PL672

A large amount of our harvest is done by way of a combine harvester. The machine can cut and process the fields much faster than manual labor; the downside to this speed is a loss in yield (as a percentage of the crop is dropped on the field floor) and the loss of one of the special by-products of the harvest: boosa.

'Boosa' is the Hindi word for cut straw. We use it for a lot of things but mostly it is mixed with green grass to provide our cows with healthy, home made food. It is an essential part of our farm and each year we store away huge rooms filled with the stuff.

Have you figured it out yet? Do you know what a jhuna is? Just think of it as a piece of string; a piece of string, made entirely out of wheat. These strings are then used to tie bundles of cut wheat together. Where once we would cut the wheat fully by hand, last year we purchased a "wheat cutter" that takes a lot of the manual labor out of the work.

Once the bundles have been tied they are stacked in their hundreds on top of trailers and carted off over to the back of the dairy where the final stage of thrashing is completed. It is hard work, compounded by extreme heat, dust and the raging mechanical clanking of the thrasher as it chews through bundles of wheat.

Once the thrashing is complete some of the wheat is sent straight off to market, while the rest is stored safely in giant piles on our drying floor. Its journey is not over, as next week we bring out our giant fan and the winnowing stage begins!

In other news, we had a stream of visitors this week arriving from Kenya, the USA, Europe and India. Popping in for just a few days to meet us and our large family, it was a great chance to fellowship with new friends and put the harvesting on hold, if only for a moment.

One family among the visitors were Risto, Maria & Tatu Lindqvist from Finland, who have a unique connection to our orphanage, and also to Rick. In 1983 the Lindqvist's were living in the Himalayas just a short drive from our mission; over their 2 year stay in India they had become very friendly with our staff and children. At one point during their stay Rick, noticing that Marja was not well, rushed her from her mountain home to a hospital in Polyganj where it was discovered that her kidney had shut down. Marja relayed the story to us later saying "Rick, you saved my life!".

The story continues however: some months later Rick was taking them to their hotel in Delhi before their departure out of India. Having an uneasy feeling about the Sikh-owned hotel they had booked, Rick instead took them to a guesthouse owned by the mission. The next morning morning Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot by her Sikh body guards and the hotel (where the Lindqvist's had their original booking) was burned down by Hindus in retaliation. Many people in the hotel died that day.

Thankfully, Rick could simply relax, drink tea and reconnect with the Lindqvists this time around, with no saving required.

There has also been the regular maintenance issues here. One of the most "interesting" being some electrical repair work in the school that presented a chance for some of our girls to get some "on the job" training under the watchful eye of Rick and Clifton. A few screws, wires and switches later and things were back to normal.

And that brings us to the close of another week. We wish you peace, joy and happiness this Easter and always. Thank you for your continued prayer for Uncle Anil and Josie as they go through their ongoing health issues. They were both up and around a bit today, which is great!