The Least, the Last, and the Lost

Today, the campo (Spanish for the countryside) became one large petting zoo. At 6:00 this morning David and Bill--

the two vets who work for World Concern--and I headed out to San Julian for a training workshop on parasite prevention and treatment, injection techniques, and hog cholera. I was just along for the ride, as I'm still in a bit of a holding pattern until my documents are cleared and I can travel to Cochabamba for language school. As I had, virtually no expectations for this event, I took the decision that the training would be cancelled due to rain, all in stride.

Since we had already driven 2+ hours to get to the village, we decided to give the Land Rover more of a challenge and take it off the paved road to visit some farms in the Berlin Zone. This gentle giant to the left was part of the Gather project's model farm where missionaries try to show ways farmers can improve their production through pasture rotation, fish breeding, elevated housing to avoid flood waters, gardening, etc. One part of the project demonstrates how much can be done with one hectare of land, so the locals will recognize there are opportunities even with few resources.

The poverty in the campo is clearly evident, and it would be easy to get overwhelmed with the needs that greet one so quickly upon arrival. I'm so thankful to have such an established organization, with strong leadership, a heart for Jesus, and a vision for making a lasting difference in the lives of the poor. It has been such a relief that everything I've heard since I arrived about World Concern and the people I'll be

working with has been confirmation that this is where God wants me to be. They are so intent on serving the poorest of the poor that they're restructuring their entire micro-finance program to shift over the next three years from micro-loans to savings communities, because those have been proven more effective in areas of extreme poverty. I love the idea I just learned this week, that World Concern seeks to create sustainable futures for the least, the last, and the lost. You really can't go wrong following Jesus' pattern of ministry.