Bundles of Love: Blessing the National Church Part Two
These farms have taken off and we have the opportunity of doing more pastors because they are sending in every year dozens and dozens of pastors to do church planting and start new churches so we can’t keep up with the farms.
Bundles of Love – Blessing the National Church: Part Two
Welcome to “Asked and Answered,” the podcast series that answers all of your missions related questions. With me today in the studio are Ron and Charis Pearce. Hello guys, welcome!
Ron, Charis-Hi!
Joy- Okay, this is part two of our Christmas special 2022 of our Bundles of Love. If you missed part one, you’ll want to go back and listen. Ron and Charis talk about how Bundles of Love started and they discussed five of our projects. So Ron and Charis, tell us about the remaining three or four projects that we have.
Ron- Okay, Charis where do we start?
Charis- Let’s start with the Laos mini farms, that is always a favorite.
Ron-Yeah, it is a favorite and I knew it had potential about two or three years ago when I met with our leader over there and he said, “We’ve got this need.” And it was to start a young pastor and his family off with a stable income shall we say, or a stable way of making food for their family because they are church planting and they don’t have much money. He said, “We want to get this mini farm.” “Well, what does this look like?” And he said, “We are going to get implements like hoes and rakes and things, we are going to supply seeds and seedlings for vegetables.” And he said, “We are going to start them off with chickens and also piglets.” Well, I thought this sounds like a good idea! I said, “How much is this going to be?” “$350 will do everything, it will buy all the livestock and everything like that and not just one pig because you’re going to have a problem with just one pig.”
Charis- A short-lived farm. {laughter}
Ron- So we had to buy multiple little piglets and everything like that and it went really, really well! And so we started off with this and it has grown, it has taken off, and is very, very fruitful. So much so that not only is the pastor’s family taken care of but now they have such surplus over the years that they are taking care of all the poor people in their churches! The people would be on, you might say, welfare or assistance or whatever that proper word is. They are now taken care of. And it went beyond that so much so that they are going to the unsaved and finding opportunities to share. I know this seems strange and everybody here is going to think oh, big numbers and unreal, but I’ve got pictures that I was shown just a few months ago when I was in Bangkok and the brother came in from Laos and he showed me a picture of all of these fish. When he sent me the first picture and he gave me the number I thought, wow!
Joy-So it was a large school of fish, was it?
Ron- These are tanks of fish that they have going and they have multiplied. This year they produced 500,000 fish! Now, these fish are not huge. They would be about a foot long, maybe a little bit more than that. But they start with that and then they’ve got these frogs! I feel bad telling people we are raising frogs!
Joy- Frogs as pets?
Ron- Frogs as food and they are the size of a person’s hand, they are monstrous frogs and they have shown me the tanks with all these tadpoles and frogs and it was a cloud of them just in one tank. These all grow up to the size of your hand, you cut them open and gut them and throw them on the frying pan and people love them!
Joy- I’m not sure we needed those details. {laughter}
Ron- I know, I don’t understand this totally being the Westerner that I am but they really like this!
Joy- That’s amazing!
Ron- These farms have taken off and we have the opportunity of doing more pastors because they are sending in every year dozens and dozens of pastors to do church planting and start new churches so we can’t keep up with the farms.
Charis- And this frees the pastor up to do more church planting because the farm is supporting the family basically.
Ron- Exactly and it gives him an excuse to go to unbelievers with food and say, “Listen, we’ve got surplus, we are believers,” and they just sit there and say, “Why are you doing this? The government doesn’t help us, why are you doing this?” And he says, “Because we love you.” “Really? Okay.” And then the second time when they come back with the cucumbers or the tomatoes!
Charis- Tell them about when they went to the leaders.
Ron- They went to government leaders and these are communist government leaders and they wanted lists of unbelievers and people in their villages that needed food because they wanted to bless them. And so they give them these lists, they were shocked wondering why would the church want to come down and do this? But they gave them the list and they said, “We will take care of these people.” So they started giving them food, fish, and turkey and whatever and then they went back to the leaders, the communist leaders of that region or district or zone and they gave them a big basket with flowers on top, I saw a picture of it, and gifts inside the basket.
Ron- Oh yeah, this was a basket probably about three feet by two and a half feet, big handle on the top with flowers on it at least two and a half feet high. And so they go and they give them these gifts, to the leader and they say, “Thank you so much for giving us these people that we can take care of and bless. If you’ve got any more problems doing this just come to us and we will help out.” Well, the government leaders are stunned! When has this ever happened and what a reputation to have! Sort of like, Christians are trying to contribute and take care of this. It reminds me a little bit like the Salvation Army in the early days with William and Catherine Booth in the slums of London taking over. They were taking over the streets with love and it is a historical fact that their reputation grew with London over that period of time. They were respected. And that is what the church needs right now. It’s not rumors, it needs respect and that is not only in these parts of the world but in Canada and the United States and western Europe, etcetera. Why do you get respect? Because you earn it, and you love people and you fulfill the Gospel and that is what we are trying to do with this.
Joy- Well I know these farms are very, very popular. A lot of people I talk to, it’s a favorite family tradition now and I think this is only the third year we’ve been doing it and families wait for this and they maybe combine it with other families and they donate to this. It’s really fun.
Charis- And it’s $350 for a mini farm, to set up a mini farm.
Ron- A farm! Wow!
Joy- Okay, so moving on to another Bundle, I think we have Albania.
Ron- Okay, Charis do you want to start off with this one?
Charis- Oh yeah, Albania is gift baskets of food. So those are going to church planters and their families. This winter is going to be a tough winter. They are $40 for a basket.
Joy- So are they struggling too?
Ron- Well, yeah, everybody in that part of the world because of the war, the cost of living went through the roof. Fuel. I remember asking this pastor, what does your budget look like? And he said, “Well, it’s $500 for a month, for a family of four, and half of that, $250, is for electricity.”
Charis- I have read some reports that there are people deciding between heating their house or eating.
Ron- Yes, exactly!
Charis- What a decision!
Ron- Exactly. These are going out to pastors with very, very limited income. We are helping out as much as we can. These are not just going out to Albania as a country but to Albanian-speaking people in that region so, therefore, some of this will happen in Kosovo, some in Montenegro, a little bit in Greece, and a little bit in Italy. All those areas where the church is expanding. We are tied together in this adventure with about 220 evangelical congregations and they are the ones that are going to be helping with distribution and gaining the opportunity, be presented with the opportunity to hand out these baskets to people that are in great need and give them love.
“Well, it’s $500 for a month, for a family of four, and half of that, $250, is for electricity.”
Joy- And God is doing something exciting in Albania!
Ron- The religion of the area that has infiltrated and has taken over in that region is a historic religion, I won’t go into all the details of this but that religion is falling apart and people are calling up and are asking people who they know of who are Christians, believe in the Gospel, who have Bibles, they are saying, “What does it mean to be born again? Do you have a copy of a New Testament?” And these are people calling up! It’s not like they are being approached on the street. They are asking for it! And we are not talking about a few. We are talking about thousands and tens of thousands just in one church organization that we are working with right now. They are inundated with people asking questions. So, if you match the answers with the proof of love…
Joy- It’s wide open for God to do more.
Ron- Exactly!
Joy- Okay, and that brings us to our final Bundle of Love, it’s Egypt. Now I believe we have done Egypt before, but I don’t think we have ever done it for the widows on the Nile.
Ron-No, I think I have explained a couple of times on various podcasts but I am going to do this one quickly but succinctly in this way. There is a situation there where there are literally thousands of widows who have lost their husbands in the mines. And these are mines where they mine this rock and it has a powder that comes off in the mining process and the men inhale this, these are Christian men as a whole that work in these mines and they get something called concrete lungs. This is where they just suffocate because of the dust in their lungs leaving wife, kids, without an income, without any hope. Therefore, we are partnering with a ministry that is going in, taking care of these ladies and their children, helping them get started in life again being hairdressers or farming or seamstress. I don’t know all the professions.
Joy- It’s kind of similar to mini farms really because you are helping them get started in life and be self-sufficient.
Ron- Exactly. And they are also helping them rebuild spiritually. These women, if they haven’t accepted Christ before they are shown the pathway, they are accepting the Lord, their kids are going to school, the kids are growing up in church settings where they are hearing the Gospel. It’s a total rebuild. Without the husband of their life. Many of these widows will never be remarried, it’s just the way it is. Therefore, the church is stepping in and this is how we can help.
Joy- This has to be very special for the kids at Christmastime just to receive something at this time of year.
Ron- I can’t even Imagine, you lose your dad, you lose food, you lose heat. I have walked into these homes and these are mud walls, no roof, dirt floors. I have looked at clothes stuck in holes in the wall, they have no furniture, they sit on a blanket, they huddle together around a little pot that they have for supper and that little pot turns into a fireplace for keeping warm. So when we come in and are helping them to rebuild financially, socially, spiritually and then injected in this at Christmas time, a gift.
Joy- It’s very special.
Ron- This is why this is a substantial gift of food, clothing, help.
Joy- I think that we still have to talk about Bibles for China. That is our last one.
Ron- This is what I call a slam dunk. This is so simple because in China they need 40 million Bibles. 40 million. When I went in there recently speaking with the leadership they said they are overwhelmed with people wanting a Bible because so many are accepting the Lord because of the Covid lockdowns. The disillusionment with the communist government, the peril that they are going through in so many areas because of loss of jobs. They have nothing. They are angry. They are looking for hope. The Christians witness to them and then they say in this book are the answers that you have been looking for. They read the Bibles, they fall in love with Jesus, and if we can give them a Bible it is the greatest gift that you could ever give to 1.4 billion people on this planet.
Joy – And I hear they still need a lot of Bibles.
Ron- 40 million, 40 million! When I heard that number I thought, wow! Like we are doing 500,000 a year and that is a good number, probably the largest number right now in that area. And when you say that a Bible is $2.50 I think it is right now, it went up from $2.25 because of inflation and stuff like that, therefore, when you can print one for $2.50 get it to them! Put it in their hands, free of charge, and say here is your answer to life. This goes a long way but they need a lot and we need help.
Joy- Okay, so if you are listening to this podcast and you would love to contribute to one of these fantastic Bundles of Love you can go to our website at empowerministries.ca or ronpearce.org and these projects are right there for you to choose. I don’t believe we made it easy to choose as each one is worthy of a donation. Thanks for listening!
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