Reproducing - LTLA Update Sept 2024

 

Greetings LTLA Friends, Last month, Arthur Nhau, LTLA Director in Zimbabwe, shared about spiritual fruitfulness in the Life to Life Africa ministry. This month we will hear about reproducing efforts. Yesterday I received an update from Shelton Nhundu, LTLA Community Ministry Team Leader, which displays the heart and faithfulness of the LTLA team in their desire to see God's Kingdom grow in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe.  One of our ministry efforts is to train people in sustainable farming practices and the corresponding spiritual principles of faithful stewardship. Twelve years ago, our team received this training from Foundations for Farming, a Christ-centered organization founded in Zimbabwe. Our team has been implementing this training in their own farming efforts and at our LTLA Community Center. They have been reproducing this training every year for people in the Chinhoyi community. This past month we trained 30 different family members, of which 20 were receiving the training for the first time. The worst drought in 20 years this past season motivated these 20 new families and the 10 other families who came for a refresher. They harvested nothing this year and wanted to learn how to get a harvest even in the midst of a drought. Pray with us that they will apply the training and be led to faith in Christ as they learn the spiritual principles of faithful stewardship.

Mr. Lunga, LTLA team member, leading the training for the 30 family members.

The ladies on the LTLA team were trained in sewing by ladies from the Hopevale Church team that visited in July. As you will see in the two videos below, the LTLA ladies are putting into practice the training. The prayer is that as they become more proficient in their sewing skill they will be able to reproduce the sewing training with other ladies in the community. As you can hear from the video, there is a natural opportunity for conversation while sewing, which can lead to spiritual discussions. Pray for that to happen in the near future even among the youth as we see the double blessing of providing skill training while having eternally impactful conversations.

LTLA Sewing Club update.

Gogo Sixpence models the wraparound skirt they have been making. Video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YxRC1vH-R6o

Effective reproduction is happening in the LTLA vegetable gardens due to the drip irrigation systems that were installed in July. We are growing off season corn which can be sold for a good profit. We thank Hopevale Church and their team for helping make the drip irrigation systems a reality, along with the 500 capacity chicken coop. We plan to have broilers ready for sale in December in preparation for the Christmas celebration demand. We will plan to do trainings in gardening and broiler production in the coming years. Pray with us for God's blessings on these income generating and training efforts.

Off season corn growing at the LTLA Community Center.

The LTLA Community Ministry team has been discipling a good number of women for a number of years. The team asks for your prayers as they challenge these women to reproduce their lives spiritually in keeping with 2 Timothy 2:2. The men on the team ask for your prayers as they consider ways to reach, disciple, and equip men in the community to reproduce their lives spiritually. It is challenging to reach men who are struggling to meet the demands of their families and in a lot of cases who have given up due to the limited opportunities in a poor economy. Thank you for supporting our efforts to see God's Kingdom grow in Zimbabwe! Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa