The Harvest

Hello my friends and family! I hope this finds you well. I had been sick the past couple days but now rejoicing that I am feeling better today! It seems now our whole team has been hit with the flu, or something like it, and are recovering.

This past weekend Gabi and I traveled out of town. Do you remember the folks we stayed with before and after English camp? Well, it was our host granddad’s birthday so we decided to go and help them celebrate it. The trip was much needed, with lots of time for catching up on some rest and breathing the fresh-air of the Steppe. The air was crisp, the sky nearly empty and the trees sheading their leaves. It smelled like fall with burning leaves and furnaces being started. It reminded me of good ole Heritage Days. Just add the smell of fresh cooked apple butter and kettle corn and it would have been a little more like Warsaw :) But really, I love it there and it is one of the coolest places to be in the fall time.

Our host granddad (Vas) asked me which is better: the village or the city. “Konyeshna, dryevna, kak doma.” – “Of course, the village is what I call home.” Vas really got a kick out of that. He said that their town was our home and the city is just where we go to school.

On Saturday we also helped teach two English classes with some students who attended the summer camp. It was really good to see their smiling faces and get to talk with them about their lives since we last saw them. They were equally as glad that we came to visit, but three days was not long enough! We shared lots of laughs and took lots of pictures together. I think sometime around Thanksgiving we’ll travel back up there to visit and have a mini Thanksgiving party with them. I can’t wait for that!

In honor of Vas’s birthday, we celebrated every night we stayed with them. He wasn’t in town on the first day because he was out goose hunting. With the help of his son, there were five dead geese in the summer kitchen after our Saturday English teaching, ready for plucking. Sadly, I did not get to join in the fun of preparing these geese; I only got to enjoy the wonderful borsch made from them, a culinary concoction of the sweetest little babushka I’ve ever met: Baba Nadia (who is Vas’ mother-in-law). She helped with cooking meals all weekend, which was dangerous because I think she shares secrets with Paula Dean. ‘More butter (or sunflower oil) is better!’ is the motto.

Another great event of the weekend was joining in the Harvest Festival at Vas and Nat’s fellowship. It was a time of worpish and reflection with Scripture reading, sharing a large meal and even a talent show. In a way it reminded me of the historical Feast of Tabernacles (part of the Festival of Weeks), as well as the American Thanksgiving. Sunday morning everyone gathered to celebrate, bringing an offering of something from their garden to give back to Papa. The front of the room was decorated with so many fall colors from gourds, pumpkins, flowers and even some fruits. Giving a portion of their crops served as a ‘thank you’ to Papa for His great blessing on their fields and lives throughout the past year. With the harvest food collection, the fellowship will be able to give back to the community by feeding the people in their rehab center and giving some away to the poor.

Along with this being a celebration for Papa’s provision in their lives, it was also a reminder of His harvest, the harvesting of souls. John talks of this that the Son’s “winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn.” Luke 3.17. We are helpers in this process, serving our Master to give Him honor. Paul writes: “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will also reap destruction; the one who sows to please the HS, from the HS will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” Gal. 6.7-9. What a great reminder this is to Gabi and I while we are in the fields laboring for the harvest. (And I hope it is of great encouragement to you too!)

The last significant point of the celebration was its reminder of the harvest to come when the Son returns. This point was the hardest to translate into English, but after the man up front read the passage of Matt 13.37-43, I understood more. In Matt. 13, the Son of Man explains a story of the weeds in the field. “The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” What a great picture of the Son coming to collect his crops! It gives me great motivation to keep sharing with and praying for people around me, in hopes that they would not be found as weeds.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a talent show! After much arm twisting, Gabi and I sang “Days of Elijah” accapella in English. It was a lot of fun.

Some exciting things happened while we were away. Our friend Addie asked our sister to borrow her copy of the Word. She stayed up an entire night reading it. She started with Paul’s writing of love and then decided to start reading from the very beginning. Wow! She has said it is the best literature ever written and cannot stop reading it. Addie is so excited about the Word that she talks with her roommates about it all the time. They are always asking her what the latest thing she has read about.  She has also read it during class and discussed it with her classmates. She is a little m worker in the making. It brings me so much joy to see Papa working! The fields here have tough soil, but we are asking Father to loosen the earth so our seeds can be planted. What a blessing that He is moving so quickly in her. Please keep Addie and her roommates in your thoughts as we continue to share with them.

May Father bless you and keep you well today!