Planting for eternal harvest
Missionaries Grant and Marianne Bayfield recently wrote a review of projects they’ve been working on and helping with. Home-baked cookies at video nights for tribal villages, a children’s feeding center, developing plans for a literacy class, piping water into the village, taking patients to the hospital, and arranging for doctors to do medical clinics.
Oh, and there’s also -- helping their co-workers, Allan and Lorena Capili, with a very exciting project. Grant and Marianne are helping to plant a banana farm.
What was that about planting a banana farm? Grant explains the project and their hopes for it.
He says that bananas grow very well in their area. Banana trees produce constantly without replanting.
“With enough volume and organization,” Grant explains, “the families could have a consistent source of income, instead of constantly digging themselves out of debt.”
Grant and Marianne plan for this first farm to be a sort of prototype. As families are helped to earn enough to help them reclaim their mortgaged land, they can also take cuttings from the trees to start their own banana farms.
The first trees were planted all around the perimeter of the chosen plot of land. The cooking bananas from these trees were designated for the consumption of everyone who helped in the planting.
Later, they planted a different type of banana in the center of the plot which are intended for selling. The proceeds of these sales will be used to buy food for the children’s feeding program.
Grant adds, “Eventually the future church can also use these crops to support their own missionaries to other villages in our area.”
Pray for God to prosper the banana farm for His glory, for the good of His people and eventually, for the spread of the Gospel. Ask God to bless Grant and Marianne Bayfield as they help to minister in many ways to tribal people in the Philippines.