visitor with wifi dropped in to see you at your isolated cabin in the woods, you probably do.

We all have a lot of things vying for our time and attention. We live in an age of 24-hour newsfeeds, which may be great if you’re an insomniac with a desire for information and an obsession with the upcoming elections and the Kardashians. For the rest of us, it can be overwhelming. But, here’s the deal: Sowers4Pastors would like just a smidgen of your time each week.

Choir, I Feel a Sermon Coming On!  

I understand that the very fact you are reading this (You are reading this aren’t you? Hello? Is this thing on?) means I am preaching to the choir. But there are some things that need to be said. You can spread the word to those backsliders who didn’t make it to this blogpost!

Allen and Trish are super nice people. They’re so nice they’re probably never going to tell you what they need most from you. As a non-Sowers who has no delusions of niceness, I feel I can tell you THEY NEED YOUR PRAYERS! And they need you to sacrifice about ten minutes each week to read this handy-dandy blog and check the Sowers4pastors’ Facebook page so you will know how best to pray for them. That’s it.

They want you to know this isn’t about trying to raise support (although this not-so-nice non-Sowers will tell you your support would be more than welcome). This is strictly about finding out what is going on with their ministry. Without knowing what’s going on, how can you pray effectively?

We’re In Touch, So You Be In Touch

See how confusing it is when Trish selects
a photo that doesn't match the text? LOL

Do you remember back to the days when we didn’t have 24-hour news channels? At my house, that meant we could tune into about five television channels and got the bulk of our news from one of the three major networks. I was a weird child with a thirst for knowledge and, by the time I was a 4th grader, my favorite TV shows were “60 Minutes” and “20/20”. Each week, I’d tune in to “20/20” and hear Hugh Downs say, “We’re in touch, so you be in touch.” Ah, Hugh, that was good advice!

When it comes to missions, some people are called to go, and the rest of us are called to support those who are called to go--spiritually and financially. Trish, Allen, and Russell are putting forth a lot of effort to keep you informed.  Even when a post has been written by a not-so-nice non-Sowers, Trish spends hours finding the right photos to accompany the text. And Allen and Russell take time out of their busy schedules to chat with me on the phone. They sacrifice their time because it’s important to them to keep information out there for you.

If you haven’t already done so, you can sign up to follow the Sowers4Pastors blog, as well as their Facebook page. You can also request an email notification whenever a new item has been posted on the blog - just submit your email address in the box at the top of the right column.That way, you will be notified whenever there is a new post. Don’t miss out on opportunities to support this worthwhile ministry.

And remember… We’re in touch, so you be in touch!

- posted by Christi