This month I am working with my team at a YoungLife camp in Nicaragua called Vida Joven. We have spent the past week planting and farming coffee. I will let Sarah tell you about that though in the lower portion of my blog by posting hers cause she tells it much more eloquently than I could dream of doing. It has been such a blessing by God to have placed us in a secluded enviroment where we have such a wonderful host that takes great care of us, and allowing us to really work together and on one task rather than doing many seperate tasks. Here is Sarahs story of it.
Today was our first day of ministry here in Nicaragua. My team and I are serving at a Young Life camp wayyyy up in the mountains. We spent the day planting coffee. It was incredible! Words can't even desribe how much fun we had together. This was the first time on the Race that the whole team was working on one task together… which is such an answer to prayer!We've been praying for unity within our team for several days/weeks now and who would have guessed that God would unite us through dirt, bugs, coffee and machetes??
So, you might be wondering: Why does a Young Life camp have 25 acres of a coffee farm? For every one pound of coffee produced, one child's summer camp cost is covered for one day. Today, we planted 180 coffee plants- this means that over 30 kids will be able to go to camp as a direct result of the work we did today! Talk about motivation to keep going 🙂
As we went about our work weeding and planting, we realized how symbolic coffee farming really is. We are doing more than just planting delicious caffeine trees; we are planting into the kingdom of God and we each had a different a role in this kingdom work. Some dug holes, some planted the baby coffee plants, some cleared the weeds with the machete, some pulled the junk out of the soil. Literally- the junk. Mario, the coffee mastermind, told us that the land we were planting on had once been a mechanic's junkyard. As we worked the soil and dug holes, we found all kinds of trash, used car parts, animal jaws, barbed wire. Underneath all that ugliness and garbage was rich, fertile soil- perfect for the coffee plants to take root. We were able to break the barbed wire chains, just like God has broken the chains in our lives as we've walked through this process of what it means to step into sonship/daughtership of the heavenly King.
It is so rewarding to know that we are just a small part of this process. Someone else intially planted the seeds, we transplanted the baby coffee plants into fertile soil (“watering the seed”) and in two years when they are mature, someone else will harvest. Mario and William told us that the more you prune the coffee plants, the more fruit/coffee beans they will produce at the next harvest. Just as God is pruning us and cutting off the branches in our lives that don't produce fruit.
So, this month we are planting seeds. We are breaking chains. We are tilling up fertile soil and hacking down weeds with a machete so they won't choke out the new crops. All for the kingdom of God. All so one kid will have the chance to encounter Jesus in a personal way! 1 pound of coffee = 1 coffee plant = 1 kid at Young life camp for 1 day. For more info about this awesome ministry or to buy coffee online, check out www.beyondbeanscoffee.com
Also I am still in need of approximately ~$300 so please pray that God will take care of things and His will, will be met on the financial end of the race. if you feel a desire to donate you can click support me and donate. Love you all and thanks for all the prayer support, and financial support.
