A few years ago Apolonia was going to a bakery in another area of her community, buying bread, and bringing it back to sell to her neighbors so that she could provide for her family.  At that time she shared with one of our missionaries that she would like to one day be able to make bread at her house and sell it but she was concerned about the gangs harassing her if she had her own business.  At that time the SARF ministry also had no way of making this happen so we kept it in the back of our minds, prayed, and continued to share Apolonia’s story and dream.

A few months ago someone heard about Apolonia’s dream and decided they would like to help her financially to start her business.  So our missionaries went to talk with Apolonia to see if this is still something she would like to do.  She shared with us that she has come to realize that she would not make much money selling bread and that at times she would probably lose money because it would cost more to buy the ingredients than what she would be able to earn by selling the bread.  She also told us that there are now 2 bakeries in her area that sell bread so there would be a lot of competition.  We talked with her about the possibility of making and selling tortillas but she said that she has neighbors who do that and if she started a tortilla business she would cause problems with her neighbors.  She said that she makes enough to cover their basic needs by selling fruit so she doesn’t want to do anything that would cause trouble.  Our missionaries told her that we would love to help her start her own business in some way if she has the desire to do it so we all agreed we will continue to pray about it and Apolonia will let us know if she thinks of something she would like to do to have her own business.  While we were disappointed this will not work out for Apolonia right now we are thankful that she has the wisdom to not move forward without God’s blessing and outside of His timing.  We will be following up with her in a few months to see if she has any new ideas or thoughts on this project.

Although this dream of Apolonia’s may be on hold for a little while there is another dream of hers that God keeps fulfilling every day.  That is to see her daughters get an education and grow up to have a better life.  This dream continues to come true as the girls are doing incredibly well in school.  All of them passed their classes this bimester and we are constantly in awe of their intelligence.

Please continue to pray for God to give Apolonia wisdom as far as starting her own business or however He wants to provide for her family.  Please also pray for the girls to continue to do well in their schooling and move forward in the plans God has for their lives.

Thank you for your faithful prayers, love, and support for this family!