Travel with the Backpacks: A story in pictures

It's a simple story. You have children living in poverty in Honduras. Their families struggle to feed them, let alone purchase the supplies needed to send them to school.

In contrast, you have individuals in the United States and other countries, who would love to help, if they only knew how they might do so.

In between those two groups, you have missionaries who can facilitate the transfer of loving assistance, from one to the other.

Come along for the ride . . . 

Churches, schools, clubs, etc, agree to partner with us. We send them empty backpacks, and
they present, to their members, this opportunity to serve the children in Honduras.

Members of these organizations in the U.S. collect new school supplies,
toiletries, and other small items, to fill the backpacks

Gradually the backpacks are filled,
and then they are boxed up for transport.

Boxes full of loaded backpacks are collected from multiple different locations. Eventually they are packed into shipping containers in Florida and Maryland, for the trip to Honduras.

The containers full of backpacks and supplies travel by sea to a port in Honduras. Once they've passed through Customs, we receive the boxes of backpacks, and proceed to distribute them to the children participating in our sponsorship program. The school year begins in February, and we push hard to have the needed items delivered to the children in time for the start of school.

Our truck, loaded up with backpacks to distribute
to the children in the Betania Program

Some little boy is about to be very happy!

Backpacks with name tags, awaiting their new owners.

FINALLY - here's the part you've been waiting for! Pictures of the children with their backpacks full of school supplies. The happy faces you see are children who know that they WILL have the materials they need to go to school this year!

But wait . . . there's more. Here are some photos of the children opening their backpacks, and digging into the goodies inside . . . 

From each of our feeding centers, children walk as much as several miles to their homes in the mountain villages. The impact is broad!

While we will continue to distribute the backpacks (the ones from MD are on the ocean NOW), we are already starting to think ahead to next year.  If you, your church, club, school, co-op, or any other group would like to be a part of this project, the following two blog posts will explain how you can get involved (Link and Link)! We would LOVE to partner with you in helping the children of Western Honduras get the education they need and deserve!

 - posted by Trish

Still Empowering Pastors

Do you remember the Wendy’s television commercials from the 1980s, which featured Clara Peller in a non-Wendy’s restaurant, looking at a giant hamburger bun with a minuscule meat patty, and inquiring, “Where’s the beef?” The adorable grandma figure had a hankering for meat and she didn’t care who knew it! She simply wanted to know where to turn. Well, a group of indigenous pastors in Western Honduras have a hankering for spiritual meat and they’ve turned to Sowers4Pastors’ Pastor Training School.

Spiritual Starter Foods

This year, 38 such pastors will begin their 2nd year of study with the school. An additional 25 students are preparing to start their 1st year of study in, what has always been, a three year program. Yes, 63 pastors will be exposed to ever “meatier” information. Now, that’s thrilling enough, but there’s more to the story.

Spiritual Steak

A group of Pastor Training School graduates approached Sowers4Pastors in search of more of that spiritual meat we previously mentioned. They went through the basics anywhere from 5-7 years ago. They started with spiritual milk, learning the basics to help them become better pastors. Over their three years as students, they worked their way through more intensive materials, chomping away at some really satisfying hamburgers. And that was good.

The graduates went on to become leaders and supervisors of their denominations, and that was even better. Most have anywhere from five to twenty pastors serving under them. You might think that would be enough for them to be content. But these men are hungry for more of that spiritual meat. They want to move past the great burgers and work their way up to steak! Not the cheap stuff, but a nice, thick, spiritual t-bone!

These pastors have asked to come back and do more in depth studying--wishing to move to the next level of education. They have begged for an opportunity to go through a program that will help them enlarge their biblical knowledge and learn to be better mentors to those serving under them. Sowers4Pastors is looking forward to administrating a supervisor’s advanced training course.

As Allen said, “We are praising the Lord for that. We’re still empowering pastors. Maybe that should be the title of this post. Still Empowering Pastors… What do you think?”

I think, “If the title fits, use it!” - posted by Christi

Ask Allen and Trish

It’s time to play a little game I like to call, “Ask Allen and Trish!” Some of you guys have already done the hard part by asking a really solid question of them. My role is simply to share their answer. Here’s the big, important question: Hey, Allen and Trish, with all of the talk about the feeding centers, the sponsorship program, and other ministries, is your primary focus still empowering indigenous pastors?

The Big Important Answer

Here’s the big, important answer: Yes.

Allen Speaks

Boy, this blog post practically wrote itself! Oh, I suppose Allen and Trish might want me to elaborate on that big, important answer, so I’ll tell you what they said.

Hey, look! Here’s a direct quote from Allen: “When we were in the states, we were repeatedly asked if our emphasis on sponsorships meant we had changed our focus away from helping pastors. That’s a really solid question, which deserves to be addressed.

“The whole idea behind the feeding centers is that they were set up to empower pastors to help the people in the mountains. Some groups do feeding centers in a way that doesn't specifically involve the pastors, but we set ours up through the pastors--empowering them to do outreach to their communities, help their congregations, and, most importantly, expand the Kingdom.”

The Big Important Answer Continues

The sponsorship program has several aspects. For the sponsors, they are usually drawn to the aspect of touching the life of one individual child. We can all see the value in that sort of personal relationship. Allen, Trish, and Russell value that, too. They also value the fact that sponsorships are a funding tool which helps them reach entire communities.

We’re all familiar with the big, highly publicized, child sponsorship programs. What you may not realize is the reason they are so highly publicized is because those organizations use the excess funding from sponsorships to publicize highly. The excess is going for commercials, slick brochures, and overhead. Any extra sponsorship money through Sowers4Pastors goes directly back into the feeding centers, and feeds more children. All of it. Every last bit. Got it?

When Sowers4Pastors sets up a sponsorship program, they know they are going to visit those children in that location at least three or four times a year. Therefore, they only offer sponsorships to children in areas they will be able to access multiple times per year. Some mountain villages are simply too remote to make numerous visits. So, when there is excess funding from the sponsorship program, the money goes to feed those children in remote mountain areas where a sponsorship program wouldn't be feasible.

Pastor leading Bible study at feeding center in Rodeito

For the past five years, the feeding centers have been able to feed around 12,000 children per year. That is an amazing number. But there are pastors whose requests for feeding centers have been turned down, due to lack of resources. If you know the Sowers at all, you know that’s the sort of thing that keeps them up at night.

And that, my friends, is why there has been a major push to gain as many child sponsorships as possible. It’s about feeding kids and empowering pastors as they minister to their communities.

- posted by Christi

February at a Glance

If this blog post were a classic movie, this is where the camera would zoom in on a page-a-day calendar showing February 1st. Then the pages would begin flying off and landing on the floor--zipping through the month of February in record time. Russell and Allen gave me a rundown of Sowers4Pastors’ February schedule, and, for the shortest month of the year, it is full of activity. Of course, that news surprises no one who knows them. Keep in mind, the information contained in this post isn’t even touching on their normal day-to-day activities--things like maintenance on the farm, food distribution, and making sure they still have incoming water. It’s also not touching on things like Russell having to hand the phone off to Allen because he had to go change a flat tire on a Land Cruiser.

Many Dirt Roads Diverged

It’s a good thing Russell is changing that flat tire, because he’s going to be running hither and yon. (And, I must say, it sounds like Honduras has a lot more hithers and yons than my suburban life!) He’ll be traveling about an hour and a half into the mountains to deliver around 110 filled backpacks to children at the feeding center in Arenales.

Then, he’ll travel on a dirt road about an hour and a half in a different direction to Las Crucitas. There, he’ll hand out 113 backpacks.

In Guacutao, which is about 45 minutes in yet another direction, he’ll be registering about 50 kindergarteners into the sponsorship program. He’ll also be handing out backpacks to the children who missed getting theirs earlier, when the recent team was visiting the area, because they were out in the fields harvesting coffee.

Wait a minute! There’s still another direction to cover! The other directions mentioned were for the Sister Church Program. The one about to be mentioned will be for a Manna 4 Lempira program. Russell will travel 20 minutes on a paved road and then 20 minutes on a rugged dirt road to register about 25 children on a waiting list in Asomada.

Preparations to Be Made

A Bridge in a Week team will be building a bridge on February 18-25th. You’ve probably been around long enough to know that means the Sowers will be gathering supplies and preparing for the team.

They’re also in the process of preparing for the Pastors’ Training School classes, which are set to begin the first week of March. That means multiple meetings in February. First year pastors must be interviewed before their enrollment is complete. Sowers4Pastors is also doing prep work for the first month of classes.

The final process for the recent coffee harvest is going on, but it’s already time to prepare for the next coffee season. A sandbank will be put up to construct a nursery. 60,000 seeds will be planted in hopes of getting 30,000 viable trees. The plan is to plant 10 new acres of coffee in the coming year. Workers will be getting ready for the dry season by  putting rust protection and anti-fungal protection on the coffee plants, and spraying fertilizer on the trees that will blossom in March.

By Land, By Sea and By Really Steep Hill

The Sowers are about to head off to the big city to procure a new (to them) pickup truck and sell their old truck (the one purchased in Dec of 2015). The newer vehicle is only newer by one year, but it has half the mileage of the old truck. Plus, it has only had one owner, versus being owned by a rental company, and has the upgraded engine that Allen wanted, but couldn't find available, when the previous truck was purchased. While a newer truck will be a welcome addition to the household, no one is looking forward to the extra paperwork that comes along with a vehicle purchase in Honduras.

Allen and Russell are still pushing for the customs paperwork to go through so the shipping container can start its journey to Honduras. He’s working on adding a set of forklift batteries to the container, because, with Russell and Iris now living on the property, they are using a lot more power.

Recently, Allen and Russell went out to look at a bridge and water project. He got a call from a location about bringing water from the source, 7 kilometers from the village, down a mountain, including jumping across a deep gully. When Allen went out to survey the site, he walked more than a mile downhill to a river, where the water pipe will need to cross. As he described the Honduran roads, “Many of them are paths where the road might have been bulldozed once and that might have been decades ago. There’s not a lot of road maintenance.” Allen shared what he was thinking as he struggled down the steep path: “To get back, I’m going to have to get out of here by going uphill!”

For the Sowers’ sake, aren’t you glad February is a short month?

Wheels of Fortune

This is a post Christi wrote for us a couple of months ago, but it kept getting bumped as other topics became priorities. I'm posting it now, as background material, because we're making some progress on our transportation situation! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the short time I’ve been writing for Sowers4Pastors, several themes keep popping up in conversations with Allen, Trish, and Russell. One of those themes is: Honduras is NOT an easy place to navigate. We talk about it when we discuss the thousands of unreached villages and the challenges of getting to them. We talk about it when we discuss the need for indigenous pastors to have bikes or motorcycles. And virtually every team member I’ve ever interviewed has spoken about the treacherous terrain. Today, we’re going to talk about the Sowers’ need for solid, dependable transportation, or as I like to think of them, Wheels of Fortune!

No Little Old Ladies from Pasadena

The Sowers’ “fleet” of vehicles is not of the luxury variety. Nope. These are hardworking automobiles--not mamby-pamby sets of wheels with a new car smell. They don’t laze around in a garage all day. And they’ve never once been driven by a little old lady from Pasadena! You’ve probably heard people comment about driving a car until its doors fall off. Well, that day is not too far off for a couple of the “Sowersmobiles”.

But, How Old Is That In Honduran Years?

There has been an ongoing fundraising effort to purchase newer, more reliable vehicles for the Sowers. To date, a little over half of a $30,000 goal has been raised. One “new” vehicle was purchased in December of 2015. The 4-yr-old Toyota pickup truck replaced one of the Land Cruisers. And, in May, Trish’s 17-yr-old Land Cruiser, which apparently answers to the name “Scottie,” received a major overhaul. Scottie spent weeks in the shop getting work done on brakes, suspension, the 4-wheel drive mechanisms, repairs to the driver’s seat, new windows, and other mechanical repairs.

But, any way you slice it, Scottie is still a 17-yr-old Land Cruiser. Age, for vehicles that travel the rough roads of Honduras, can practically be calculated in dog years! Scottie continues to be Trish’s primary vehicle because her regular routine doesn’t have her traveling as far as Allen and Russell. If you’re going to be stranded on the side of the road, it’s better to be stranded closer to home. Scottie isn’t even the oldest vehicle in the fleet. That honor goes to the 20-yr-old Land Cruiser normally driven by Russell.

My Selfish Plea for a Selfless Family

You should know that none of the Sowers are complaining about their vehicles. They have been solid transportation for a very long time. But they aren’t going to last indefinitely. And, from a very selfish standpoint… Trish is my friend. She’s the only friend I have who has ever been kidnapped and I really want to feel she can make a fast getaway if she ever needs to do so!

Ultimately, they would like to purchase another newer vehicle to allow them to have two truly reliable sets of wheels. This would allow them to continue to feed children, train pastors, transport visiting team members, build churches, purchase supplies, build bridges, and so much more! - posted by Christi Watch for an update on our vehicle situation, coming VERY SOON!

The Exciting Post with Too Much Punctuation

A phone call with Allen never disappoints. This week’s call was especially exciting. In fact, this week’s call was like one big exclamation point!

Carol Doherty with her sponsored child

It started off with a huge praise to God that the good people of Fredericktowne Baptist Church in Maryland have sponsored every child currently enrolled in the sponsorship program in Campuca! (Please know that one piddly little exclamation point doesn’t begin to convey Sowers4Pastors’ excitement over that last sentence, but, as a professional, I’m trying to avoid writing, “!!!!!!!!!!!!”)

Pauli Van Maurik with her sponsored child

Allen, Trish, and Russell are also still excited about the great week they had with a visiting team from Edgewater Alliance Church in Edgewater, Florida. The team conducted medical well visits and much, much more. They passed out backpacks and shoes to the children. They were also able to take pictures of children to take back to the sponsors in their congregation. The team flew out feeling the sort of exhilaration that comes from being where God wants you.  

Around 160 of the 270 children in the sponsorship program of Guacutao already have sponsors. The team from Edgewater went home determined to find sponsors for the remaining children. They also flew home with another mission.

Michelle Mercer with her sponsored child

Edgewater Alliance’s sister church of Guacutao has a daughter church in another village. Relationally speaking, I suppose that would make it Edgewater Alliance’s niece church! The smaller church is in need of a new roof. The team is going to try to raise a team of young people to go on a missions trip of their own, with the intention of putting a roof on the other church. Sowers4Pastors is excited to be a part of that. Actually, “overjoyed” is the word Allen used. He went on to say, “It’s great to be a part of facilitating that relationship--seeing the kids not only get fed, but get educated, receive shoes, and, of course, be fed spiritually. The whole thing is exciting. We’re excited. They’re excited.”

So, please pardon me while I do what has to be done here… !!!!!!!!!!!! There. That feels better!

- posted by Christi

Kim Hall: Ministry Leader and Chauffer to Gymnastic Mimes

One of the best things about writing for Sowers4Pastors is getting to talk to the people involved in the ministry. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to Kim Hall, the founder of Manna 4 Lempira, at Allen’s request. Having heard and written so much about her work in the sponsorship program, it was nice to finally (sort of) meet her. Kim graciously offered to squeeze me in between her work day and taking her girls to gymnastics. She warned me that they would be in the car and it might be loud, but she might as well have been in a vehicle with a bunch of mimes! I was able to hear all about some ministry updates, which I would like to pass on to you.

We talked about what a difference Manna 4 Lempira and Sowers4Pastors is making in the churches they’re serving. (I regret to inform you that I listen faster than I transcribe, but I’ll try not to butcher Kim’s quotes too much.)

Kim with sponsored child

Only Slightly Butchered Quotes

Kim talked about how the sponsorship program has benefitted churches by, “putting resources into the pastors’ hands. The pastors are then able to go out and reach the people. Some of the programs have grown by up to threefold. When we started the program at Betania, there were 61 kids. Now, it’s up to almost 200. Mercedes was at 150 and is now at 323. And it’s not like the kids are getting stuff and not attending. They are coming every week! We’re doing something new this year! Every child is getting his own Sunday school materials. Teachers are getting training in how to use them. They’re getting their own study materials. It’s just an extra tool to put in the hands of teachers and pastors.”

More Numbers

Kim and Jonathan Hall with sponsored child

She continued by saying, “Back in October, we added a new church partner in El Tablon. When we did that, we still had quite a few kids waiting in other programs. We’re now approaching the halfway point for sponsorships at El Tablon, with 104 children sponsored out of around the 250 registered. At Betania and Mercedes, every single child is now sponsored! We’re hitting right around 600 total kids sponsored. In the beginning, we didn’t know how we were going to find sponsors for 150 children!

“We’re getting ready to send out about 100 pounds of sponsor letters to Honduras. We’re also mailing out about 1000 letters the children wrote to their sponsors in December. We’re currently working on getting them all translated. For the first time, there are so many letters, we’re having to put them on the shipping container. They should be there and passed out in February.”

Multiply

Kim also touched on a topic she posted to the Manna 4 Lempira Facebook page on New Year’s Eve. She feels God gave her a word for the year 2016. That word was, “multiply”. While reflecting about the ministry’s growth, Kim said, “The original team we took to Honduras was four people. We now have a ministry that spans four continents! On that first trip, we went to see one child. That’s why we took the name, “Manna”. It’s not only talking about the food God miraculously provided for the Israelites. It’s also a reference to when Jesus fed the 5000 by taking a little and multiplying it. That’s what Allen does. He takes the available resources and puts them where they will do the most good. That’s what we do.”

While I could have listened to Kim all day, I knew she had a car full of mimes to get to gymnastics, so I let it go at that.

Kim and Jonathan, and their not-usually-mute kids

- posted by Christi

Ministry Work and Everyday Life - Russell's Wednesday

Yesterday, January 18th. Russell Sowers, missionary. Location: Gracias Lempira, and Santa Rosa de Copan, and San Pedro Sula, Cortes . . . all in western Honduras.

Work scheduled for the day:

Santa Rosa de Copan
Photo Credit: Diaria La Prensa

The plan was for Russell to travel 45 minutes to Santa Rosa de Copan, to make a deposit into a bank account of another missionary (whose bank doesn't have a branch closer to our home), and purchase school shoes for Ben. After that he was coming back home to work on his taxes.

However, as usual, actual events only vaguely resembled the plan.

After banking, and while shopping for Ben's shoes, Russell found a pretty good deal on small backpacks for the younger children in the sponsorship program (we were running low on these), and he was also able to purchase some shoes we needed for the sponsorship program (we had run out of some sizes).

During this time of shopping, Russell was on the phone, helping our new missionary friends, the Agee family, with a problem they were encountering. Their entire family - three generations of Agees, consisting of seven people - had taken a trip to San Pedro Sula, and encountered engine trouble which left them stranded in the city! Russell's fluency in Spanish, and the fact that he has developed lots of contacts over the years, makes him an invaluable resource to us, and we're happy that he can use his knowledge to help other missionaries as they get started working here.

The night before, Russell had already helped line up a tow truck, a mechanic, safe overnight storage of the disabled vehicle, and reserved hotel rooms for the family. This involved about 30 phone calls back and forth in English and Spanish. But yesterday, it was determined that the repairs would not be completed as quickly as hoped, so Russell drove the 2 1/2 hours to San Pedro Sula to pick up the women, children, and infant of the family, and bring them back to Gracias. The Agee menfolk are staying on in the big city until the car repairs are completed, so that they can drive their vehicle back home.

City of San Pedro Sula
Photo Credit: Spirit Airlines

While he was in San Pedro with the Agees, Russell was also involved in the process of diagnosing the vehicle problems, and translating the information about repairs and costs back and forth.

Russell took advantage of the fact that the trip to San Pedro takes him right through La Entrada de Copan, and dropped off Ben's shoes and the paperwork for our upcoming container (to a lawyer who also works for the ministry that runs the school) - which saved us from sending a worker to drop those off for us.

Russell returned home to our property at about 7:30 in the evening, instead of noonish, as originally planned. Being young, after all of those hours of driving Russell was able to turn right around and take a load of coffee to the de-pulping machine. He was finally home and done at 8:30.

Today we are working on his taxes.

 - posted by Trish

Introducing our New Video Collection!

We have a new page linked at the top of the blog: VIDEOS! This summer, videographer Jenny Oetting spent a month in Honduras, filming the ministry work. Since then, she's been organizing all of that material to create this set of videos. We're so excited to share them with you . . . and we hope that you will find them useful in sharing this ministry with others! The link to the videos, in the link bar above, will make them easily accessible, when you need them.


Here's the complete video collection:
To get a picture of the entire ministry first, before gathering more details, check out the “Ministry Overview” video to hear Trish give a tour of Sowers4Pastors’ many worthwhile efforts.
Sowers4Pastors Series: Ministry Overview from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

Meet Kim and Jonathan Hall and learn how Manna 4 Lempira feeds children, provides backpacks and school supplies, and shares the Gospel message. It’s like a loaves and fishes story to see how resources are being multiplied to touch so many lives.

Sowers4Pastors Series | Manna 4 Lempira from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

Watch as Russell shows what the yearly MK Camp means to the missionary kids in Honduras. (Be sure and keep an eye out for Allen, who also grew up as a missionary kid!)
Sowers4Pastors Series: Missionary Kids Camp from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

Russell also takes you on a tour of Sowers4Pastors’ coffee farm and explains why Sowers4Pastors is growing coffee as a means of helping sustain their ministry.

Sowers4Pastors Series: Coffee Farm from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

Speaking of coffee, watch “A Cup of Coffee” to learn what you could provide by forgoing just one cup of a designer coffee drink.
Sowers4Pastors Series | A Cup Of Coffee from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

If you’re contemplating a short term mission trip through Sowers4Pastors, you won’t want to miss the “Travel” video. You will learn what to expect from the airport, lodging, food, transportation, and potential team projects. It’s like a one stop travel guide!
Sowers4Pastors Series | Travel from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

In the “Pastors Training School” video, you will see how indigenous pastors are being trained to plant churches in some of the estimated 2000 villages in Western Honduras, which do not have a Bible based church.
Sowers4Pastors Series: Pastors Training School from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

You can also see what happens when Sowers4Pastors joins forces with a short-term missions team from the U.S. and a team of local volunteers to build a pedestrian foot bridge in a week.
Sowers4Pastors Series | Bridge In A Week from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

Why bridges? Watch the “Why Bridges?” video and see what the bridge in a week projects mean to local communities.
Sowers4Pastors Series: Why Bridges? from Jenny Oetting on Vimeo.

 - posted by Christi