On a light note, here are some special moments we've had here, to give you more of a visual.

Can you guess?  First time pumping my own gas.  Thank God Hannah was there to help.

Hannah helps again with promoting healthy habits.  Here, flossing every night.

 Here, our first picnic.

 El Gitano- super delicious- huge portions, of course.  Vegetarian fajitas.

 Cooking in the kitchen.

Oh those scones... &
tea: a common occurrence with us.  "You keep drinking tea and you can expect to have yellow teeth by the time you're my age," -John (in his fifties)

 When Helping Hurts- one text for our class.  It's a very good book so far.

 From inside the barn/shack at the farm.  And the man in charge.

 Farm on a sunny day.

 We harvested these leeks!  But they were imperfect so they went in the 'YumYum Box' which means we can take them home.  I think they are just beautiful.

 First and (likely) last homemade loaf of bread, since we've found a cheap source of quality bread.. =]

 Chopping onions and leeks!

 adventuring off the trail.  "You go first, Hannah"

 Farm again:)

 seller at Pike's Place Market in Seattle.

 Really great street performer.

 What?  Seattle is green?!

 One of Hannah's favorite places in her hometown.

 Mi dulce bicicleta.

 Strawberry Shortcake and tea on Mother's Day... thinking of Mom.

 The visit of our two good friends!!!! Nick and Clint =]

Okay.  that's all for now.

Let's see..  what to share?  Well, up here, we don't plan so much by weeks, but take each day as it comes. It'll either be a farm day, a Family Support Center day, a class day, a church day, or a free day.

Ah!  Last Wednesday, we got to experience our first rainy cold day at the farm.  We finally pulled out the rain gear (including bright pants, boots, jackets, and water-proof overalls for Hannah) and warm fleece shirts.  I learned that layering these really helps keep in warmth.  We fearlessly braved the rain and trellised the raspberry bushes, then took refuge inside the shack for lunch and practical lessons about ordering seed, and finally emerged and transplanted for another hour.  Farming seems to take a LOT of planning and organization.  Nick, the 'boss', has multiple intensive spreadsheets listing all the various crops we are to plant for the season by week.  It is so bizarrely complex to me.

More about the farm: It is certified organic, and so it is sustainable in as many ways as possible.  We practice crop rotation, so there is a zone that is currently fallow.  Also, there are special varieties of crops that have been chosen such as purple cauliflower and golden beets.  During the seed ordering lesson we got to look through a catalog with pictures and descriptions of a cornucopia of vegetables!  It's funny because they really talk each type up.  I saw things I've never seen before in that catalog.  I decided I'm going to give it to Marli when she's ready to flip through a book.

Something new- we have a bee hive (box) at the farm, and they recently opened it up and harvested some honeycomb.  It is incredible to see first hand.  The honey tastes the same as any other honey, but just trying to understand how these bees operate in their matriarchal society is fascinating.  The newborns are in charge of making the honeycomb, and the worker bees are all female.  If the queen dies, the bees will make another by choosing a newborn and feeding her until she is larger than the rest.  I haven't gone over with the crew when they check on the bees because I'm afraid of getting stung, but maybe someday I'll suit up in bee-gear and brave the hive.

On Friday we worked again, and it was a gorgeously sunny day.  Traded the heavy rain gear for a t-shirt, rolled up pants and bare feet.  It was a perfectly enjoyable day of weeding, planting, transplanting, and fertilizing, and along with that came plenty of conversation, jokes, riddles (which Salvio and Victoria like to tell), songs, and laughter.

Saturday was a day off, so Hannah and I read plenty, bought vegetables, rode bikes, made a picnic, made vegetable stock *for the first time* and went to a bonfire with Tierra Nueva friends.  We, again, entered a social circle where we didn't know most of the people, but it was absolutely wonderful to get to spend time delighting in the joy that ran through this hilarious group.  They fed us well (which is a pattern, I tell you), and the entertainment was pure and interesting.  Almost the whole group participated in a couple rounds of Ninja (this game is quite popular here, in Spanish it is Cinta Negra), and we just had good fun out in the country under the stars.  I came back from that with a feeling of just overwhelming love that I am experiencing here coming from the staff at Tierra Nueva.  They show us kindness upon kindness and involve us in every community gathering/event.  They are inviting us into their homes to cook and eat and play with them, which is how community, relationship, God's kingdom is built.  Nick said, "Community must be the means to an end, not the end itself, because we need to be working together towards something.  This builds the strongest kind of community".

I feel like really throwing ourselves out here into this completely new location and population, we let ourselves be vulnerable to however people decide to treat us.  I see that hospitality is so huge in building the Kingdom.  We threw ourselves into the arms of God's people, and they have reflected His love in every act, word, and patience.  Today Elizabeth spoke on Matthew 7:7 "Ask, Seek, Knock.   I asked God if this was the right place for me to come.  I seeked out a way to be here.  I knocked and they opened their arms and welcomed me in with the warmth of fellow believers.  I'm asking plenty of questions here of others, trying to learn and understand as much as possible.  I'm seeking friendships and truth about ministry and agriculture and ways of living life and seeking for it in the Word each day and trying to understand myself, and find peace, and contentment.

And in much of this, I am learning from Hannah.  Her continual patient heart, listening ear, slow, wise counsel, and genuine care is unlike anything I've ever seen.  She has learned how to be content and have peace.  She is seeking truth also, and it is beautiful.  Like I said, we've been spending a lot of time with our noses in books.  Already, she's read Huck Finn, Eating Animals, Walking Gently Upon the Earth, and is now reading Pride and Prejudice.  I read (incompletely) The Unsettling of America Culture and Agriculture, and now I'm working on Black Like Me.  Besides her sweet spirit, she is sharing her cooking skills with me.  I now can make a very satisfying dish of sauteed vegetables.  I never knew onions were so delicious and easy to prepare.  We just bought five more... =]

Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to Grocery Outlet, because I love her.  She has such good deals on really quality items like organic products.  Also, to the Food Co-op, because they're providing the general public with access to locally grown and organic products and produce.  They present hefty price tags more than not, but they allow locals to support their neighbors as their neighbors make healthy choices in their treatment of the rest of Creation.

Today was church, which was great.  I'd like to describe how they do communion here.  First, we stack all the chairs on the perimeter of the room, and then we stand in a circle and someone will lead us in a liturgy and he/she will break the bread and hold up the cup.  Then, each person, after receiving the bread, will offer it to the next person and tell him/her, "This is the body of Christ, broken for you".  Then the leader will come around with the cup and say, "This is the blood of Christ, poured out for you, Jamie" and we dip our bread in the juice and partake.  When all have partaken, we have a closing prayer liturgy and the leader/pastor blesses us to go out.  I think this is a beautiful communal, personal way to partake in communion.

As you can see, this is continuing to be a very sweet growing time for me, as God is teaching me new things each day.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  Love you all.

God is so good.  That is why I am here, why this ministry exists- because a few people encountered the saving, complete, grace of God, and used His teachings and His love to build a help center, with the goal of raising up the marginalized of society by standing by them, walking with them, and loving them in the best ways we can manage.  Tierra Nueva ministries is small- seeming to be just a handful of people on staff- but blessed by plenty of volunteers, supported by local churches, and effectively reaching out in the community of the Skagit Valley in a variety of ways.  They ask three questions,

"What is poverty?  What does it look like?"  They go beyond physical, financial poverty into the spiritual, hopelessness which comes for many migrants in being in an unfamiliar location and captured in an unfamiliar system.  It comes for drug addicts trying to get help but being 'dealt with' using clean-cut rules of shelters or help-services or laws instead of being concerned for, cared for, on a personal level.  And important to note, we are ALL impoverished in some sense, or have been.

"What is the context of a person's poverty?  How did they get here?"
They point out that oftentimes when we (the middleclass, the outsiders) interact with those of the lower class, we don't see the context of their situation.    Everyone has a story, and this is part of why Tierra Nueva advocates seek to help one person at a time.

Hello, reader!  This summer, I am spending a few months up in Mt. Vernon, WA interning with a ministry called Tierra Nueva (New Earth).  The internship consists of working for a few days each week on an organic, sustainable farm and learning about all that goes into running one, as well as doing special projects to help out at the Family Support Center.  I'm also taking a class they offer called Volunteer Advocacy Training to really learn and experience the heart of the ministry and how to be an  informed advocate for the marginalized.  Tierra Nueva is doing great work here from what I can see.  They are truly seeking to bring God's Kingdom here, one person at a time.  

All parts of Tierra Nueva are intentional.  The farm sells to the local Food CO-OP as well as to families in both Skagit Valley and Seattle as vegetable shares, and profits go to support the migrant families here.  There is New Earth Recovery, whose mission is "to love, strengthen, and accompany those in active addiction and recovery, through faith-based support groups, volunteer opportunities, new community, and pastoral care” (www.tierra-nueva.org).  This includes the Faith House, where 12 women can live and be encouraged in their recovery and learn to bake bread which are being sold also in the form of a bi-monthly share at churches and online, and these profits go to support them and the Faith House.  The other side is the men’s group who roasts coffee that is directly traded from the Tierra Nueva farm in Honduras, and this is being sold in the same fashion.

All this, and more.  It has been a completely enriching experience so far, and has been so because of the people here.  I should mention upfront, that I have the amazing privilege of living with my good friend Hannah who I met at George Fox.  We have faced every new place, new experience, new day, together, side-by-side.  She is interning too, and she is absolutely wonderful.  She radiates the Holy Spirit every day, which is so encouraging, and I just know I am so blessed to have this opportunity to be here with her.

Also, we’re staying here with a local couple who have just been completely generous and kind and examples as they live out their daily lives in service to others and to God- one doing tough social work and the other a full-time pastor. 

The staff at Tierra Nueva have been the most welcoming, caring, flexible family.  Their group is small, but that leaves time and space for authentic relationships.  These people work so hard each day solely because they believe in the work- they believe in the people.  They believe that there is potential for redemption and reconciliation of people with themselves, God, each other, and the rest of creation. 

Being here with these people, my eyes are being opened to many things I’d never even thought about. 

Now that the basics are covered, here’s a journal entry from yesterday, May 15^th:

    

Ah, today was so full and good!  Hannah and I got to go to staff prayer meeting, which was great.  We got to see and meet the staff which consisted of about 16 people- all from different backgrounds and income levels.  The lower-income people of the group are treated as equals, completely, because they are.  Their assets are built up and appreciated and that is the most important thing.  They are loved wholly and completely and called on to use their talents for the good of the group, the community, and the Kingdom, really.  This is what Ashley was talking about for QV.  Ask people to get involved.  This is how discipleship happens.  And not just 1:3 or 1:1 even, but better, 3:1.  Surround the person with love and care and whatever wisdom we have to offer, and lift them up.  Bring out their worth.  This is how kingdom development happens.  Bring them into leadership.  GOLLY.  I'm realizing that this is partially how I got here.  Because Ashley, Amy, Nick, and Clint did this for me.  They invested in me and empowered me to get here, and QV helped foster this relationship with Hannah, and now we will be leaders with the opportunity to do the same- to be involved in something that is producing lasting fruit.  “Nothing of lasting fruit happens without prayer.”  Also, going along with valuing a person, is recognizing their voice, and encouraging them to use it. 

These are a few points I've learned at this week's Advocacy Training Class:

         When meeting new people, don’t introduce yourself to give them any preconceptions.  Instead, let them find out who you are by your actions and behaviors.  You need to be familiar with the cultural context of the people you are reaching out to, or have someone accompany you who does. 

         It is a privilege to hear someone’s story. 

         Wherever two or more are gathered, the Spirit is here.  Thus, we need to involve Jesus in the conversation, because He is there.  We ought to consult the Holy Spirit. 

         Eternal life begins now.  The goal is to get Heaven into us (Thy Kingdom come), not us into Heaven. 

Jesus said, “I have to go, but I will send for you alos parakaleo (‘another of the same kind’ ‘one who calls out from alongside’) : another advocate.  The Holy Spirit is our advocate. 

         We need to show people that God is for them and not against them.

Okay, this was much, and today, May 16^th, was amazing too.  God is so good.  Very briefly, Clint invited us to coffee with himself, Nick Ogle, and Tom and Christine Sine, who started Mustard Seed Associates.  Hannah and I were blown away by their background in conservation and community development work and their plans for the future.  We enjoyed coffee and chocolate zucchini bread.  All was well.

A few notes: in travel, we love the carpool lane.  ... well, I guess just one note. =]