Thank you for being part of the FARM STEW Family.  I'm in Africa serving on your behalf with FARM STEW!  Its the best (50th) birthday present EVER!!  (I went to the airport late on April 20th - my 50th- and caught the plane the next day!)

Since arriving last week, I've already killed a huge cockroach, got tangled up in my mosquito net, and scared a few rats at night, but this is my best trip ever, so far!

What's made it so good?

Our FARM STREW trainers have taken Dr. Sherry Shrestha, a board member, and I to 8 villages (so far) where we've been working for between 2 years and 2 months.  Amazingly, they all have enthusiastic stories to tell, and do I mean ENTHUSIASM!  We've seen them act out skits, illustrating to us (and all the community gathered to watch including the cutest kids EVER) the dramatic changes that have come as a result of the lessons of FARM STEW.  

Each and every skit, though very different and developed entirely by the FARM STEW volunteers and community members themselves, demonstrated a "Before" that included people being sick with intestinal diseases, drunkenness, and depression.   The “After” has been amazing testimony with shouts of joy, healthy children and crops, and moving testimonies of changed lives.

The acting has deserved Oscars. I can’t wait to share videos but at least here you can see the "Rainbow!"

I would write more but I’m in a van on a dirt road on the way to the refugee camps. Please pray for Sherry and me as we enter South Sudan tomorrow and will be there until the 6th of May.  It is an intensely poor country with a lot of violence but our local leaders are feeling that the areas our FARM STEW trainers are in are safe for now.  Your prayers will help make that so.

Although I've not heard from you yet this year, I have seen the power of your past gifts.  The impact includes:

• The 27 wells we fixed or installed in 2020 are transforming hundreds of lives for $4,600 on average each. Sherry and I were given chickens by a local chief to prove it!! There is SO much need for more, even in our certified FARM STEW Communities.

• A Head Master of a Muslim school spoke of the transformation of being able to keep hundreds of girls in school because of the pads you’ve provided.  He joined us in prayer in the name of Jesus. We are still pushing to reach our goal of 5,000 girls this year.

• Our FARM STEW Trainers are helping people grow vegetables that are feeding families and providing income to people that before only grew cassava, maize, and plantains - all starch staples that filled the belly but didn’t nourish the body.  Their testimonies of improved health were powerful.

I ask with a holy boldness that you continue to donate generously to sustain and expand this work. To do so, use the following link: www.farmstew.org/donate There are so many FARM STEW Volunteers over here who are sacrificially multiplying the impact of every dollar you give.

Thank you so much for letting me serve on your behalf. It is my joy and the best birthday present ever!

Joy

PS:  Sherry named the chickens, “Faith” and “Charity”, with faith in your continued donations to operate this charitable work.  

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I haven't heard from you yet this year and I hope that the chickens will encourage you!

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