Missions update

In August and September of this year (2008) Dave went to Liberia. God opened the door and provided the funds through a large donation for Dave to go on a short term mission trip. He said he could never have imagined what it is like there, and he had to see it and experience it for himself. The country is one of the poorest countries in the world and was devastated during the civil war that ended in 2003. Over half of the population is under the age of 18 with an 85% illiteracy rate. Acres of Hope was given a land grant of 100 acres that has a huge river that runs along one side of the property to start an agriculture program.





Dave went to Liberia to see if we could drive to the property during the rainy season and what the property and the river were like during the rainy season. We needed to know things like: did the river flood, was the soil saturated from the rain, what type of soil was there, and was the Du River freshwater or brackish? The property is only about 8 miles from the ocean. They had a driver that drove them out to the property, but to get to the property they had to drive right through a village that has about 150 to 200 people that live there. In the village they stopped at the village leaders hut and he sent his son as a guide. The people are really excited about us coming back to live there and starting the agriculture. Dave was able to see the land. The soil is sandy and the river wasn’t overflowing its banks even though it was almost the end of the rainy season which lasts almost 6 months. Now we are preparing to travel as missionaries to Liberia to build the new Sustainable Agriculture Training Center (S.A.T. Center). We are planning on setting up a building to live in and using solar power, wind energy and a generator system. Acres of Hope has a 4-wheel drive tractor to prepare some of the land. We will be teaching sustainable production methods for vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs, cattle, pigs, chickens and other food sources including fish, shrimp, crawfish in an integrated aquaponics system. The food produced at the S.A.T. Center will be used to feed participants in AOHL’s humanitarian programs missions, medical clinic, schools, orphanages and to provide job opportunities for a country that has an 85% unemployment rate.



We will also be teaching job skills for farming, food production, raising plants, saving seeds, processing and preserving it, as well as animal care, rotational grazing, movable pen grazing, and raising fish and plants together in an aquaponics system, and marketing some of the produce to make the S.A.T. Center sustainable. We will also be working with the University to teach sustainable agriculture methods with an intern program. We have experts from the United States that have worked with aquaponics and aquaculture and are planning to come to Liberia to help set up the Center, and to hold workshops and conferences. I will also be working with the village to teach the children reading, writing, math, and teaching the bible through stories and songs. We have participated in several aquaponics and agriculture training workshops and conferences. Dave has served as a volunteer at the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility where he experienced hands-on training with modern aquaculture techniques. For more than 4 years our family lived simply on our homestead in Wisconsin without modern conveniences, heated with wood, raised chickens, rabbits, pigs, cattle, bees ,fruit trees and many gardens. We now see many ways God has been preparing us for this opportunity to serve in Liberia. We believe God has called us to be missionaries in Liberia. Our mission there is to demonstrate Christ’s love through our service for others and biblical Christian values. We’ll focus most of our efforts on producing food which will provide opportunities for education, employment and helping the local villagers improve their living conditions. Would you please join a team of people who will surround this ministry with prayer and help fund it? We need to raise $5,000 a month for living expenses, $13,400 for airfare, $10,000 for a shipping container, a diesel 4-wheel drive truck in good condition and a small pull behind camper. We could also use things like big heavy duty tents, cots, light sleeping bags, air mattresses and pumps, flashlights and batteries, lanterns, shovels, spades, garden and yard rakes, pick axes, sickles, buckets, wheel barrows, garden carts, small and big tillers, a chainsaw, post hole diggers, fence, fence posts, solar electric power fencers, insulators, electric fence wire and posts, rolls of chicken wire, rolls of screen, rolls of tar paper, boxes of shingles, hammers, screw drivers, saws, nails, screws and fence staples. We could use educational workbooks (writing, math, phonics, and spelling), children’s books, paper, pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, stories for children on CD and cassettes, DVD’s and videos, we could also use bible stories on CD, cassette, DVD and video for children and adults, bibles and adult Christian books. Other needs are cloth diapers, pins, nylon plastic pants and formula. Would you please help us so we can help the people of Liberia? There is a donate now button on this page which is secure or you can send your tax deductable donation to: Salem Baptist Church 1616 Beaser Ave. Ashland WI. 54806 and put in the memo: For Reto’s mission. You can also call (715)682-1155 for more information on how to send donated items leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you so much for partnering with us by praying or donating funds to help with this ministry. God Bless!