What do you do when 15,000 palm seeds arrive unannounced in the Congo customs warehouse at the end of the month and the customs agents (and fifteen other agencies) want $2000 to make up for their unpaid salaries in one grand coup?You can't argue that the seeds are an investment in agricultural production for the country that will generate income for local farmers and tax revenues for the government over 25 years… that's too far in the future.You can't argue that the seeds are a gift (financed by Christians in the US) … customs agents will ask why they don't get part of the gift.You can't threaten to appeal … no administrative procedure exists to bring these petty officials to account.And you can't just let the seeds languish in the warehouse until the customs agents come up with a more reasonable offer … they have to be transported up-country, distributed and planted in 13 days.But you can pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.That's what we did.

God's answer to our prayer came in several pieces.Our Presbyterian friends and collaborators were instrumental in keeping the pressure on and making personal contacts that are still essential in Congo.Ben Munongo, the ECC Rural Health program logistics person who cleared the shipment through customs.A little bit of diplomatic muscle to convince the customs people that encouraging this kind of investment really does help rural Congolese and create a long-term tax base for the government.And patient Mission Aviation Fellowship people who put up with two postponements for shipment upcountry.Pilot Garth Pederson personally shepherded the seeds from Kinshasa to Vanga.While the customs people would have gladly let 15,000 palm seeds destined for rebuilding the rural economy rot in the warehouse, Christians from several different communities worked relentlessly for three days to make an everyday miracle happen.

And that was just to make sure the seeds arrived in Vanga, Kikongo, Lodja, and Mbuji Mayi in time to plant them in nurseries.Here at Vanga delivery late Monday morning was just the start of another odyssey.Philippe Kikobo and I collected our 6,000 seeds at the airport and immediately headed off to Zaba Bwatunda Kilese, only 30 kms to the south but an hour and a half drive. There Kester Mukebwanga guarded the seeds overnight and distributed them to ten farmers groups on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday morning, Philippe and I, accompanied by Reba who is home on a week-long school break, set off on a 130-kilometer circuit to deliver the rest of the seeds to outlying groups.Two hundred seeds in Loanda, six hundred in Lutala, six hundred in Kingwaya, two hundred in Mboma 2, and another 1,000 seeds to the groups assembled outside Mboma 1. Five groups failed to turn up on time at the rendezvous points.But even that failure became an occasion to see the extraordinary desire of farmers to make the palm program succeed.The group at Mipelenge, about 50 kms from Lusekele, arrived at Lutala shortly after we left at 10:30 am.One member rented a bicycle in Lutala and rode the 40 kms to Lusekele, arriving late in the afternoon, before we came in.The young man collected his seeds from the truck and was ready to make the punishing ride back to his village so that the other members of his group could plant the seeds in the nursery today.Philippe prevailed on him to have supper, rest the night and get started early in the morning.By noon, every group that missed us at the rendezvous point showed up at Lusekele to collect the seeds.This is extraordinary.

ACDI Lusekele helped farmers establish 60 hectares (150 acres) of plantation this year.The nurseries established this week will allow farmers to establish another 40 hectares (about 100 acres) next year.When these plantations come into production they will give farmers about 250 tons of oil per year with a value of $62,500 at the farm gate.That means a small ray of hope for farm families.

As we dream about the future here at Lusekele, we see a thousand farm families able to join the oil palm program.It has taken 18 months and a little over $11,000 to move over 350 farm families into the future.Over the next five years it will take another $75,000 in seed money.At that point farmers will begin to finance future expansion themselves out of the palm oil revenues that they generate.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for the seeds to come on time, for the Lusekele people who have worked extra hard to distribute them to farmers, for the farmers themselves as they start something new.Thank you to those who have shared their resources with us and with Virgil and Lynn Nelson – your gifts financed the seed credit program.We couldn't have made this start without you.

For those of you in American Baptist churches, remember that this month is dedicated to collection of the World Mission Offering, our special offering channeled to global Christian mission.What you give to this offering determines an important part of what International Ministries can do to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and express the compassionate, reconciling and healing love for the world that God puts in our hearts.

When we give to this offering we see the individual ministries it supports:

• Wes and Cheryl Brown training dedicated Baptist leaders in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union,
• Lauren Bethell shaping worldwide Christian responses to compassionate care for AIDS victims,
• Bill Clemmer putting an evangelical stamp on a national rural health program in the Congo,
• Glen and Rita Chapman encouraging resource-poor Christians in Congo to find creative ways to respond to God's call to carry the Gospel into every corner of the globe, to every people.

We want to play a part in God's mission, not just here in Congo, but Turkmenistan, Thailand, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Philippines, Nagaland, Liberia, South Africa, the Czech Republic … mission that changes the lives of people, one heart at a time.

May the Lord who created the towering Himalayas and the delicate web-spinning capacity of spiders, He who cares especially for the powerless and forgotten of this world, who loves the worst of us and destines us for glory, inspire you to do His will, to become his perfect dwelling places for the redemption of the world.

Ed Noyes
Lusekele, Democratic Republic of Congo