October 2014 Highlights

October started out with a quick day trip to a wedding of a dear friend that used to be on staff with us.  It was in the beautiful Napa valley and we would have loved to have stayed but had to get back for a event.  We hosted what we call a YWAM Presence Gathering on our base.  This is when we invite other bases from the west coast to come, stay for a few days and seek the Lord together.  It's a lot of work but so good to have a huge group of YWAMers together in one place!  After that conference we had a little bit more time to spend on our aquaponics system.  

We picked these fresh veggies and herbs from our garden in October.

This is a compost box and pile that Robin keeps adding to in effort to make great soil.

These are the pipes that will carry the nutrient rich fish water to the grow beds. 

Here Dan and some fellow staff are putting the plastic liner in one of the grow beds.

We even got some of the teens from our base involved in the project.

Here's our system with fish tanks in the middle and 2 grow beds on the sides.

After a way too busy September and plenty to do in October we were ready for a quick, fall camping trip with friends.  The forecast included a Saturday of rain but we decided to go anyway.  It was an adventure and we made great memories.  The guys put up lots of tarps to create a warm, dry "living room" for us that included our fire pit and picnic table.  The boys had to dig trenches around our tent to keep the flood waters out.  Adventurous yes, would we do it again?  maybe not.  

Every Monday we take part in a class (a secondary YWAM school) called School of Ministry Development (SOMD).  This fall quarter started in September and lasts about 12 weeks.  The topic for this fall quarter is outreach and evangelism.  We had one great class about evangelism explosion and learned some fun techniques for sharing the gospel.  

We also take part in local outreach and either Dan or Robin goes to the nearby town of Hamilton City almost every Friday.  We've been working with precious middle school and a few high school boys.  The town is known for crime, gangs and drugs so we want to reach the next generation before the gangs do.  Robin also wants to start a community garden there on an empty lot and we may replace a crumbling roof on a home in town.  

Robin has been teaching science to the K-2 grade class this fall.  She loves kids and science and wants to instill a love of science in the kids.  She currently has 4 kids, 2 staff kids and 2 whose parents are in CDTS.  With all this, she is the head of housekeeping and has to lead a department to keep our base clean and make sure we are prepared for conferences.  

Dan is part of the maintenance leadership team and does a lot of project planning and prioritizing needs in our busy maintenance department.  There are 80 buildings on our base that were mostly built in the 20's so there is ALWAYS something to fix or remodel!  

You can see, there is never a dull moment!