Gardening

We have been looking up how many weeks before planting do you, or should you, start the following in the house:

Tomatoes

Peppers

Cucumbers

Cantaloupe

Squash

Pumpkin

Strawberries

Cabbage

Broccoli

Cauliflower

You can see gardening is on our minds.  We will have 16 branches doing gardening projects this year.  Each branch has 5-12 families that are poor and needy that will try gardening to help supplement their meat, fat, and noodle diet, with vegetables.  There are other families already gardening that we do not need to help.  The things they like to grow here are:  Potatoes, carrots, beats, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Some people try other things like melons, squash, pumpkins, cabbage, and strawberries. They grow a berry here that they make juice out of.  It tastes very good and is classified as a super food.  You should read up on it--Sea Buckthorn.  We think you will find it very interesting.  Many of those that garden have to haul their water in a water cart for the family's daily water needs and also to grow a garden. 

We have 30 requests from various organizations, we have translated and investigated, that have asked for help:  Schools, hospitals, handicapped programs, prisons, universities, kindergartens, rehab centers, cities, towns, providences, and immigration offices.  We have selected some to help this year and we have selected some that we will reject.  The need is so great and we cannot do everything for everyone.  It is painful to have to tell people we are unable to help them this year.  It is both sweet and bitter when we tell people we can help some but not all.  We try to help where it will help them to help themselves and become self-reliant.  Example:  We are going to help a kindergarten with new fixtures in the restrooms.  So our question is, if we purchase these items for you can you install them.  We do not want the new fixtures sitting around because they are not capable enough to get them installed and working; however, we also want them to have some skin in the game and help themselves.  So this is our current challenge.

This is what we have been doing this week.  

Grandma (Carol) Maynes has consented to give us 100 quilts to hand out to poor and needy as we are out and about. We are trying to get them shipped for free with the new mission president's shipping container.  

We are doing good.  We love this Gospel; we have true happiness as we live the principles and keep our covenants. We are so grateful that living this Gospel has taught us self-reliance and for goodly parents who also taught us this