The Newton Church of the Way is located in the community of Newton, IA. Team members Morgan, Kaylee, and Ashley (AKA ”Mom”) share the grateful moments the team enjoyed together at Driftwood Farms and in fellowship in the community.
We started this morning off with a devotion led by Kim about gratitude. The devotion was a great reminder of how we should be looking at all of our daily tasks as a gracious gift from God. This week we have seen the multiple different ways in which God is capable of physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration. Even though we do not have internet service, some of our team members still get the bible verse of the day. Today’s verse was, “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10. We felt this was an affirmation of how God is using us here during our time in Abaco.
After breakfast we had a wonderful opportunity to experience God’s beauty when we got to visit the Driftwood Hydroponics Farm. This is where we spent our morning and afternoon serving alongside Tracy and Glen Kelly, who are the wonderful stewards of this 25-acre land. During our time there, they showed us how to produce good quality, organic produce and helped us to understand why it is important to continue this unique farming tradition. We were taught that they grow guava, 7 different kinds of lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, green beans, cucumbers, coconuts, bananas, and assorted tomatoes and peppers, as well as chickens that provide eggs.
We had many different jobs throughout the day that consisted of picking all of the produce, flipping- which means cleaning out the containers and re-packing them with the rice husk/coconut core mixture, replanting beets and lettuce, packaging fresh produce for the farmers market tomorrow, and we retrieved eggs from the chickens and gave them water.
Tracy and Glen, owners of Driftwood, were amazing. They were extremely welcoming and hospitable and kept us laughing all day long. They also provided us with some of their fresh produce for our lunch toppings. It was a wonderful time of communion, engaging in fellowship, and sharing stories while getting to know one another better. Today was the first day all week that it hadn’t rained. We were blessed with beautiful sunshine all day while we were outside working. A specific few of us got a little extra sun-kissed. 😉
For our evening, we went to Kirk of The Pines, G2 (Growth Groups, AKA youth group). We broke into groups and played some games outside, did some crafts, played uno, and had lots of snacks. We then had large group time where we were led in games and a message about how God will always love us. As well as when we hurt, he will also hurt with us and for us. God wants us to ask him lots of questions. He always has 3 answers for us- yes, not yet, or I have something better for you. After the kids left, our group, as well as another mission team from North Carolina, had dinner together. The church leaders provided Souse and johnny cakes for us to enjoy! Souse is a Bahamian comfort dish that is made with chicken broth, corn, carrots, potatoes, onions, chicken, and many different spices. Johnny cakes are a sweet, dense bread.
As our day has come to a close, we are filled with grateful and joyful hearts, but tired bodies, so time for bed! We are looking forward to see how God continues to move throughout the rest of this week.
