David Bercot. Normally the Society of the Good Shepherd limits our interest-free loan ministry to Honduras. However, during the past six months, an unusual opportunity opened up for us in a closed country. Because this is a closed country, we cannot identify the country, and all the names in this newsletter are fictitious. We learned about the situation in this country through Viktor, a missionary who works undercover in this country from time to time. He saw the poverty of the brothers and sisters there and asked us if we could help him get a microloan ministry started in that country. Ironically, there is considerable prosperity in the midst of poverty in this country, although Christians are rarely among the prosperous.
I had known Viktor for several decades and had complete confidence in his integrity and responsibility. I told Viktor that the Society was not in a position to stretch ourselves into other countries. However, I also told him that we would be willing to provide seed money to get a microloan ministry up and running in this closed country. We told Viktor that either he or other missionary brothers would have to accept the responsibility of overseeing the ministry there. So Viktor arranged a video meeting between me, him and Emil, a fellow missionary who works underground in this country.
Emil told me about Jakob, a Christian brother in this closed country, who could be helped tremendously by a microloan. Jakob earns his living by doing landscaping. Jakob realized it would be an enormous help to put in new lawns if he had a heavy-duty rear-tine tiller. With such a tiller, he could easily remove old grass and prepare soil for sodding new lawns. A tiller would also enable him to expand his business into preparing vegetable gardens for customers and to perform other tasks.
Emil learned that a loan of $1000 U.S. would enable Jakob to purchase the tiller he had in mind, together with a small trailer to tow the tiller to the sites where he would be working. So we wired the $1000 to the missionary, Emil, and he presented it to Jakob. The agreement is that Jakob will pay the loan back to Emil at the rate of $30 per month. So it will take a little over three years to pay off the loan. No interest in being charged on the loan.
As the loan is being paid back, Emil is setting aside the money in a separate bank account. If Jakob proves faithful in repaying the loan, Emil will keep his eyes open for opportunities with other brothers or sisters in this country to help them with an interest-free microloan. The Society will closely monitor the situation and may provide additional seed money if we can bless our brothers and sisters in this country that is officially closed to the gospel. The kingdom of God knows no earthly boundaries!
The Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210 • (717) 349-7033
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Honduras Donations