Here's what's happenin' on the farm

Hello from Harvest Farm!  We are all a little sore, sun-kissed, and quite in-love with this place.  We have had a really good week.  We have worked side by side with many of the residents here at the farm and have been blessed to hear their stories of  starting a new life in Christ.  

Tuesday, we spent the day working in the dairy, staining stairs, building bridges, and wrangling  beef cattle!  Wednesday, we worked hard in the morning and then headed to the mountains.  We toured Estes Park and did a little shopping, then took a harrowing ride up the Trail Ridge Road and enjoyed some of God’s most amazing vistas!  

Thursday was spent repairing a tractor, bailing 45 tons of hay (seriously!) and wrangling some obstinate teenage cows.  There was also baby calf feeding, and wood chip laying.  We are working hard and enjoying our evening showers!

Tomorrow, we will be playing a wild kickball game with the residents here at the farm and then we will load the vans and begin our journey home!  We will be full of stories, so be ready to listen!

You don't wanna know what they're watching! (They're watching a cow being artificially inseminated.)

Our group at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Hay!

No, you can't take the goat home!

Come on cow!

Ben feeding a newborn calf milk.

Day one in the books

Talk about an awesome day!

We can't stop talking about all the cool experiences we've already had, and it's only the first day! We have already met so many interesting people, including another volunteer group that was here for a day from Iraq.

We split up into groups, with most of us weeding the Harvest Farm organic garden, which was in real need of some TLC. Others helped prepare lunch and dinner in the kitchen, and a group of five went to the barn to clean out the cow stalls (a smelly job, to be sure!).

We also celebrated Shawna's 18th birthday, in the rain, with Dilly Bars from the Ft. Collins Dairy Queen!

The group from Iraq will not be here tomorrow, so there will be more for us to do. Here are some pictures from today's work:

Debbie with Fuzzy Wuzzy #2.

The fence that Matt (and Dan) built.

Volunteer coordinator Skip.

The kitchen crew of Lisa, Allie and Birthday Girl Shawna on a break.

Alexis had a little trouble with a stubborn cow.

The weeding crew cleared a TON of weeds.

Getting ready to get ready

We're less than a week away from our next mission trip, this time to Ft. Collins, Colo. to work at Harvest Farm, a faith-based drug and alcohol treatment program that is part of the Denver Rescue Mission. We're getting ready, to get ready to go.

I've redecorated the blog to make it look more mountain-y. Erica's preparing journals, renting vans and frantically running around getting final details ready. Ryan and Jenn are preparing the necessary supplies for the 15-hour drive to Colorado (seat sheets and barf buckets, among other supplies!).

Our last mission trip prep meeting is tomorrow, and I'm eager. Eager to get in the van (believe it or not!) and get to Colorado. Our youth group volunteered there 8 years ago and we've been trying to go back to Harvest Farm ever since. The timing just hasn't worked out. It was a very intense experience for all of us last time and I have no doubt it will be just as remarkable this time. Working side by side with guys in the program, hearing stories of how low life has taken them, and how God can bring them back up from those lows, is a memorable experience that has stuck with me.

The one constant in mission trips is change, both physically and spiritually. The physical changes are evident in the picture of our Montana group above. The spiritual changes are just as dramatic, but not always as outwardly evident. I can't wait to see how our group changes as we volunteer at Harvest Farm.

Reflections on Mission - Jenn

It’s been more than 20 years since I’ve visited the mountains and they are just as beautiful as I remember. Bozeman is a town very similar to Mankato in many ways…it is home to a State University, it has a very welcoming, downtown Methodist Church, and everywhere you go you find wonderful people. I was amazed at how grateful those we met along the way were. Almost everyone who passed by us working on the trails, pulling weeds in the park, completing small projects for a new UMC congregation, and helping out the local food shelf thanked us profusely for our efforts. Many times, their graciousness even surpassed “Minnesota Nice”. (I even had a chance to chat briefly with two ladies who knew exactly where Mankato was as one had a Maverick hockey player stay with her for a time!) This trip has again opened my eyes to realize what great need there is for people to care for the Earth and our fellow humankind whether you look in Bozeman, MT, Baldwin, LA or right at home in Mankato.

This trip was most amazing though because of our Youth. What an incredible group of young people we have at Centenary! They worked so hard for hours on end despite sun, heat, altitude, fatigue, and the endless supply of sandwiches that we ate for almost every lunch. It was hard to keep up with them! Each evening, we came together as a group and had devotional time. The depth of their faith is far greater than you can imagine. They love God and they are eager to show this love by caring for the least, the lost, the left out, and the Earth.

I thank all of you for entrusting me and the other Youth leaders with such a wonderful group. As we return them to you, remember that they are not the same people we left with a week ago. They have each grown and changed in ways no one expected. Ask them about their experiences – they have so much to share!

            Jennifer

Reflections on Mission - Pat

Despite my sore muscles and bleary eyes, I am energized. Energized by what our group has accomplished over the past week, both in the work we’ve done and how the faith of each one of us has grown. I always seemed to be energized by being around our youth group, watching them grow in their faith and seeing what they are capable of. I am blessed to be able to grow in my faith with them on trips like this.

It is easy to get content in one’s faith, easier than to decide to grow further. This trip has reminded me of an oath I made to myself not so long ago. “Never let your faith grow stagnant,” I told myself. My faith has grown on this trip, by watching our youth work for the environment and the people that enjoy it, by working to help people who cannot feed themselves, by going to the mountain, seeing what God has created and feeling thankful for the opportunity to experience God in that creation.

PC

Reflections on Mission - Seth

This mission trip has been a life-changing event for all of us, and we’ve all worked our heads off on the trails, in the garden, and in the food bank. We all left the world at home behind in Montana (except for those who spent all night on Facebook) and lived in our own little world of mission work. On the return trip we won’t forget Montana like we did Minnesota on the way out. Our mission experience will be carried with us for the rest of our lives and we will reference it in future mission trips. Everyone’s support back home made this whole thing possible and has changed our lives for the better. Right now I sit in the van bouncing up and down with Pat’s laptop in my lap, reflecting upon this week, and thinking about all the people we’ve met.  Looking around, many other youth groupers are also reflecting, some are playing games and others are sleeping. Everyone has bloodshot, sleep-deprived eyes and dark circles under them but we’re on our way home to a good night’s sleep.

-Seth

Reflections on Mission - Laura

           Amazing things can happen when you believe and I think that’s what we all did. We believed that we would help the environment.  We believed that God would look after us. We believed that the drive would be long. All of these proved to be true. This was my first of hopefully many mission trips. It was an amazing one. In my 13 years I have seen very few places that can compare to the beauty of Bozeman, Montana. I would really like to write so much more about our trip, and I could, but it would take up to much space.

            On this trip my faith has grown and developed. I am truly a different person. I wish I could stay in Montana forever, feeling the presence of God in everything I did. This trip has made it easier to feel that presence in even the smallest things.

            My favorite part of the trip was the fresh mountain air. I hope all who read this would be moved to do mission work in their community. Thank you all for fallowing our journey and keeping us in your prayers. I hope to be in church on Sunday and thank you personally. A special thanks to our Youth Director Erica for jumping in and supporting us. Wish you could have been there with us.

                       

                        Laura