This past week my team, the boys’ team and our SQL Davante got to go to Lubombo Valley Farms to do a different kind of ministry. It’s about an hour and a half away from Nsoko and it is BEAUTIFUL. We were greeted by our hosts for the week, Jesse and Macaira King. They are sweet couple from Ohio that are only 23 years old with a strong passion for farming.
It was such a fun week and probably one of the best on the Race so far. It was nice to do some manual labor ministry on the farm. We weeded, pruned, watered the crops, made a plot bed, and harvested. It was hard work that gave all of us a new appreciation for farming. It was so neat to pray over the land, crops and workers each day.
My favorite day was Thanksgiving. It was a day full of so much joy, community and, of course, food. We had chocolate pancakes for breakfast and a great day of ministry. Bekah, Sarah, Sam T. and Sophie all stayed back from ministry to cook dinner and set it all up. It really started to feel like Thanksgiving around 3pm when all 15 of us were taking turns showering and getting dressed up for dinner. The cooking crew was finishing up dishes, Sophie was setting the table outside with name tags, and Annalise was getting her camera ready for pictures.
Once everyone was showered and all dressed up, we started pictures! This was so much fun. We got nice headshots of everyone for the families:), team pictures, group pictures and pictures of Jesse and Macaira (they are SO photogenic). My team was so happy that the guys chose into this part of the night. It would’ve been so easy for them to not get dressed up or take pictures with us, but they were so great to do it with us.
After pictures we all sat at the beautiful table outside that Sophie set and Sam Haymond read a verse of thanks to the Lord. Jesse kicked off the time by having everyone go around and say what they are thankful for this year. There was a common theme of being thankful for community which was sweet. This year I said I was thankful for unexpected community and the opportunity to celebrate a holiday in an untraditional way. We prayed and dug into the abundance of food that was prepared for us. We had mashed potatoes and gravy, butternut squash, bread, cream spinach, rose tart, apple pie, brownies, steak (a whole T-bone for each of us!), chicken (the ones we killed the day before), peach jello, and stuffing. We were SO full after that meal and our cheeks hurt from laughing so much the whole time. The boys got to stream the football games after dinner which was really sweet of Jesse and Macaira to let them do that. We couldn’t thank them enough for inviting us to be a part of their Thanksgiving and let us set up the “grand” Friendsgiving that we did.
This day was so filling for my team in different ways. Jordan was filled by farming (her passion at home), Sophie was filled by decorating, Annalise was filled by taking pictures, Bekah was filled by cooking, and Sarah Johnson and I were filled by the small community and peaceful surroundings.
Spending the week with just my team and the guys was so good. It was nice to get away from the craziness of living with 50 other people. My team loved having the little house to ourselves because it made for some really sweet team time with each other that was needed.
The week at the farm was such an amazing time that grew that little community closer together. It was a week of nonstop laughing, sweating and thankfulness.
