New Demonstration Farm

Greetings family and friends,

We hope this letter finds you all well. Although fall is in full swing in the US, we are coming to the end of our “winter” or rainy season. Needless to say, Corey and I are looking forward to cooler weather during our furlough in the States this winter. As we are fast approaching the end of 2014, we are excited to share with you some recent happenings here in Panama.

We are very excited to write you this newsletter and tell you we were able to put a down payment on a piece of property for the demonstration farm. This land purchase ended up being better than we ever expected. We will already have some infrastructure to work with in our phase of building development, as well as, as plenty of room for fish and animal projects and our agronomy projects. We still need to raise additional support for our monthly payments on the land and development of the property; however, this is a huge blessing and grand step forward in the dream of having a demonstration farm to train people in Christian community development. We are in awe and humbled by the generosity of supporters and the faithfulness of the Lord. Our next step will be some repairs and development of the farm prior to our return for furlough, and then Corey and I plan to move to the new property in January. We look forward to sharing with you more about the demonstration farm and LHI’s plans for the future as we speak at churches and meet with supporters this winter.

We are also blessed to welcome to our Lasting Harvest family our new recruit Matthew Dolan. Matthew was part of a short term team that worked with Corey in Ecuador years ago, and after his graduation, he decided to join us at Lasting Harvest. Matthew is presently in language school, and is getting adjusted to his new life here in Panama. We are very excited to have him as part of the team. Please keep him in your prayers as he transitions, begins to take part in ministry here, and is studying Spanish.

Our October and part of November will also consist of welcoming visitors to check out the work here in Panama and to help develop the farm. We were blessed to have with us for a few days my (Bethany) missions’ pastor from Atlanta, Greg Clark, who came to see our work in Panama and hear more about our vision for the future. In November, we will be having a friend of Corey’s coming to help develop some of the projects on the farm, before Corey returns to the States for furlough. We are excited to have these partners in ministry taking the time to come and visit us in Panama both to encourage and help us develop plans for the demonstration farm.

As we look ahead to our furlough in the States, we would like to make you aware of our schedule, so that we can spend time with you and make you aware of speaking schedule:

- November 4-16- Bethany will be in Atlanta, Georgia and November 23- Corey will be in Maryland.
- November 17- December 2- We will be in Maryland celebrating Thanksgiving with Bethany’s family
- December 3-26- We will be in Missouri visiting churches and Bible colleges recruiting students/ cross-cultural workers for the demonstration farm, as well as, raising support for LHI.
- December 27- We will return to Panama.

If you would like to contact us during our time in the US, please contact us through our Lasting Harvest email at lastingharvest@gmail.com or our Facebook page. We hope to have a cell phone upon our arrival in the US, but our email is the best way to contact us. We look forward to seeing you all very soon and sharing in more detail with you what God is doing here in Panama.

Your partners in reaching the world,
Corey and Bethany Courtwright

Don't Give Up!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9 

We have all heard this verse a thousand times. If you grew up in the church, you probably memorized this as a small child. This verse has always encouraged me as a Christian through good times and bad, and through the various seasons of my life. However, it was after seeing this verse on Facebook that the true weight of this verse hit home for me, especially as I am about to complete my first year in Panama. And after this year, this verse reminds me just how much God is faithful to those who earnestly seek Him and desire to serve Him.

As I look back at this year, I have a mix of feelings. But, I can honestly say, I am so thankful for my new home, excited for the future, and more aware than ever that God uses every single experience in your life, good or bad, to help you mature and grow. And added bonus….that difficult thing you dealt with a few years ago… yeah that thing you wish you had never experienced……well, guess what?! I have good news! It will make your present troubles easier, and help you pass through these and future struggles stronger, and bonus, you can better encourage those dealing with stresses of their own. And as a positive result, allow your stress or troubles to make you more compassionate, not more hardened, to those in need. Because the beautiful thing is, God wastes nothing and uses everything good or bad, your fault or another’s, EVERTHING!!!! For His plans and purposes. To me, this is a message of hope and joy for all situations.

Now what are we responsible for as His children?! We are responsible for “not becoming weary in doing good.” And what is the result? “For at the proper time”- That’s right, not on our time schedule, but God’s time, “we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”. Awesome! Amazing! But remember, we cannot give up! That’s right. We must persevere until the end. Now, important point here, “the end” may be the end of our life. Some things, we will never see the conclusion of or the result of in this lifetime. But, remember, God promises a harvest will be reaped as long as we do not give up. I do not know about you, but as a Christian and one specifically working overseas, this is what makes me keep going in the work we do here in Panama. Because if I was only in this for the immediate results, I would pack up and go home right this minute. And I think I can say honestly, most missionaries around the world would do so as well. Think of all of those other jobs that need time to achieve results: parenthood (very much a job), teacher, doctor, farmer, politician, etc. All of these jobs involve the investment of time, work, and prayer. None of these jobs obtain success quickly. Life is a process, a long one, but be encouraged, God blesses those who follow Him and choose to live their lives on God’s timeline, and not a human timeline.

We can also be assured in this verse that as Christians, if we live our lives striving to obey God and desiring to do His will, we are promised eternity with our Savior. Granted we cannot physically earn our eternity with God through good works, but we can decide to accept the gift of the Good News and then live our lives in light of the Gospel. Remember, no matter what you are going through, gone through, or will go through, God’s promises are true, and whether you see the fruit of your labor in this life or not, God sees it and that is all that really matters.

We have experienced a great deal of stress during our time in Panama, but we are starting to see the fruit of our labor, and we are encouraged. As the old hymn says, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back!” Do not give up! God is with you and He will reward your labor in His all-seeing and perfect time. How has God shown His faithfulness in your life?

For His Renown,

Bethany