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Pruning Priorities
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| Pruned mango tree |
Earlier this month, we had the giant mango tree in our yard pruned. With branches hanging over the house roof, the tree endangered our home during rain storms. It also provided a path for ants into the house. Although losing some shade and coolness was sad, the hacking and sawing were inevitable. (Incidentally, it cost about $65.00 for three amateur arborists to manually handle the project in one day.) Thankfully the whole tree did not need to disappear, unlike others once in the yard. Before, we harvested little fruit from an avocado tree in another spot because a nearby palm tree hoarded water and nutrients. After Verlin removed the unproductive palm, he watered the avocado tree for several months. Now, it produces abundantly for us and our neighbors!
This "tree talk" reminds us that Jesus spoke clearly about our need for spiritual pruning in John 15. As pruning improves a plant's appearance, health, and fruit production, our Savior's work removes sin, idols, distractions, and dead weight from our lives. The process increases their usefulness to Him. He aims that we progress to produce more fruit and then much fruit! The painful pruning process anchored in Jesus' love for us produces the fruit of joy in our lives when we obey. This is a win-win like no other! The sobering part of the passage is the warning. He removes branches that do not abide in Him or bear fruit. Evading such a horrible outcome involves recognizing the Hand of the loving Master Gardener to "allow the pruning," as Dr. Cynthia Johnson reminds us in a helpful article attached here.
PRUNING PRODUCES PERSEVERANCE
(see Is Bigger Better?)
Putting Community Health Evangelism (CHE) into practice often requires that French West African trainers relinquish their dreams of rapidly built ministries. They must persevere for a decade or more under much outside pressure (i.e., part of the Lord's pruning!) and let go of the bigger is better mentality. CHE trainers who hope to see huge numbers or projects regularly fail to see the practical and transformational opportunities right before their eyes. We think of one trainer who awaited outside help for over twenty years to build a medical clinic in his small town. He puttered along but stayed connected. Compare that to the smaller village of Boutoubre that worked together in their community. Pooling their resources provided by ferry fees, they built a small clinic, church, and school in less than two years seeking and using no outside funds!
For over five years, a different CHE-trained brother has sought to develop a sizeable agricultural farm that requires significant start-up money and official paperwork. With numerous delays, over time, he wisely chose to focus on smaller, collaborative projects that accumulated over 200 people around him. These friends now accept being spiritually impacted by Discovery Bible Studies (DBS). The dream of the farm remains a motivation. It will likely come to fruition one day. However, even if the delays continue, he uses the goods and skills he currently possesses to share the Gospel and care for others' needs. Pray that government agents seeking personal gain will stop preventing him from gaining fruits grown on his family land for which he has ownership proof! Verlin has often encouraged and counseled him in the legal process and occasionally accompanied him to government offices to give weight to our brother's claims.
Earlier this year, a third CHE trainer felt the intense pruning of financial stress while serving in western Cote d'Ivoire. He is one of several trainers preparing Ivorians to administer care to lepers in over 40 locales. Though he did not seek a salary initially, he did expect to have his travel and lodging expenses covered. He trained many for over five months without reimbursement. Hopefully, a contract will be finalized this month that covers his needs. His commitment to that project affected our need to persevere, too. Debbie began editing university CHE lessons without his anticipated help, more than doubling the time needed for the project. Plodding along over seven weeks, she worked through both levels of training, and now final reviews and edits rest in Verlin's hands.
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| Training at ladies' retreat |
Several trained pastors who dared to implement CHE early on have endured much more pruning. Other people let the process discourage their efforts. Thankfully, many small successes fueled and refueled their passion to see communities transformed by ministries touching the whole person. Scriptural truth is made applicable by modeling spiritual, physical, social, and environmental change. Two of these men attended the March CHE Internship in Ghana. Each has redoubled their practice of what they have learned over the years. One brother realized that the women of his church were not adequately prepared and integrated into CHE outreach. He gave the ladies further training, chose a few as deaconesses at church, and recently provided health training at a women's retreat. Pray that the women develop multiple skills to bring family and community transformation.PRUNING PROMOTES PROGRESS
(see Restarts)
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| 22022 university training picture |
When the upcoming September 4-8 Community Health Engage -ment expo takes place, it will mark our tenth year of week-long sharing of applicable CHE concepts at the UFHB (Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny).This includes several colleges of the university and the Public Health Department! The professors and master's students in the university CHE team work hard. They take on more and more responsibility each year. The pruning brought by missteps in early village outreaches helped them learn to engage in communities more effectively now. Praise God for their progress! Their work impacts the whole nation and begins to touch the region.
Our goal for this tenth training edition is to test the compiled lessons and handouts in the classic LePSAS format. In this way, we will not need to go a week early to ensure every trainer has what they need or to provide materials requiring photocopying. This is why you have read so much in the past weeks about Debbie compiling and editing lessons and Verlin's need to review everything for consistency and comprehensiveness. Once this endeavor is complete, our presence at the training will enter another transition stage. We can be available to encourage the whole process, interact with trainees, and facilitate a few lessons if desired, but not carry the current workload. We will likely help them train others in sister Ivorian universities. Pray that we succeed in this crucial transition.
PRUNING PREVENTS PAUCITY
(see On the Way)
In a more literal sense, pruning our expenses helped the mission budget for the past three months. Our need to stay home to prepare for the university CHE exposition and concentrate on some wellness issues proved beneficial. July's lowered expenses will help when next quarter's costs in Abidjan are high. Whether we travel much or minister from home, the funds have always been sufficient. Your continuing faithful partnership with us in Cote d'Ivoire makes the efforts fruitful! Mere words fail to convey our gratitude. May the Lord bless your incredible generosity and commitment to prayer.PRAYER AND PRAISE
- 🙏 Praise the Lord that Debbie finished her first edits on the university CHE lessons in the timeframe allotted. Now pray that Verlin gets his review done on time so that CHE trainers receive their lessons in early August.
- 🙏 Rejoice that Corbin, our younger son, found an apartment closer to his new engineering job!
- 🙏 Pray for one more international trainer needed for the September CHE session at the university.
- 🙏 Pray for our Ivorian pastor friend whose wife left him and his four children for another man. Talks continue with the wife's family, and he moves on with life while praying for repentance and reconciliation.
- 🙏 Continue to ask the Lord for a concrete and speedy resolution to a land issue for the potential CHE agricultural project. Our Ivorian brother seeks to cultivate inherited land to bless CHE and grow the family business. Government offices continue to make it difficult for him to get appointments and final documents needed.
- 🙏 Pray for the work contract needed for the CHE trainer to continue helping prepare teams ministering to lepers in western Cote d'Ivoire.
- 🙏 As Verlin walked many kilometers for his health the past three months, a neighbor one street over invited him to stop and embark on spiritual conversations. Pray that those talks, and the witness of others, will result in the man coming to Christ.
| Your Partners in the Gospel, |
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| Verlin and Debbie |
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Family pics taken since choosing to serve as missionaries.
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