By Scott Sabin, Executive Director

As I write this, Armando Osorio, Floresta USA¹s Economic Development Coordinator, and I are flying with Luis Castellanos and Eduardo Lopez from Oaxaca, to the second Floresta International Conference in Santo Domingo. We will be joined there by Guy Paraison and Jean-Marie Desilus from Haiti, and hosted for the week by the staff of Floresta Dominican Republic. We will have ample opportunity for both field visits and meetings. Our week includes time for sharing success stories and lessons learned. We plan on doing some strategic planning for how we can be more effective together, as well as devoting time to fellowship and for strengthening the bonds between the programs. Some of our key agenda items include establishing key principles for Floresta projects, talking about practical techniques for better integrating discipleship and economic development, and planning ways to more effectively involve local churches in our work. Two years ago we got together for the first time, in conjunction with the ECHO Agricultural Missions Conference in Florida. At that time we made a commitment to meet together regularly. One of the most exciting parts of that meeting was the synergy that developed between our programs, as the local leaders shared solutions to common problems. This will be a wonderful time of reestablishing these connections. Thus far, 2003 has been a very exciting time for Floresta. In January, Bob Morikawa, who did much of the work in setting up Floresta in Haiti, and I were invited to Tanzania to look at a possible project on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We were impressed by both the need for Floresta and the eagerness of the community to work with us, and this February I received the go-ahead from the board of directors to begin setting up a program in Tanzania. At the same time, we are discussing an interesting collaboration with an organization doing agroforestry work in Thailand. This is all part of a very bold new strategic plan that we adopted in February. This plan will permit us to multiply our work over the next few years, expanding it to new countries while deepening its impact in countries where we already work. It is an ambitious plan, especially in light of the current economy, but I feel that in these troubled times God is calling us to take risks to share the love of Jesus with others. Now, more than ever, it is important to move ahead in faith. If you are interested, I would be excited to share our plan with you in detail and tell you more about our new initiatives. Just drop me a note or give me a call at the Floresta office, and we can send you a copy and/or discuss the specifics. My e-mail address is ssabin@floresta.org or I can be reached at 1-800-633-5319. I would love to tell you about it, as this is the most exciting thing I have been involved in during my ten years at Floresta.

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