Burundi

We Give Praise For:

• God’s grace which has helped us and protected all our staff and Plant With Purpose family throughout the month of April 2023.
• Collecting the third quarter monitoring and evaluation data and submitting the report on time.
• The healing of our staff members and some of their family members who had fallen ill. 

We Pray For:

• This month of May, may the Lord continue to protect and bless us to fulfill our vocation.
• Plant With Purpose staff visits to our country. May the Lord bless those who will come to visit us and may their journey be a blessing for them and for our program.
• Our colleague from the Musanzaza watershed who is planning to get married. Pray for the Lord to give her a happy marriage.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

We Give Praise For:

• The health and security of our staff and their families despite challenges of sickness in some staff families.
• Keeping our staff and their families safe in Uvira. The houses of three of our staff were flooded and all house equipment was destroyed. Other houses were also damaged, but we thank the Almighty that everyone was safe from that natural disaster.
• The documents requested from the immigration office in the DRC to allow three people who will be visiting the DRC next month to request an entry visa. We thank God for the availability of the supporting documents to get the DRC entry visa.
• The visit of our program manager in the potential new watersheds. We thank God for the successful discussion and all the data needed for future projection of these watersheds.
• The successful partnership with a local radio station where the community became more integrated throughout the project. Now we are experiencing great impact, and we are getting feedback from nonparticipants about how they are benefiting from the program via local radios. 

We Pray For:

• Our staff and their families who have moved from their homes because of the flooding that destroyed everything in their houses. They are now in neighboring houses. Pray for the entire population of Uvira who is facing these challenges. 
• The Plant With Purpose staff visit to the DRC next week. We pray for the visitors to get the DRC entry visa and all requirements to get into the DRC.
• Staff movements within the watersheds during this time of follow up and supervision. 
• The meetings that will be done by the spiritual renewal team who will be conducting crusades of peace and reconciliation in all watersheds during this next month.

Dominican Republic

We Give Praise For:

• The successful preparation of the quarterly report.
• The government’s initiative to allocate a budget by Rancho Arriba.
• City Council’s rehabilitation and maintenance of neighborhood roads in two of the communities where we work. This will benefit farmers who are able to get their production out.
• The construction of the highway that connects Rancho Arriba with San José De Ocoa.

We Pray For:

• God to send rain to our program areas in abundance.
• The achievement of all of our program goals this quarter.
• The new churches that will be accompanied in the Ozama region.
• The motivation of farmers to continue creating and filling tree nurseries in their communities.

Ethiopia

We Give Praise For:

• The successful accomplishment of most of the planned activities in this quarter.
• The successful arrival of the Hilux double cab vehicle.
• The finalization of the three-year operating plan (for fiscal years 2024-2026).
• Undertaking organizational structure review for the first time in Floresta Ethiopia history.
• Many more initiatives that are being undertaken in Floresta Ethiopia.

We Pray For:

• The finalization of the baseline survey of the Dera watershed.   
• Finalization of the staff placement in line with the revised organization structure. 
• The reinstatement of funds by Wegagen Bank. 
• The successful completion of the ongoing church wall and pond construction as well as spring development.
• The implementation of the investigation audit result.

Haiti

We Give Praise For:

• The safety and the security of the team with the increasing of the insecurity and kidnapping cases in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas.
• The abundant rain even late in our areas of intervention. The farmers are able to plant crops and plant the trees that were suffering in the nurseries.
• A community agent who got a successful surgery operation after suffering for many years with a stomach ache.

We Pray For:

• The protection of the farmers’ livestock where the thieves or the gangsters came with weapons at night and stole the cows of the farmers.
• The sufficient rain during the months April and May so that farmers could have a better crop to face inflation. Currently, the inflation rate exceeds 50%.
• The availability and the accessibility of fuel and gas in the gas stations because buying gas on the black market impacts the cost of living.
• The new cities around Port-au-Prince where the inhabitants are obliged to run away because of the violence of the gangsters who invaded those areas. The people are being horribly brutalized. The authorities are still inactive or powerless against these atrocities.

Malawi

We Give Praise For:

• The church worldwide and leaders of nations who donated the much-needed resources in cash and in-kind to victims of Cyclone Freddy to rebuild shattered lives. 
• The safe delivery of Floresta Malawi vehicles to Lilongwe.
• The smooth registration and the change of ownership of Floresta’s vehicles.
• The favor of God and man that the Floresta Malawi team is experiencing.
• Having found office space for Floresta Malawi. 
• The many blessings and God’s grace upon our country director’s family. Her daughter graduated with a Bachelor in Laws (Honors) from Rhodes University, South Africa.  

We Pray For:

• The restoration of all that the brethren lost during Cyclone Freddy. May the Holy Spirit continue to comfort families that lost their loved ones.
• The speedy recovery of our board Chairperson who was involved in an accident in March, 2023. 
• The issuance of the registration certificate for Floresta in Malawi.
• The process of hiring colleagues for Floresta Malawi.

Mexico

We Give Praise For:

• Some rains that have fallen, since they fill us with hope and joy in the midst of the dry season, where many rivers and streams have dried up.
• Having concluded the third quarter, sending the report, and the progress achieved in the midst of current challenges.
• The willingness of the savings groups to reforest in the next rainy season in Oaxaca.
• You, because in the midst of water scarcity, you are making an effort to continue this hard work.
• The safety of the staff every time we go out to the communities or to the office, in Puebla, Chiapas, and Oaxaca.

We Pray For:

• The planned trip for the staff of Plant With Purpose to the program in Chiapas, this May. We ask that God keep all the participants safe, both on their trip and during their stay, and that this experience be a great blessing and enrichment for all participants.
• The fourth and last quarter of this year. We pray that the goals are achieved and above all, more families are blessed and can see themselves as stewards of creation.
• God’s mercy on communities and people in this season, where forest fires are frequent.
• Peace in San Cristóbal de las Casas, and in the communities of the Majosik watershed, since there are social conflicts, by territories, by religious differences, and conflicts between gangs. We pray for God’s intervention so that this changes and also so that it does not affect our work or the mobility of the communities.

Tanzania

We Give Praise For:

• God’s protection to staff and their families throughout the month of April and for the successful staff review meeting conducted in the first week of April.
• Recovery of our country director, Richard Mhina, from illness. May God’s mighty hand keep him healthy as he always demonstrates his godly leadership. 
• The rain. There was a severe drought that in some points damaged the nurseries, planted trees, and participants’ farms. We are grateful for moderate rain that has fallen and brought great relief to the families we work with. 
• The tree planting campaigns successfully held in April in all watersheds and especially in the Mala River watershed, where it is their first time to participate in these campaigns and have managed to plant 10,000 trees in April. This initiative and the good participation of the community members shows a good start to the work of reforestation in that watershed.
• A successful exchange trip conducted. We are grateful for the visit from our colleagues from Ethiopia and for all that we have learnt from each other. 

We Pray For:

• The ongoing tree planting campaigns. May God keep on giving the government leaders and other stakeholders the courage to participate in the tree planting exercise and continue to encourage community members to take care of the planted trees in order to achieve the reforestation goals.
• God to give us strength as we plan to continue with planting trees during the campaigns, and to restore standard nurseries in institutions and groups after being affected by the drought last quarter. 
• The recovery of our fellow staff members; from Wona River watershed and from Shengena East watershed after experiencing health challenges. We pray for God to give them strength to be able to return to their duties.
• The successful graduate groups, and the monitoring and evaluation exercise expected to take place in the first week of May.  

Thailand

We Give Praise For:

• The new communication officer that started work on April 3, 2023. We believe that the communication with the donors will be improved.
• The work in the areas of spiritual renewal, environmental, and leadership that was well done.
• The electricity that has been granted in the NamKok and MaeYangMint watersheds so that families can live more conveniently.
• UHDF staff who learned about the Graduation Readiness Assessment process and learned about how to use Application Survey 123 and already finished the evaluation.
• The photography training and the online system that UHDF staff had to learn to work in every watershed because it is necessary and sufficient in the work.

We Pray For:

• The fire situation in Thailand. We also pray for the winds and burnt area that caused the smoke problem and the trees that have been burned.
• The smoky air situation and the health of UHDF staff.
• The understanding of the leader in the MaeYangMint watershed that they will be understanding of and in good cooperation with the community in building Purpose Groups.
• The drought situation.
• The preparation of the graduation of HoiLu watershed and that God will lead us.

United States

We Give Praise For:

• The safe travel and protection of our team this spring.
• The successful and productive April events, including the Houston and Bay Area Roots events and EarthX. We are excited to share the work of Plant With Purpose with new audiences.
• Milmer Martinez Vergara and Doug Satre, who were recently celebrated for their 15 years at Plant With Purpose. 
• The final draft of the Covenant of Partnership, which is ready for review and presentation to all country boards for their ratification.
• The Innovation Lab team visit to Thailand to participate in and celebrate the Graduation of the HoiLu watershed. 

We Pray For:

• A fruitful, energetic, and effective board meeting and retreat May 18-20. 
• Our staff gathering May 19 & 20 in San Diego. 
• Scott’s 30th anniversary celebration on May 20. This is a special event to honor and celebrate Scott’s steadfast leadership and thank those who have mentored, supported, inspired, and worked alongside Scott.
• Scott as he prepares for his writing retreat leave over the next two months, focusing on researching and writing articles and a book.