the girl bent over again, reaching across the wooden pallet to turn over a upside down peach. the 90 degree sun blared hot down on her back and the slight breeze made dust dance through the air all around her, sticking to the sweat on her face and neck. as she crouched over the pallet, she looked over the peaches scattered over it, searching for pits, rocks and other things that shouldnt be there.  she tossed a pit behind her and stood up. her head spinned and she blacked out a bit dizzy as the effects of so much moving up and down so quickly.  as her sight returned and she regained her balance, the girl gazed at her surroundings. the dirt field that she was working in was filled up with about a hundred wooden flats of peaches,  drying in the sun. the foreclift over there was beeping as it moved backwards, followed by people laying out more wooden plats filled with peaches. she had a drink of water and wiped her face with her sticky hand and moved on, looking for peaches to turn over. if she did not turn the peaches over, so the juicy side was facing up, then they would stick to the wood after they had dried and it would be nearly impossibly to get them off. behind her, a large hill stood overlooking the field and its workers. blocking the wind as it blew to send it flying back over those in the field, as a slight relief from the california morning sun. flat after flat after flat, she moved along the rows flipping the peaches upright to dry in the sun. thoughts of the high school kids that had acompanied her to this mission field filled her head along with songs and long talks with God. she reflected upon her past week, working in the peach factory every day alongside missionaries from idaho and canada.  she thought about the dried fruit that they were producing and how it would be sent to far ends of the globe to feed starving people. the testimonies of how the fruit had blessed so many warmed her heart as she crouched down to pick up a pit.  God had been good to her.  knowing her weaknesses and her limits, He sent her out to do things that she would never want to do. He sent her out of her comfort zone, away from her home and the familiarities of her everyday life. he set her umong people she did not know, strangers, and challenged her faith in him. she thought about how God challenged her dependancy on him and thanked him for the chance He gave her to serve him.  the girl stood up again and placed a rock at the end of the row, marking that it was done. it had been inspected, all the pits thrown out and all the peaches flipped over. looking around her she saw that all the rows had rocks at the end and everyone was getting ready to go back in from the field.  the girl sighed, smiled, and slowly walked back to the mission base to clean up her things. the week was over and she was going home, her heart filled with the blessings and peace of God.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

so, im back from gleanings... this past week was extremely hard in several different ways.  but God blessed my sincere efforts and took care of me as he always does when im willing to accept it.

i might have told you this already, but gleanings for the hungry is a YWAM mission based about 30 minutes from where i live. they take all the reject peaches from various farms, the peaches with bruises or any sort of imperfection... the ones people would not buy in the store, and they process them in a plant, cutting them open and laying them out on wooden flats in the sun to dry. after they are completly dry, they are packed up and shipped off around the world to starving people.

the factory runs peaches and nectarines all throughout the summer time and people from all over the world come to serve and help run the fruit lines. its hard work,  and unlike other missions where you are working with and blessing people directly, you do not really see the fruits of your labor. you dont see the faces of the people when they recieve a bucked of dried peaches. but we hear the stories and are blessed to trust that God knows whats up.

if your interested in coming out, check out the web site... http://www.gleanings.org.

i did a lot of hanging out with my high schoolers this week. and lot of sitting around. sleeping drugged on tylonol PM. it was good.

and of course, i have a crush on a guy who was on staff.  not really a crush, actually... i just thought he was really... pretty... he had dark hair and dark eyes...  really, all i wanted to do was sit and look at him. he was a mechanic and he drive the foreclifts and on the last day i found out he knew how to drove a deisle truck. all i really wanted to do was look at him. God makes some really good looking people. he was really pretty... and he is from montana.

i finished reading frankenstien. it took me 6 months to read the first half and then the last three days to read the second. i feel good about that. next i'll start dracula.

im going to calvin crest tomorrow.  i wont be back for a week. im already exhausted. a little prayer would be nice, guys.

peace & God bless...