Faith and I have now spent two full days here at World Hunger Relief...and we're still alive everyone! It's been a crazy couple of days, to say the least. I've learned more and worked more in the past 48 hours than any other time in recent memory. It's also been quite an adjustment--getting used to being without air conditioning, sharing living space with 4 other people, and composting my own poo.

That said, here's a brief summary of what I've done in just the past 2 days here at the farm:

-helped repair sprinkler-heads at our pecan orchard
-helped provide shade for several rows of veggies, as well as the goats
-planted beets, cauliflower, broccoli, and kale
-fed the rabbits
-milked and fed the goats
-brainstormed on ideas for urban gardening
-hauled out trash
-cleaned out the attic of the barn

Typically, mornings begin b/w 6 and 7AM, depending on what chores I'm assigned to for the morning. The chores include milking and feeding the goats, feeding the rabbits, and feeding the chickens. Afterwards, we have a group devotion time at 8, followed by a morning full of work. We finish off at 12:30 for lunch together. Then, for afternoons, things switch up a bit. On Tuesday's & Thursday's we have a class where we learn everything from farming techniques to theology. Monday's, Wednesday's, & Friday's are generally days where each person can spend researching or working on the enterprise they're in charge of.

The enterprises are: local education, livestock, dairy, pecan orchard, urban gardening, fresh market vegetable production, and the village store. I've been asked to help head up both the pecan orchard and the urban gardening enterprises for the year. I'm incredibly excited and overwhelmed with the challenge of learning more about these areas!

All this to say, please please PLEASE pray for Faith and me. It's been greatly enjoyable here so far...but it's also been greatly trying on us. We're both having to learn how to love and grow in ways that we're not familiar with.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or simply want to come out and visit, I'd love to chat!

To close, let me finish with an illustration:

As I was planting the beet seeds yesterday...at 3pm...in 100 degree heat...I realized just how tedious the task was. For a moment I grew weary and frustrated with the task of delicately placing these seeds an inch apart from each other. Then, I became aware of God's love of us...right there in the 100 degree heat and dirt. I realized just how deliberate one has to be to plant something as simple as beets or kale. And when I thought about the intricacies of nature and the complexities of man, I became awestruck as I became mindful of how unbelievably deliberate Almighty God was to create not only the world, but me. Such purpose practically shouts out just how much our Creator loves us.

Peace friends.