World Fair Trade Day!
May 11th is World Fair Trade Day! It is an inclusive worldwide festival of events celebrating Fair Trade as a tangible contribution to sustainable development, especially the economic empowerment of small producers, gender equality in workplaces and responsible production practices. It lands on the second Saturday every year in May.
When you shop Fair Trade, you shop with a purpose. We at M3 love our Fair Trade partners at WC Trading Company and HUGG Mission Market. WC Trading Company is open seven days a week in The Woodlands, Texas, and you can click here for their store hours and info. You can shop HUGG Mission Market any time online, and you can click here to learn their story and start shopping now!
The Topazians are Heading to Ethiopia!
M3 is happy to announce that Mark and Janet Topazian, some of our past M3 Conference speakers, are transitioning to serve as long-term missionaries to work alongside the beautiful people of Ethiopia!
Ever since the Topazians lived in Liberia for a year as newlyweds, they’ve been going to Africa on short-term trips. Over the last few years they have felt God leading them to relocate, so they started praying and looking for opportunities. In November, they visited Ethiopia, and they both sensed that was the place God was calling them to serve. They are excited as they step out in faith on this new journey!
Janet will teach science at Bingham Academy, an international Christian school founded in 1946 and located in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Dozens of missionary families count on Bingham to provide a quality Christian education, and the high caliber of the curriculum and staff also draws Ethiopian and international families to the school.
Mark will teach at St. Paul’s and Black Lion, two leading government hospitals in Addis Ababa. He will spend every day with students, doctors in training, and healthcare professionals at these institutions, teaching medicine and therapeutic endoscopy skills, modeling how a Christian doctor practices, and sharing life and faith.
The Topazian’s vision is to make disciples who will make disciples. The people they will work with are future leaders, and they want to help them flourish academically, personally and spiritually so that they can bless their communities and nations.
To serve in Ethiopia, Mark and Janet are joining SIM, an M3 partner and international mission organization founded in 1893 that has members working in 70 countries worldwide. SIM is helping them to prepare for life and work abroad.
We at M3, along with Mark and Janet, invite you to join them in prayer as they embark on this journey to be a part of the transforming work God is doing in Ethiopia. If you also feel led to join them as a ministry supporter, please click here. Mark and Janet would love to hear from you. If you would like to receive their prayer letters or connect with them, email them at mark.topazian@sim.org or janet.topazian@sim.org.
Dr. Kent and Amber Brantly are Returning to Africa
After 5 years of recovery, local service, and longing to return to their original calling, past M3 Conference speaker, Dr. Kent Brantly, is returning to the continent of Africa with his wife Amber and their two children. They will be working at Mukinge Mission Hospital in northwestern Zambia, seeking to follow the example of Jesus, having compassion on the sick and outcast, proclaiming “the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Please keep the Brantly’s lifted up in prayer as they transition into this new season of their lives. Click here to read more.
The End of Hunger: A Renewed Hope for Feeding the World
We at M3 were honored to have Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, and The 2030 Collaborative as part of the 2019 M3 Conference.
Dyer led a breakout session entitled “The End of Hunger: A Renewed Hope for Feeding the World.” In this session, she provided an introduction to the issues of global nutrition, hunger, and food security. She reviewed the amazing momentum of cutting hunger in half over the last 25 years, but the rising worry about a growing increase in hunger due to conflict and climate change. Dyer discussed the First 1,000 Days, and why this window of time is so critical to combatting anemia, stunting, and lifelong chronic disease. Lastly, Dyer talked about how we can use what’s in our hand to intervene through advocacy.
Click here to read Jenny Dyer’s recap of her time at the M3 Conference and learn more about the work she is doing through The 2030 Collaborative.