It is such a privilege to be able to serve alongside our fellow missionary Noemi and her ministry Love In Action. As I have mentioned before, the Farming School of Hope is a project that was birthed out of Love In Action ministries as a way to fight hunger in some small mountain communities.
The youth at the Farming School of Hope have been carefully and faithfully taking care of the 1.5 acres of beans that they planted just a few months ago. Their prayer was that they would harvest enough to supply Love In Action's two feeding centers in the mountains with enough beans to last until the next harvest. This way, beans would not have to be purchased for the two feeding centers that feed over 240 malnutritioned children each day. What an awesome goal!
Over the last week, the boys have been bringing in the harvest. We got a phone call late one night from the youth and with such excitement they said "We harvested 500 pounds of beans today!" A few days went by and we got another call early one morning, "We are up to 2,200 pounds of beans!!" The joy these youth have to be learning about farming and the Word of God simultaneously is unbelievable. Their testimony of God's blessing was stirring throughout their mountain community without anyone even having to say a word about the Lord's favor. It was evident! It has been a very rough season for the farmers in these communities, most knew that their harvest was going to be small and that they could take a loss. Another farmer, very nearby, harvested 1,300 pounds of beans from the two acres he planted. The youth from the Farming School of Hope had a harvest of 3,300 pounds of beans out of 1.5 acres.
God is so faithful!! What a confirmation to the youth and testimony to the community. The youth have always referred to the farm as, "la tierra prometida" (the promise land), but the community referred to it as, "la finca central" (the central farm). Now, not only the youth but the locals too, refer to the farm as the promise land. The youth harvested enough beans to feed the children in both feeding centers for the rest of 2010, as well as, each take 50 pounds of beans home to their families
The blessing doesn't stop there! The youth wanted to both tithe and give to missions with their harvest. So, they sent 600 pounds of the beans to fellow missionaries at the King's Castle training center in Managua, where they are training Nicaraguans for ministry and missions. Fellow missionaries Kim and Steve Sobey had been praying for a miracle because of the lack of funds to buy food for the students in their ministry. They were praying one night that God would supply miraculous manna for their ministry. The very next day, they heard about the 600 pounds of beans from the youth at the Farming School of Hope. The youth had signed each of the four bags of beans pictured below without knowing anything about the needs King's Castle has been facing and they wrote, "Manna from the promised land." What an awesome God we serve! God supplied their manna!!
