God’s Kingdom coming to Montana de la Flor
When Michelle Johns and her team arrived in Honduras in January, they made their way into the remote mountainous region known as Montana de la Flor. It is the poorest part of a country largely stricken by poverty.
There, they visited communities that have never been exposed to the Gospel. Michelle recalls, “They told us they felt like they had been abandoned by the world, and that even God had abandoned them. There was a real sense of sadness over the community.”
In fact, God had not abandoned them at all. Along with Feed The Hungry, Michelle was there to establish six feeding programs in the region, bringing nutrition and the Gospel to 800 children and their families.
Plans are already in place to establish several more programs. “It takes time because the area is so remote,” Michelle says. “The newest site is a two-hour walk from the end of the road. They meet us there, pack all the food and supplies onto horses and mules and walk back another two hours into the mountains. They will be feeding about 100 children from three communities.”
Since the feeding programs began, they have had an incredibly positive impact on the people in Montana de la For. The most immediate effect is physical. “There’s a lot of malnutrition among the mountain kids. They sometimes don’t eat for three days.”
You can grow corn, coffee, rice and beans in the mountains, but no fresh vegetables. Most of the children here have never seen a carrot.” Already the children, who were severely underweight, are showing signs of renewed health.
Filling stomachs and transforming lives
More children are now attending local schools, where the meals are served. “Before the feeding program started, school attendance was very low because many of the children have to walk more than an hour to school. On a good day, a teacher would have had approximately 30 children. Since starting the feeding site, attendance has more than doubled to about 70 students every day.”
Feed The Hungry’s presence has also brought many more unreached souls to Christ during the course of this year. Michelle tells us, “Every time I’m in Honduras with the team, we go to the feeding programs and do a children’s program, which all the mums in the community come to. They hear the Gospel, and they’re starting to get hungry for God. They ask us to pray for their kids and their families. I just stopped in one of the communities and the women asked if I was going to share the Bible, if I was going to pray with them. the spiritual climate is starting to change in the mountains.”
You make this work possible
The next step for Michelle, who pastors the Buffalo Dream Center in New York with her husband, Eric, is to plant churches throughout Montana de la Flor. For seven years before she teamed with Feed The Hungry, she had been doing evangelistic work in the region. She is partnering with Honduran missionaries and establishing relationships with local leaders to meet that great need. “There are a couple of church buildings in the mountains, but no pastors,” she says.
Michelle is part of a remarkable movement that is happening all over the world… Feed The Hungry feeding programs are providing opportunities for church planting. The Word of God is taking root and growing in the hearts of the people.
Michell is not alone. She reports, “We met a Honduran missionary who walked for eight hours to reach one of the communities in Montana de la Flor. He started meeting with people in his house. He says he has about 30 people, including kids, meeting there for Bible studies. I can see that turning into something.”
Your support is helping turn a remote, impoverished land into one where children thrive and the kingdom of God flourishes. That is good news to celebrate!