So
That Millions May Not Labor in Vain
In May of 2005, I was part of
a contingent
of business people who visited Morocco to promote
understanding between Muslims and Christians. It
was a stressful but very meaningful time as we engaged
in discussion groups and shared together about common
areas of interest. One of the people I met
from our group was Paul Larsen from Naples, Florida,
who was also a financial advisor and he was often
talking about raising soy beans on farms in the Ukraine. Having
confessed last week that I have sworn off most of
my devotion to farming, this project really caught
my attention because of what it was doing for the
poor farmers in that part of the world. Paul
and his friends, Jes and Roger were part of a team
that were seeing incredible work being done thru
agriculture.
It's hard for you to understand
this without a little history. Ukrainian agriculture was placed
under the same system for collectivized farms as
the rest of Russia, and although the systems were
inefficient, the farms were so fertile they still
produced the lion's share of the food and grain for
the communist world for many decades. After
the fall of communism, these farms were split into
many small farms and thru land reform, many of the
laborers ended up with 10 to 20 acres of land. They
could all grow the most wonderful vegetables in the
world, but they fell far short of reaching critical
mass to farm the land in a traditional way. Along
comes the seminarian, Jes, and the master farmer
from Illionois, Roger, and they believed that they
could put many little farms together to make one
big farm and bring credibility back to these people. AgManagement
was born more than 10 years ago and they are working
on their fourth farm. The first farm was dubbed "freedom
farm" and it has been sold back to Ukranian interests
while farms two, three, and four are still growing
and gaining momentum.
When this process takes place,
the new farms created total between 5,000 and 10,000
acres as many little farms are pulled together
to make one large farm. The
new farm LEASES the land from all the small land
owners and pays them rent to participate and also
in many cases hires many of these people to help
run the farms. The intent is to bring dignity
back to people who have been overlooked by the industrial
cities of the country and have not been able to do
the work of farming because their small farms lacked
critical mass. We have found some of the most
incredibly competent mechanics to work on the machinery
and help make the farms run smoothly. As we
help these people to fish again, it is our
hope that this model will work in other parts of
the world where this same malady exists. It
is our desire to also plant a church on every one
of these farms.
When you read this, I will be
in Simferopol, Ukraine or in Bryansk, Russia visiting that part of
the world with my friend and mission partner, Joe
Sanson to see if the Ukrainian model might work in
Russia. We are praying that the other work
we have started in Russia might continue
in an even bigger way if the farming project could
be feasible. We ask your prayers for our safe
travel as we open dialogue with many partners
to see if God can work in new ways to allow our partners
in the world to see Jesus thru our efforts to help
them.
For hundreds of years, millions
of people in the Ukraine and Russia labored under
dictatorial rulers. Today many
live simple impoverished lives because the new rules
have given them land but no real choice in how to
make a living off of it. Most of all, we hope
that they some day they will relate to:
Matthew 11: 28-30 "Come to me, all you
who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light." This is Jesus making an appeal to those
who have not started to follow Him yet. This
is the message we wish to carry share with all those
who find themselves in harms way in this world.
Sent September 2 ,
2007
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Dwight Short if you would like to receive future
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