Planting and Harvesting

Lumyay Tree

We have been meeting with a group of young adults for the last five months.  The group started from a “chance” encounter in a village 45 km south of the city.  We were walking the streets of an obscure village and we received an invitation to begin a study in her house.  The arrangement was made out of concern for her grandson, who wanted to speak some English with some foreigners.  However, since the first day we began meeting, we shared Stories with our host.  The dozens of stories that were sowed into her became ripe for harvest this last week.

Nuantha teaching us about lumyay.

We have been promising two things.  First, we promised the kids that we would go out to the village and play games with them.  The second promise was that we would assist our host in picking their main source of income when it became ripe.  They grow a fruit called lumyay.  It is a unique fruit that grows only in their area of the country.  The family owns twenty farms and since all of the fruit ripens at the same time, it has to be picked at the same time, so we volunteered to help.  Well, our promises were fulfilled on the same day.  It was a holiday for the students, so we arranged a game day with them.  Before we had too much fun with them, we headed out to the orchard to pick some fruit.

Nuantha telling us not to pick the small ones.

After our harvesting, we planed several “Minute to Win It” games.  The students loved it and did not even notice the rainstorm pass through.  We had a few locals come with us to help with the translation and to just play with the students as well.  We had a few hours of games planned and then we finished up with our usual story lesson for the week.

Team 1

Race against time to put a puzzle together.

The locals here are so flexible and can bend in amazing ways to retrieve objects.

Attempting to move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth, impossible!

Balloon toss for 60 seconds.

Studying a new story.

Girl group shot

Boy group shot

The kids surprised us with a cake.  This was a huge shock, and this shows us they truly believe we are safe and trustworthy as well as genuine.

Presenting the cake

The day ended with a great celebration.  While we were teaching our next story, a local friend of ours was visiting with Nuantha (host of the home) separately.  They were sharing their life experiences and ideas with each other.  Through the conversation our friend was able to share her “personal” story of truth in her life.  Nuantha recognized this story from the weeks we had been sharing with her.  She also spoke of many answered requests Nuantha had asked the Father for and saw how He had answered those requests.  She realized He was true and real and could be for her as well.  Nuantha was ready to receive the gift waiting for her.  We are so overwhelmed with joy and excitement from her decision today.  It was a wonderful day of celebration.  We are eager to continue pouring into Nuantha each Tuesday.

Our new sister, Nuantha!  (orange shirt)