Goodbye States, See you in July

Hi all! If you’re reading this you have officially found the blog of Brett Pfister. If you’re not on my mailing list just e-mail me at brettpfister@gmail.com and I’ll get you added.

I appreciate all the support that has come in so far, and feel blessed to have so many supporters.  I bought my round trip ticket to Monrovia. I fly out of FWA on Jan 15, 2011. I will be flying back into Fort Wayne on July 4.

Early in December I received some training down at Echo in Fort Myers, FL. I spent the week with Rick Slager learning about farming techniques in developing countries. Rick shared many ideas and concepts of rural develop planning, many of which I adopted and am going to try and implement. All week we heard from full-time missionaries talk about their success and failures. The information that was shared from present-day missionaries was priceless and I’ll take it with me to Liberia. That week Rick and I focused on the moringa tree and appropriate technology. The moringa tree has more iron than spinach, more potassium that bananas, and more vitamin C than oranges. This makes it a perfect nutritional supplement for countries with malnutrition issues. The technologies we studied include irrigation pumps, irrigation systems, solar driers, grinders, and food processing in general. If we can get some of these technologies to catch on with the people, a businessman could manufacture these products, another could use these products to add value to a product that he buys and processes, and lastly the farmer would benefit from having a market that is sustainable and can offer a good price. Please pray that God would prepare Liberians who want to work to help their families, communities, and nation out of poverty.

To all you Lifers out there I will be living in Nimba County. This is where Nerwah is planting a church and it will be located about an hour drive from my accommodations. I hope to visit there often and learn more about Nerwah’s progress and send his greetings back to you.

The first month I will be living in the capitol city of Monrovia where I will be undergoing orientation with LEAD. This month I hope to learn to teach LEAD’s business training program. I will be living with Pastor Sam who preaches at Province Baptist Church. My favorite part about my time in Monrovia will probably be purchasing a motorcycleJ.  I will also do market evaluations, make friends, learn the English they speak, not get sick, spend ample time with just me and God, and get a feel for the culture.

All your encouragement and prayers have kept me confident in my trip and the closer I get to departure the more all of you mean to me. This trip has already brought me closer to God and I’m sure it will continue.

Lord willing my next post will be In Liberia and filled with many adventures!