End of a Busy Season

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple months.  As the title indicates, things have been a little hectic around here.  Honestly, I'm only finding the time to write because it has been pouring rain almost non-stop for the last 24 hours.  Although May and June have been hectic, there have been some great victories.  I'll try to give a little bit of a recap:

One of the biggest things here at Underground Coffee is the addition of a new family that will be working with us in South East Asia.  They are from the Philippines and have been lifelong friends of Luv-Luv.  Since we're in an area where we can't talk openly about names, we'll call them BA and his family.  BA and his family have spent several years working as missionaries in another country.  He came to visit on a scouting trip last year, felt God calling them here, and then moved here to work with us in January.  Because his youngest daughter was born overseas and some of the documents weren't filed correctly, his family couldn't come with him.  He went home for April and the first half of May to help them prepare for the move, and in the middle of the month, they were all able to come here and join the team.  It has been great having them, but there is a lot of adjustment involved with living in a new country and joining a new team.

We've also had several visitors out during the last two months.  We've had three small groups of people come on vision trips.  Some to see the coffee, some to see the school we work with, and all of them to see how God is working here in our area.  It is great to get to see friends, and I enjoy playing tour guide, so it is a good time when they come out to visit.  Thankfully all of the groups were just a couple of people, so logistics were easy and I was able to focus on spending time with them instead of trying to figure out how to get one place or another.

The other big thing we've been working on, for the last three weeks, is planting coffee.  This year we decided to plant two hectares (5 acres).  Since this was our first time to do this, we thought it'd be a good amount to start on.  It ended up being WAY more work than we anticipated.  Luv-Luv came back out for three weeks to help oversee planting and train BA, and he was a life-saver on helping with the work.  The two of them camped out on the farm several days each week and had to manage 30+ workers each day.  I was there most days too, and it was amazing to see so many people from our village come and help work on our small test farm.  We were able to meet lots of new people, and now every time I drive through the village I see familiar faces and people wave.

With the last of the coffee planted just over a week ago and the final group on a plane two days ago, now is a perfect time for the rains to come.  It is also a perfect time for our school to end for the summer and for us to be able to take a much needed vacation.  Over the next two weeks we're traveling to the Philippines to be a part of Luv's wedding.  It'll be great to share in his big day (as well as spend a little time afterward on a nice beach).  Now that things are slowing down, I promise to be a little better about keeping the blog updated.