A Slight Change of Plans

This year has certainly not progressed as we had all thought that it would at the outset. During the month of January, In had a great trip to Uganda during which we saw our eight graduating students off and into their new works. Three congregations were established by these men, and their goats and gardens are providing much-needed aid to their villages during these difficult times. We then received fifteen new students and were impressed with their work ethic and desire to learn God’s Word.

After returning home I began working on getting things ready for all three schools to begin the next academic quarter in the month of April and making plans to be in Tanzania for the start of the second year for our students there. We attended the lectures at Brown Trail and then Southwest.

During the month of March, the Sojourners came and provided a great deal of help with the church building here in Itasca. It was while they were here that things started to unfold with the Coronavirus.

Since that time, pretty much everything has been canceled. We have been coordinating with our faculty at the different schools to make sure that our students were able to return home safely, and were cared for. Then we have turned our attention to the farms, knowing that food shortages would come.

Here at home, we have been using this time to work on our own homestead. Our beehives have needed a little help coming out of winter. We have new chickens, which should start giving us eggs soon. Our garden has been started from seeds and is beginning to come up nicely. Through all of this, we have also been creating online courses in intensive agriculture that will soon be available on the Manna Project website for any who want to use them, here or abroad.