Water Filter Update

I was able to secure some funding while I was on my southern fundraising trip in May. Thanks to a ladies Bible study group from the Crossville United Methodist church, we have enough to order the filter replacement parts that we need to distribute to our Embrace families who are due for a change out at our July meetings. We also were able to buy 12 filters for children who are on a waiting list and have not received their water filters yet. I cannot stress enough the importance of these filters. A huge percentage of chronic sicknesses in this area are due to having poor water to drink. Having clean water that does not cause sickness goes a long way for improving people’s overall health.

Some people have had some issues with the gaskets on their filters or the valve where the water is dispensed. We have ordered replacement parts for those as well to assure that people have their filters in good working order.

Our next distribution of filters and their replacement parts is in December and we begin now to look for funding to continue to make the “gift of clean water” a reality for these families. If you want to help, please let us know and we can walk you through the steps to make these water filters available to more families.

Moringa Project Update

We have been doing very well on our sales for moringa; both in the US and in Guatemala. I sold about $800 worth just on my trip to the US and we continue to have on-going sales in Guatemala; both from people who seek us out, sales through our ministry clinic and with what the Embrace program is using. This is a tremendous blessing to the pastors, to provide a supplemental income to them to be able to care for their families, as they grow the trees and produce the moringa leaf powder.

We have created a “Reorder Form” for ordering moringa (in powder or capsules) through our MI office and you can find that on our webpage. There is a button at the bottom of the Home Page of the ministry’s webpage (https://www.servantministries.net) that will take you directly to that order form. You can print out the order form, fill out what you want and send your check to cover the cost of the moringa plus the S&H that is listed to the MI office, where your order will be processed. In responding to a suggestion that we had, we will be making available, starting in August, 1 lb. bags of the moringa leaf powder. For people who have started taking it and know that they want to continue taking it, we are making this larger bag a more economic buy for you and we only have one bag to fill instead of 4 of the ¼ lb. bags. Please continue to let us know how the moringa is working for you. We continue to get some wonderful testimonies on how it is helping people in so many different areas.

Why Reforestation?

Servant Minstries has been involved in a reforestation project since 2001. This immediate area was placed in a "red alert" for food shortage in this timeframe. This area is known to be in drought 3 out of every 5 years. The area has been extremely deforested due to people's need to have daily firewood with no thought of replenishing the trees. The lack of forestation affects the rainfall. The people live off the land and so lack of rainfall means little or no harvest. Without a harvest there is no food to care for their families. Without that food, the children are the first that are affected, becoming malnourished and dying. This was the problem that occured in 2001. Many relief organizations came to hand out emergency assistance. Although necessary, it was a bandaid measure because it was short term and didn't make any lasting changes. Servant Ministries has worked since 2001 to bring lasting changes.

Experts say that we need 10 million trees planted in this area to really bring it to a healthy environment. We are at almost one million trees to date. We work in a number of ways to run tree nurseries with the assistance of the local people. We also look for trees that will provide something for the people to use, to add to their food supplies above just working toward changing the environmental status. It is a long term plan but we continue to look for ways to improve this area.

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REFORESTATION TABLE FOR SEPTEMBER 2013
A	B	C	D
TYPES OF TREES	PREVIOUS TOTAL	MONTH OF SEPTEMBER	TOTAL TO DATE
Aripín	27,383	0	27,383
Avocado	10,623	0	10,623
Bamboo	1,000	0	1,000
Black Olive	92	0	92
Black Peper	4,589	0	4,589
Cashew	12,020	0	12,020
Causaurina	150	0	150
Cedar	146,975	0	146,975
Cinnamon	2,250	0	2,250
Cocoa	39,067	0	39,067
Cortes	5,000	0	5,000
Cipres	17,947	0	17,947
Coffee	9,934	0	9,934
Eucalyptus	958	0	958
Indigo	94	0	94
Madre Cacao	40,358	0	40,358
Mahagony	109,543	0	109,543
Mamey	163	0	163
Matilisguate	53,845	0	53,845
Moringa Oleifera	83,673	15,000	98,673
Orange Valencia	13,834	0	13,834
Papaya	2,000	0	2,000
Paraiso	3,811	0	3,811
Paterna	863	0	863
Pepeto	4,130	0	4,130
Persian Lemon	3,274	0	3,274
Pine	62,280	0	62,280
Ramon (Ujuxte)	283,621	0	283,621
Zapoton	245	0	245
TOTALS	939,722	15,000	954,722