What an odd year this has been…not being able to fly since evacuating Croatia in March (and scuttling a leadership conference there at the last minute as borders shut while our team was enroute from the USA) has been a difficult experience, but God has been working through this time in numerous ways.
For example, in February, before lockdowns went into effect, I was able to preach at a local church in Cambodia opening up the door to hopefully return in the future and train a significant number of church leaders there. I also preached in Japan and met with local and international church leaders there as I plan an international church conference in Tokyo in 2023 (it has been pushed back two years due to COVID).
We are also looking forward to getting back to training next fall and appreciate your financial support, so that we can potentially return to Zimbabwe and/or Malawi and go to Zambia. Just yesterday I met with the founder of a multinational ministry who is working on faith-based anti-corruption curriculum that we could potentially teach to government workers in places like Zambia in the years ahead where God has been opening doors for us. I also recently did some leadership training with an Egyptian diplomat and am prayerfully considering what further doors this may open up, especially as I now have contact with a house church planting movement based in Egypt that is spreading into other Muslim countries.
All this to say, God is opening up new opportunities during this time of pandemic, and we want to be ready to respond as soon as travel restrictions are lifted and continue to expand the impact of FMI around the world!
Since today is Giving Tuesday, I want to ask you to prayerfully consider giving to FMI today to help us have the resources to do all God is calling us to do!
Since we emailed the three videos in May reporting on the first two chicken coops and the success of our partnership with Farming God’s Way in Malawi increasing crop yields by as much as ten fold, we have raised money to build an additional two chicken coops! We still want to build a final two, so that there is one chicken coop for each of the six preschool centers we have been stimulating toward sustainability. Not only are we seeing a marked improvement in the physical wellbeing of these children through our work over the past few years (for example, cholera was completely eliminated in the villages that have wells, so lives have literally been saved!), but the churches are seeing spiritual growth as people have more time and better health to engage in spiritual growth, and families are being strengthened.
Just to give you a sense of how undeveloped Malawi is, FMI operations there have become the largest chicken and egg producers in southern Malawi! Thank you for praying for the ongoing needs in this impoverished area, and thank you for making tangible and spiritual impacts in lives around the world!
