^{Kavuo is pictured in the center, wearing a purple skirt and light blue shirt.}

July Kavuo from the D.R. Congo Due to the ongoing armed conflict in the D.R. Congo, scores of people have fled their ancestral villages for the relative security of larger towns. But the migration from villages to towns, while undoubtedly saving many from the evils of war, has caused a severe food shortage. If no-one is farming, no food is growing. One lady who was affected by the food shortages is Kavuo, a married mother of 4. Not long ago, she was struggling to find suitable land to farm within the secure zone surrounding the town of Bulongo. Then she heard about Pastor Saidi and a group of women who had found an undeveloped plot of land on the outskirts of town and were clearing it for cultivation. She soon asked to join them. “I was invited for a teaching,” Kavuo tells us, referring to agricultural training World Poverty Solutions conducted with the pastor and women. After the training, Kavuo started working the land with the women from the church. Kavuo and the rest of the group now grow a variety of crops from corn to banana, cassava and papaya. No-one is getting rich from this venture, but everyone is better off than they were before. Where they previously went hungry or relied on relief agencies, they are now providing for themselves and their families. Until a few years ago, Pastor Saidi and his church knew only to be concerned about the spiritual well-being of their community members — that was the norm for churches in the area. Our local director, Noah Kyotha explains, “people were suffering from famine, sickness and so on,” but Christians had not yet understood that Jesus had answers for these concerns today and wasn’t only concerned with eternity. With WPS teachings people have begun to understand that the Gospel they preached and lived was incomplete. Pastor Saidi now has a broader understanding of God’s desire and power to act in our lives today. “Through Community Health Evangelism teachings, we understand that God cares both for the spiritual and physical sides of a human being,” he explains. As Christians have learned to work together to meet local needs in the midst of a crisis, community member like Kavuo are attracted to the love so evident among the community’s believers. “I see the love of God,” Kavuo says, explaining that the Christian love from one to another led her not only to join them in farming, “but also for church as an effective member.” Today, Kavuo directs the women’s choir and is an example of how God can bring hope in the midst of crisis, to many internally displaced people coming to Bulongo seeking peace. Please pray for Kavuo as she continues to learn about the love of God. Pray for the communities crops, which bring in vital income to Kavuo and the women who farm alongside her. Lastly, please pray that the love of God continues to reach communities like Kavuo's, impacting the lives of many more to come.