harvest at the church garden

This morning the church members came together to harvest the maize from the church garden.  At the beginning of the season we decided to put in a 35 meter by 35 meter garden and use Farming God's Way as our method of farming.  Grass is getting hard to come by in Obule so a garden that size was pretty ambitious, but we were feeling adventurous so we went for it.  We were able to get enough grass to mulch half of the garden.  It took us several more weeks to get enough grass together to mulch the second half of the garden.  We received good rains during that period, but it turned off dry before we could apply the mulch to the other half.  Those few weeks proved costly as the half of our garden that didn't get mulched until later in the season did not really produce any cobs.  The maize stalks on that half of the garden were short and stunted.  The dried out a lot quicker than the other half of the garden.  They appeared stress, etc.  So we learned a valuable lesson about mulching, and that is TO mulch, to mulch often, and mulch heavy.

The yields we received from the producing half of our garden were completely unremarkable except for the fact that we did yield something.  That part is remarkable, because of everyone in the village who planted around the same time as us, we were the only folks to yield anything.  Thats right -anything.  So rather than looking at our moderate yields and wishing they were better, we have chosen to thank God for the gift of maize when everyone else is yielding nothing.  This "wet" season has been pretty dry.  Very few folks, except for a handful of folks who planted early are suffering because no one is going to get a crop.  People are already talking about famine.

Charles holding up a couple of our better maize cobs.  

We are blessed in that we were able to produce some maize because we put ourselves in a position to receive God's blessing of moisture when He sent it.  Through practicing good stewardship we were able to capture some of the early rains and retain that moisture long enough to get a crop.  Most people didn't get one.  Very few farmers in this area are in a position to receive the blessing of rain.  Most folks are praying for rain and then when God sends the rain, they sit helplessly by and watch the soil from their fields wash away as the majority of the rain erodes away their land.

our maize drying in the sun

We in the Obule church are so thankful God has chosen to bless us with knowledge that we need to be stewarding His creation rather than using up and wasting "our" lands.  I recently have had the opportunity to watch our Pastor Charles share the Gospel with several primary schools as he teaches Farming God's Way to the primary schools in this area.  Charles has been sharing Proverbs 3:5-6 with the children and their guardians.  The verse says " Trust in The Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, But in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  When you look at the way the farmers struggle to work their fields.  The way they sweat and toil to work the land, and then they wait and hope and pray to get a good return on their efforts.  But sadly more often than not they get a yield that is less than what is required to properly feed and care for their families.  It is apparent that we are working and farming by leaning on our own knowledge, that we haven't stopped to ask God how we should care for His creation, and we don't trust in the Lord with all our hearts or otherwise we would consult Him.  I hope more folks in Obule and in Teso will begin to see their gardens as God's land, begin stewarding that land, begin to turn to the Lord and seek Him and His way, and stop leaning on our own limited understanding.

Charles and a group of primary school students praying for their land, repenting for all the blood shed on this land, repenting for all the witchcraft and blood sacrifices offered in the hopes of a good harvest, repenting for not looking to God, repenting for not trusting in the Lord with all our hearts and in all our ways.  

It is so encouraging to see the folks in the Obule church trusting God and seeking his guidance and wisdom over their own.  It is also encouraging to see their faithfulness and commitment be rewarded with a yield, even if those yields are below average because God was faithful and provided.