So, in addition to building relationships with the girls here at Remember Nhu, a big part of our ministry here is farm work. We are doing so much manual labor, I know my Daddy would be so proud! We are the first World Race team with WOMEN this ministry has had, so we want to do our best to show them that us girls can work hard too! (Usually this month, the men and women separate to different places in Thailand, so Remeber Nhu receives a group of World Race Men for Man-istry month.)
We built a chicken fortress, which truly has tighter security than the JFK Airport. We dug concrete poles deep into the ground, then stablized them with more concrete. We also attached a bamboo pole to them as well for added strength, height and of course curb appeal. There is also a lower netting, upper netting and bamboo fence to finish off this prison – I mean, HOME for these chickens. A new shelter was already built before we got here. so our job was to add some fence it in, add some walls so the chickens will stay dry and warm, then build shelves for them to roost on. I am learning so much about farming and animals this month. I even got to catch some chickens the other day with my own bare hands! I felt like a real farmer then. Anyway, we are done with the fence. Now we just need to finish the main “chicken production center” that we are calling it now.
This wonderful piece of land also includes a set of ponds for catfish to grow. This is truly becoming a self sustaining farm along with the Children’s Home.
Thailand’s future will always be unclear, expecially when thinking about a Christian Girls Home tucked away in a Buddhist rich country, it is hard to say what the future holds. However if we can assist in making them as self sustaining as possible, to truly live off their own land and rely on others for as little as possible, that could only do good things here. We are learning what it means to take care of the precious land that the Lord has given us all to watch and care for. It is also really fun to play with cute little piggies and crazy chickens all day long.
Genesis 1:28,29 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has seed in it. They wil be yours for food.”
After a long day of working outside in the Thai heat, then walking to dinner…I look around this place. I just stare off into its beauty. It is in those moments when I wonder, how do people NOT believe in God when they see this landscape?!
