After a restful night’s sleep, the second day of our Pilgrimage began bright and early at 7:30 am. After a quick breakfast of French Toast, lovingly prepared by several of the youth, we left for la Iglesia de la Resurreccion to meet the vicar, Jo Beecher. Jo is a wonderful lady who works very hard with the Hispanic laborers of the Skagit Valley. She took us on a tour this morning of the farm land, pointing out crops and telling us what it is like to be a farm laborer. Many of the people she works with consistently work 16 hours a day during the summer months. They can only count on work from about May-November, and then are either unemployed for the winter, or if they are lucky, pick up one of the scarce farm jobs to prepare the fields for the next spring. The weather this spring took a huge toll on the crops, particularly berries, and the farmlaborers, who are paid by the pound of the crops they pick, have been hit very hard by the lack of work.
After our tour of the fields, we made our way to Viva Farms. Viva Farms rents plots of lands to farmers, who are then able to tend their own crops, not rely on competitive jobs from other farmers. Today we worked with Salvador, who has been a part of la Iglesia de la Resurreccion for over 10 years. He has recently completed some extension courses through Washington State University in agriculture, business, and marketing. Salvador has had a plot at Viva Farms for 2 years now and grows a variety of organic vegetables. One of his restaurant customers is Agua Verde, a great Mexican seafood restaurant in the University District of Seattle. Salvador put us to work this morning weeding his land. We will be going back to Viva Farms tomorrow to work with one of Salvador’s partners.
After a short break for lunch, the Pilgrims left for Bible Camp at the farmworkers housing. Although this housing project is new and the people living there have adequate shelter and heat, it lacks adequate facilities for children and families. Jo decided to take us to this housing project because most of the workers who live there have children, and there are no areas for children to play and they miss out on many of the recreation activities that other children enjoy during the summer. When we arrived, there were many children playing on the sidewalk outside of the buildings. As we approached, the children scattered and went back into their homes, unsure of what a groupof white people were coming for. The tension was broken when we brought out our snacks, t-shirts for the children to design and color, and dozens of children’s books to read to them. Their apprehension about our presence wassoon broken and over 20 children came to spend time with us. A great time was had by all and we look forward to going back tomorrow to continue building relationships, sharing the love of God with them, and receiving Jesus from them.
Our evening ended with a wonderful Compline service and reflection time about our day. The group of Pilgrims has already experienced a lot, even in one short day, and this will certainly be a life-changing experience for all.
Salvador tells us about his vegetable plot.
Kyra, hard at work in the dirt.
The kids at Bible Camp are having a great time making t-shirts!
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