"The Mongolians are Coming!"

"C'mon guys, let's tidy up!  The Mongolians are coming!!"  Those have got to be the funniest words out of my mouth yet, but that is truly what happened yesterday.  We had to tidy up because we literally were having Mongolians over!  We have had visitors from far away before here at the farm - as far away as the Solomon Islands (friends that were missionaries there), but Mongolia?  Wow. Mongolia! 

Three ladies and two little girls (18 months and 3 years) were here picking grapes.  They are in Canada as the two little ones are waiting for heart surgery.  They are part of the heart project with Samaritan's Purse that seeks to help those who cannot get the surgery they need due to lack of expenses, doctors, equipment, etc. in Mongolia (and other countries).  My in-laws are good friends with a widow who takes these moms (or aunts) and their children into her home as her ministry.  They stay with her for weeks, even months.  She feeds them and keeps them busy as they wait for the doctors in Toronto to find time for their surgery.  They keep experiencing delays.

Well, what have we been doing lately, but picking grapes.  My in-laws come every week and pick and pick and pick.  They mentioned this to their friend who lives just a few minutes away and she thought, "Why not?" as their surgery had just been delayed again.  The concern is to keep the girls healthy before surgery, but outside where there aren't near as many viruses as indoors, it seemed safe!  The weather has cooperated lately and so they came.

The timing was amazing.  We had literally been reading about Mongolia in history, about Genghis Khan and his raids into China.  I'm sure Mongolia is famous for more than that, but sure enough, I mentioned the name when I first met the women and right away they said, "Genghis Khan!" and nodded their heads.  Apparently he is quite famous to them, a hero.  That's why it was even funnier to make that announcement to the kids about cleaning up for the Mongolians as it sounded like we would be tidying up for Genghis Khan himself! What a hilarious thing to imagine!

Well, these sweet people were hardly Genghis Khan, but quiet, gentle souls.  They came with their translator who speaks perfect English.  I could tell there was something different about her right away.  She was hugging me and my children, smiling, being so kind and friendly.  She had to be a Christian.  She had come on her own with the widow the week before and we hadn't had much time to talk, but yesterday when she came with the other Mongolians, I asked her more questions. 

Mongolia only let Christian missionaries in once the Communist regime fell.  Before that there was no Christian influence.  She had never heard of Jesus.  She found herself divorced with a young son at that time.  Then, once the regime fell, Christians made their way in and she met a woman who introduced her to Christ.  She then got involved with Youth With a Mission.  She gave her life to Christ and full-time ministry.  She was ridiculed by her family, but it has been 13 years now having raised her own support and her family leaves her alone now as they see she is serious!  It was wonderful to hear her testimony.  Faith truly knows no geographical boundaries.  I witnessed that yesterday.  We knew the same God.  I shared an immediate bond with her though we had only just met.

It was such a blessing to us to have them here yesterday.  Their little girls melted my girls' hearts.  They were so affectionate.  One of them, the littlest one, wanted my 11 year old to hold her.  So she picked her up and ended up holding her for the rest of the time they were here.  When my daughter put her down, she cried and cried until she picked her up again.  Finally, they got her in the car, crying and crying, but she eventually settled down.  When she looked out the window as they were pulling away, the little girl tilted her head and put her hand on the side of her head.  She kept doing that.  We wondered what it meant.  The translator shouted out the window, "It means, 'I love you!'"  We were so touched!

While they were there in the vineyard, we continued to pick our little fingers off, too.  Sadly, a buyer never worked out, but we are oddly so happy about that!  We have had so many different friends and family come and pick.  It has been so wonderful to see it used like that!  But, as I was saying, we picked and picked yesterday.  We filled many bushels.  We are going to try to make a concord wine/syrup/drink.  We figure we may even have a market for it!  We keep looking for what type of crop we should plant and yet, here we have it, right on our property.... already planted!  So we have decided to give it a go. 

My hands were so itchy from all the destemming we did all afternoon!  But it was so fun at the same time.  All of us were down in the not-wet-and-stinky-basement anymore (such a blessing!) taking stems off, picking out ladybugs and snails.  It was truly a great family experience.  Our house is full of fruit flies, but I love it.  That is how I want to spend my time, being together, doing something meaningful.  Way back when we first decided to prune the grapes last spring was one of the best decisions we've made.  It came full circle yesterday as we were standing there in the vineyard picking the grapes they had pruned, then being in the basement going through each grape cluster one by one getting ready to preserve what had been harvested.  We assumed all along that we would hire a harvester this year, but it didn't come to be.  We have been the ones harvesting.  God has been gracious in keeping the weather favourable so we can harvest when we have the time.  But now we're thinking about truly harvesting it all on our next year, not just piecemeal, the way we've been doing it this year.  It's kind of exciting to think about.  We never thought we'd be able to prune it ourselves and we did it.  Why not harvest it ourselves?

The fact that the weather has held out doesn't seem to be coincidence.  Back in Leviticus again, it says in Ch. 26, "and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing.....". The key phrase there is, "the grape harvest shall last".  God knows how long to keep the grapes on the vine.  He knows how much time we have to pick them and He's keeping them on for us!  It's so amazing!  When we go down there, each time we figure surely there won't be any left or surely they'll be overripe, but no, every time we head on down to the vineyard, sure enough, the grapes are still in perfect condition.  All the leaves are off the vines now.  It's even easier to pick as you can see the grapes.  Before it was quite an effort to pick.  I don't think we've ever harvested this late.  I think the principle in the verse is that God knows when to schedule in each thing we need to accomplish in our lives.  If He wants us to do grapes, He'll keep them on the vine.  And that's what He's doing.  If we had had a brutal early frost, if would have ruined the grapes, but it hasn't happened.  So until it does, we keep going down there!  Once again, Scripture coming to life.