It started in January 2003 as part of an investigative mission trip to Chinch Alta, Peru at the home of Pastor Carlos Guzman.  Carlos has wanted help to reach the unsaved of Peru, wanting a more personal approach to his evangelism.  On this trip I took a 70lb. box of vegetable and herb seed packets from Hope Seeds.  My goal was to distribute as many packets as possible to those ready to plant gardens.  What I found were many people who did not know how to plant seeds, so we began to teach how to seed the many different types of vegetables, some they were not familiar with.   

In the course of doing this work I enlisted the help of several local men.  One of these was Armondo Peepo, who found joy in experimenting in his own small backyard garden.  One of the seeds he planted was a lone turnip seed.   

At that moment I didn’t ask…. I just pulled out  my pocket knife and cut all the greens off the root.  Armondo just about died.  “You killed my beautiful new bush!!!”   I said no, no, no, it will grow back from the root and be more beautiful than before, but this “bunch-o-greens” has to be eaten NOW!   I put on a turnip greens cooking class right there in Armondo and Maria’s humble kitchen.  They really liked the taste of the cooked greens and it helped that the greens were “fork” tender, since neither Armondo or Maria have many front teeth.  They ate all of the greens, looking for more.

With that I poured up the “pot liquour” (remaining vegetable juices) into a jelly glass and gave it to Maria as a green tea, which she also really liked.  She then instructed her husband to grow more turnips, enough for every day. 

From the production of a tiny turnip seed I have become closer to one of my Peruvian brothers, and maybe, we have found one of the personal types of evangelism that Pastor Carlos has been looking for. 

Thanks for all your encouragement and physical support.  Y’all are making a difference in “our” corner of the world. 

Jeff and Carol Morgan, Change-a-life International

*Change-a-life is a strategic partner with Hope Seeds, and work is underway for building a sustainable agricultural resource center in Peru, with the help and cooperation of Armondo and Pastor Carlos.  If you would like more information about this project and the funding necessary please call us or visit our web-site.  Thank you.

Good seed means germination… 
From Wayne Niles,  American Baptist Missionary in Haiti. Wayne and Katherine Niles are career missionaries, and have helped distribute and evaluate vegetable seeds for Hope Seeds over the past 5 years.  Wayne fully understands the implications of “good seed”. Following is an e-mail letter we recently received from him on January 17, 2004, along with some photos.

.Mike / Hope Seeds:

Edner Cesaire, my extension agent, took me around to see some of the vegetable gardens he has been helping folks produce.  In most cases he is doing lots of ‘hand holding’ because the gardeners know nothing about vegetable production.  ALL Haitians begin as farmers, however, so he is not starting from scratch.  The challenge is that gardening takes so much extra care. 

One particularly interesting garden is Rony’s roof top garden.  So often here, the greatest challenge is vegetable gardening is loss from vertebrate pests: cows, pigs, goats, rats, and humans.  Putting his garden on his roof solves almost all of the above.  Rony is a tire repair man and a prominent member of a choir in the Quartier Morin Baptist Church.  His tire business has allowed him to build a four room house with a typical flat concrete roof.  He has no land for gardening.  On one side of his house is the main road, behind the house is a vast field which has not been cropped for years mainly because everyone in the community releases their animals on it.  There is no way he could garden there.  So his roof top garden is a fine solution. 

Rony's Roof top garden

That was quite a box we received from Hope Seeds this week!  I put the cabbage seeds in a germinations test 48 hours ago and it is definitely in the high 90%’s.  This is just wonderful.  A couple times folks have told me horror stories of paying what the average Haitian would consider a couple of months salary for a pound of seed in a can only to get 0% germination.  We will get these seeds out to folks as we are in the peak of vegetable season and the rains have been exceptional so far.   

The bags with the nutrition information (see footnote following this letter) we have passed on to Dr. Bibiana MacCleod with whom Katherine and I do lots of collaboration.  She is having a Training of Trainers seminar next week that leaders of Community Health Evangelism groups from communities all over Haiti will be attending.  Each participant will represent several dozen active members in their communities.  By distributing the seeds to these folks, the kits will be instantly distributed to active development groups all over the country.  

Thank you so much for your thoughtful generosity that has answered my request (actually I was passing on the request of dozens of seed seekers who come to my door) beyond what I dared imagine. 

Bless You!

Wayne

Flax (Linum usitatissimum – latin; pishtah – Hebrew) is a plant grown for its oil and textile fibers, and under cultivation for many thousands of years.

It is still a very useful and vital part of our food supply today, grown for oil and grain in many parts of the world.  Flax still remains as a valuable source for a fabric known to us as linen.   

The plant will grow to a height of about 36 inches , has small narrow leaves on stems which are fibrous and thin.  The plant will bloom beautiful blue flowers about ½” across with a darker blue or violet center.  When mature the seed is harvested and the plant thrashed for its fiber use.  It serves two purposes – cloth and nutritious food.  The seed is used with other grains for baking, or pressed for its fine oil.  The stalks are cut or pulled by the roots and laid out in the sun to dry, then by soaking in water the external layer can be removed and the fibers separated, then woven into fine linen. 

The linen from flax is mentioned several times in scripture… Moses speaks of the fine linens for the tabernacle and priestly garments (Leviticus 38 & 39);  Proverbs 31: 13 refers to the nature of noble women who work with their hand to make flax into linen; and in Luke 23 we can read of Joseph who begged for the body of Jesus, took it from the cross and wrapped it in linen as preparation for burial.  Also in John 20 it refers to the burial linen left behind in the empty tomb when our Lord rose from the dead and left the grave. 

Rahab evidently lived near the city gate and walls of Jericho.  This proved helpful for the spies as they gathered information for Joshua.  The hiding place up on the roof, under stalks of flax, is evidence that Rahab was also trying to provide sustenance and perhaps income for herself.  The work of processing flax into cloth fell entirely upon the women of that time, and Rahab was no different than most.  We are also told in this scripture that she had heard of the Israelites and their God.  So with faith she offered a place of hiding for the two spies.  In return for helping the spies she asked for kindness and protection for her entire family when the Israelites would attack.  This was granted to her because by faith she welcomed the spies (Hebrews 11: 31). 

Flax is a plant which God created for the good of all men – food and fiber. It has also played  a critical role in the lives of many of God’s people - a hiding place, a burial cloth, and a great symbol of our salvation as part of the empty tomb.  Flax can remind us of the faith of Rahab, a sinner, and how we, like her, can have the blessed assurance of an eternal life in heaven because of the linen cloth left in the empty tomb of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Pray that our faith will continue to grow and remain strong.
 

Dear Mike and Members of the Hope Seeds Board of Directors, 

I wish you well as you meet as a board to bring “Hope” to many people who are struggling each day for their daily food.  Linda and I appreciated receiving seeds from you when we worked in Ghana.  Now our work is moving to Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea where we are asked to serve as agriculturalists as well as encouraging the local church to grow and build. 

Photo from 2000 - Johnson Maclean (Ag Coordinator Western Reg), Bert Plarge (Evangelsit), Local church member evaluate tomato samples

 Seeds are moving...

Some are moving from large containers into small packets, being prepared for shipments to Haiti, Honduras, Guyana, and Cuba.  These four countries are target sites for shipments we have scheduled for March and April.  Our local volunteers are active each week in helping prepare the many thousands of packets we will be needing to fill the orders.

Seeds are also moving from one warehouse to another.  In the next months we will be relocating the entire inventory and warehouse interior to our new location in eastern Manatee County next door to Hunsader Farms.  This is a very big undertaking, but will provide us with a greater efficiency and more opportunity to be of service to the people we serve.  The biggest changes you will see when you visit are - Mike and Jean will be living right next door and the garden acreage will increase from 1/8th acre to 6 acres.

Seminar  Requests from Tanzania, Honduras, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Peru, Guyana, Pakistan  and Haiti – and many more we are unable to fulfill…

One of the joys in the ministry of Hope Seeds is when we are able to travel to places in this world and share knowledge about seeds and our faith in Christ.  In recent weeks we have received 1st and 2nd  requests to travel to these countries to help with seminars and counsel agricultural seed programs.  Seed selection, seed storage, seed harvesting, and seed planting are four topics which we offer, and they coincide well with the work our partners are doing in soil management, nutritional programs, and other sustainable cultural improvements.  Each seminar is done in and under the name of the Triune God, who provides generously for mankind.

The Hope Seeds Board of Directors and the Advisory Board met in early January to review our plans and budget for the year(s) ahead.  During the course of two days of meetings we met with several of our strategic partners (strategic partner = a ministry with similar long term goals, shared responsibilities, and unified planning).  We reviewed our work and expenses for the year 2003, and made budget plans for 2004.  And, we offered prayers and praise to Almighty God asking for guidance and wisdom while thanking Him for letting each of us to be of service.

Khurram Khan of People of the Book Lutheran Outreach (POBLO) and strategic partner presents projects with Hope Seeds.