Sharing the "Bread of Life"

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." John 6:35

Having been a part of ZOE for 2 1/2 years now, we have seen the many important programs and comprehensive services that ZOE provides. We still have yet to learn all of them. One unique partnership we have is with Children's Hunger Fund (CHF) located in Southern CA. For years, they have been helping ZOE meet both the physical and spiritual needs of local villages and communities by distributing much needed food and supplies while sharing the love of Christ with them.

It's actually through CHF that our family first learned about ZOE. Our sending church, Immanuel Bible Church, has been volunteering for years at CHF to pack food boxes that CHF then distributes to communities locally and internationally. As we had been looking for a long-term missions opportunity for our family since we married in 2002, David met with CHF who introduced us to various international organizations they partner with. ZOE stood out to us right away, so we tagged along on a CHF trip to scout ZOE in October 2010, leaving Ian and Eli behind with my sister's family. We fell in love with ZOE's leadership, missionaries, staff, children, and all that ZOE was doing in Thailand. So we returned to the States, presented what we learned about ZOE to our elder board, prayed for a few months with them about the possibility of returning as long-term missionaries, and received our church's blessing and support to go. We arrived in September 2011, and the rest is history. =)

Here we are introducing ourselves at a village outreach back in 2010:

David has been enjoying managing ZOE's Food Distribution Program, as it allows him the opportunity to visit with local village pastors, check in on them to see how they're doing, pray with them, and even provide training in partnership with CHF. These opportunities also allow for networking as some of these communities are targeted for child trafficking. David travels regularly throughout the year with Thai staff members to distribute these food and supplies. These supplies are an important means for pastors to connect with those in their communities. CHF and ZOE also host conferences for partnering pastors to provide training, fellowship, support, and encouragement. Some of the traveling, training, and networking also involve empowering the pastors and communities to become self-sustaining and income-producing.

David spends time researching best practices for agricultural methods:

Visiting with families in the villages:

 Meeting with and delivering supplies to partnering pastors:

Machinery that can help produce income for some of these communities:

Churches we partner with:

As David meets these pastors and builds relationships with them, even though they have little in material resources, it's been encouraging to see how much they want to give in the abundance of what Christ has given to them. Please pray that God would provide for the needs of the pastors and their communities and sustain them so they can persevere in the midst of hardship.