January 2023

The first Friday of each month, our Plant With Purpose staff and partners around the world join together in prayer for our partners and our work. We invite you to join with us, lifting up these praises and prayers to God and seeking his continued favor and protection over this important global work.

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Burundi

Praise God For:

• His mercy and protection throughout the year 2022. Jesus Christ has been on our side, helped us in all circumstances. May the holy name of Jesus be exalted forever.
• Having started the tree planting campaign. We launched the campaign in the Nyengwe watershed where the administrative authorities, as well as the decentralized services of the ministries and the leaders of the churches and all Purpose Groups, took part.
• The child of our colleague, who was released from the hospital after three months of hospitalization.
• Other members of our staff who have fallen ill and are now in better health. May God continue to wander in their life.
• Having had heavy rain all over the country. Joy and hope are manifested and radiated among participants in our communities.

We Pray For:

• More protection, blessings, and success in this coming year 2023, for us and for the whole Plant With Purpose family.
• The good continuation of tree planting activities by Purpose Groups, churches, schools, and local administration.
• An improvement in living conditions following a deterioration in livelihoods because of the generalized increase in prices on the local market, including necessities commodities.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Praise God For:

• The health, security of our staff and their families.  
• Keeping our program manager, Birori, safe while he traveled to Florida to attend the ECHO conference.
• The successful visit of Plant With Purpose members to DRC, we thank God for the good testimonies shared by participants during this field visit.
• The birth of our colleague’s baby girl. We praise God that all are safe.  
• The peace building meetings that happened in Kambekulu watershed. We thank God that people have reconciled with each other.

We Pray For:

• All staff who have been away for the holidays. We pray for their safety at home.  
• Our office guardian who is sick and hospitalized. We pray for a quick recovery.
• All planned activities after the holidays.
• The successful online submission of quarter two reports.   
• The security in our region during these days of ending the year. We often experience insecurity and robbery in different areas of our watersheds.

Dominican Republic

Praise God For:

• The end of the year 2022, for the opportunity to serve the communities.
• The workshop for pastors and leaders on the socio-spiritual work of the church, in the Hondo Valle region. The participants expressed that it was highly motivated and helpful.

We Pray For:

• The new quarter, that we can meet the scheduled goals and continue advancing.
• The economic growth of the communities, during this period several savings groups have been formed in the Ozama, Nizao, and Hondo Valle region.
• The wife of a local pastor, who was diagnosed with cancer. We also pray for another community member who was also diagnosed with cancer. We trust in God and ask for recovery.

Ethiopia

Praise God For:

• Starting implementation of efficient and effective systems so as to achieve the organization objective.
• Putting in place and starting implementation of various systems and procedures based on the recent audit recommendation.  
• the successful implementation of  exposure visit for women Purpose Group members aiming to improve leadership and communication skills.
• Successful conducting of women and people with disability empowerment training.
• Successful implementation of various operational activities at local level.
• Successful finalization of the recruitment of  monitoring, Evaluation, learning and communication specialist.
• For successful accomplishment of the written exam for program director.
• Being able to establish 150 new Purpose Groups.  
• Being able to establish 48 community nurseries which is 4% above our plan/target.
• The successful completion and submission of a narrative summary and financial report that covers the period of 2019 – 2022 to the Amhara region Bureau of Finance.
• Being able to conduct church and school leadership training.
• Establishment of a procurement committee at Bahir Dar and Andabet levels.
• His support to register incredible achievement in operational activities particularly establishing community, institutional and private nurseries, establishing new Purpose Groups, Farmer Field Schools, etc. 

We Pray For:

• The successful completion of the recruitment for the program director.
• Successful compilation of the various initiatives already started at Floresta Ethiopia.
• The arrival of the three vehicles the soonest possible which is complicated by the previous leadership.
• May God help us to execute  many more activities in the new year.
• May God help us for the successful and smooth accomplishment of the activities in this month and beyond.

Haiti

Praise God For:

• His mercy and his protection in a context of political trouble and insecurity in Haiti. The members of the team and their family are safe.
• The accomplishment of the program during the year 2022.

We Pray For:

• The security in the whole country so that the citizens can move where they want without the fear of getting killed or kidnapped.
• A better year at all points of view in Haïti.
• New opportunities for all the partners of the Plant With Purpose/Floresta family for this new year.

Mexico

Praise God For:

• A new year, full of hope to continue with the work and collaboration with the families in the rural communities of our basins.
• Our personnel in Puebla, Chiapas, and Oaxaca who, during the past year, made an effort to advance the annual goals, showing good will to continue with the work in the midst of the challenges. We appreciate life, health and your divine protection to carry out our work.
• By the nursery committees, authorities and Savings Groups. For their willingness and collaboration for the production of plants and reforestation during the year that is ending.

We Pray For:

• The new nursery committees that are appointed for the year 2023 in the communities, the new authorities and participating groups.
• Your protection, while we go out to the field and to the office. May the favor of the Lord be with us and guide us. Also for our families, may they be kept in health and peace.
• Our colleague at the Chiapas office, who will get married this month. We ask God to bless her and her husband on this new path that they are undertaking together. For seven years, her attitude of service, her faithfulness to God, and her work have inspired us.
• The Purpose Groups that start a new savings cycle during the month of January, so that they continue working harmoniously, developing their skills for the benefit of their communities.

Tanzania

Praise God For:

• Protection of staff and their families throughout 2022. Glory and praises be to God for his grace and favor. 
• Successful completion of quarter two activities.  
• The successful religious leaders workshop conducted by the Spiritual renewal department, whereby leaders from all denominations at regional and district level participated. We thank God that initial workshop objectives have been met, however more reflection is needed but the most successful thing is that participants developed an action plan for program improvement. 
• Survival of the tree nurseries despite the challenge of water shortage.
• The rainfall that enabled tree planting campaign exercise; we pray that it may continue raining to ensure the survival of planted trees. 
• The GRA exercise that is in progress. We pray that it may be successfully completed in January as planned.            

We Pray For:

• The prosperous year 2023. 
• Successful quarter three. May God help us achieve all organizational quarterly plans. 
• Successful implementation of stakeholders’ meetings resolutions and proper implementation of the developed action plans during religious leaders’ workshop for program improvement.  
• Resilience of our farmers based in low land areas who are facing the challenge of rainfall shortage; we pray that this year God would grant them enough rains. 
• Enough rainfall that will sustain the planted trees and enable farmers to produce plenty of crops that will meet their needs.
• Successful PY24 review and annual planning meeting to be conducted in February. 
• Successful M&E exercise to be conducted in February.  
• Fruitful IPPM meeting expected to be conducted in February.

Thailand

Praise God For:

• Thank God for preparing a new interpreter to serve in the Thailand team together.
• Thank God for a new car that God has given to be used in MaeTaChang and MaeYangMint watersheds.
• Thank God for propelling great operations forward in MaeTaChang and MaeYangMint watersheds which resulted in villagers becoming more involved.

We Pray For:

• Pray for operational work throughout 2023 to be able to successfully process.
• Pray for the new Interpreter who has just started working together in the ministry.
• Pray for the resurgence outburst of the swine epidemic in order to cause the least damage to farmers in the watershed area.

United States

Praise God For:

• A very productive and impactful year of 2022 and we are looking forward with grand enthusiasm and activated faith for the many opportunities to serve God that will come our way in 2023.  Among our many praises are the gratefulness we have for our generous donors, for our incredible team members here in Plant With Purpose and for our trusted partners in The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania, Burundi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi and Thailand.  
• The hiring of Sofia Kozidis as GIS Specialist, who we noted in our December praise report, she has been joined by Emilie Jackson, our new Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Analyst within our Innovation Lab.  We look forward to the technical experience and knowledge of these increasingly important data gathering resources that they will bring to the team. 
• The myriad faithful donors who have been faithfully supporting us with confirmation of the impact that we are able to make in communities and watersheds and small-holder farmers households in the countries in which we are privileged to work.
• Having been selected by the University of San Diego's Nonprofit Institute as the recipient of the 2023 Kaleidoscope Award for Nonprofit Governance.  The Nonprofit Institute's Kaleidoscope Award for Good Governance recognizes, celebrates, promotes, and inspires excellence in nonprofit governance in the San Diego region.

We Pray For:

• As we move into the new year we continue to pray for the safety and health of our staff in the U.S. and our global partners in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia, many of whom work and travel under especially complicated and insecure environments.
• A productive two-day Management Team Retreat scheduled for January 12 and 13.
• The ongoing development and roll-out of our Systems Strengthening Initiative that will serve to build the growing capacities of our global partners and undergird and strengthen the many systemic resources that are necessary for us to achieve the growth trajectory we are aiming for over the next several years.