Time to pick the coffee

So it is the time of year for coffee harvest, and anytime is the right time to have some problems along the way. 


The oxen we have...the cart is busted. 

The Montero...busted something big underneath (can be welded...in a week or so)


This is one problem, not sure what the other is.  We do not have internet service on the farm...yet...but via an iPhone at least Gustavo can take pictures for us to see (and use as a phone naturally.)  The quality here is not great since I had to take some pictures of pictures, but gives us a little glimpse into how to continue to pray for them.

First...for no more breaks in vehicles.  Hopefully the Blue Ford makes it back unscathed, or relatively so. 

Blue Ford?  Well, with Oscar gone, I had to send Jorge up with one of the Fords to keep the harvesting going, and to eventually get the crop back to Tegucigalpa for drying.

It has been raining up there every afternoon, and that does not make drying the coffee easy (normally done outside on a concrete pad) 
 

Here you can see...Jorge does not do anything half way, why go up to just drive the truck when you can get dirty and sweaty picking coffee as well? (he has never done this before, might be his first time working like this on a coffee farm period.)

He is a trooper...and always has a smile on his face.



Harvesting coffee is rarely done on level spots.

And then...you get to carry the full bag to wherever the transportation is, which is often not close...or flat either.  It quite possibly will be a wet path as well.


Second prayer request...for safety for everyone working. 












Remember how supposedly kids in the US had summers off from school to help farming?  "Summer" vacation here is November through January...same sort of thing.  Here though it is from walking age to non-walking age that get out to harvest.  For many it is the one time of year they can get an actual job that pays actual money.

That we get to offer more people employment doing this...a very cool thing.


Third prayer request...that God would bless this arm of the ministry that we can keep doing this!









Oscar and Gustavo are trying their hand at raising some pigs...now they have plenty to eat (the berries from the coffee.)




Fourth...remembering our staff that have financial needs and that their efforts to help themselves in the long term would be blessed. 

Harvesting the coffee is step one of many steps.  Here is number two...depulping the coffee (removing that red bean) which is also labor intensive, even with a special machine built for the job.
















Even special built machines need "fine tuning"to make sure they do the job correctly.  Otherwise what you put in comes right back out the same...the fine tuning makes sure the berry is removed completely but that the bean comes out undamaged. 

This may look like just a guy with a hammer...but not just anyone can actually do the fine tuning.  This gentleman has the training and they had to wait for him to do it properly.



Fifth prayer request...that God be fine tuning (or broadly tuning as needed) us spiritually to serve Him better every day. 








I had to include this picture...no doubt a result from the clothing ministry and its influence from the greater Indianapolis area, here is a Channel 8 sponsored shirt hard at work. 



Sixth prayer request...for that clothing ministry, that Master Provisions would be able to find more summer clothing to send us. 


Interested in buying some great coffee now?  Check us out at:

www.hillclimbercoffee.com  Every dollar profit we make...is already spent in these endeavors as we are investing in the future right now and hoping to see financial fruit in that future to help do this more, offer more employment, and use funds to help expand the other arms of the ministry (Church planting and the clinic mostly right now.) 

Or if coffee is not your thing but you want to help...make a donation below via PayPal.