Day Two--Cate

On Wednesday the 24th, our second day in San Diego, we were woken up at 7:30 a.m. by either Riley or Mike. Thankfully, there were no pillow attacks involved! We gathered in our common room, ate breakfast, talked for a bit, and packed our lunches in brown paper bags. The adventure for the day was a gardening service project. We loaded into the van and headed to our first service site, Project New Village, a nonprofit organization that works to make fresh, healthy, organic food more accessible to everyone. We helped pack bags of freshly harvested produce for their grocery delivery program. We stamped the bags with the organization's logo, filled them with a variety of fruits and vegetables, and got them ready to be delivered. After that, we went to Mount Hope Farm, where we spent time gardening, planting, weeding, and composting. I worked on pulling out old, overgrown carrots and planting sweet potatoes. It was definitely a dirty job, but it was also a lot of fun. Next, we visited a local high school garden, where we helped clear out old plants and prepare the space for new ones. Throughout the day, we got to try lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. My favorites were the green beans at Project New Village and the tomatoes from the high school garden. They were both so fresh and delicious. Once we finished our service projects, we went shopping before splitting into two groups for a friendly dinner making competition. The group that cooked that night made chicken and fish fajitas. After dinner, we spent some time playing games together, including a fun game of touch football outside. We ended the day with our nightly Compline prayer. 

Today showed me that serving others doesn't always have to be something huge. Even packing bags of produce or pulling weeds can make a difference for someone else. I enjoyed seeing how Project New Village helps provide fresh food to people in the community, and it made me appreciate how much work goes into growing healthy food. Even though we got hot, dirty, and a little tired, it was worth it knowing that our work would help others. I'm grateful for the chance to serve with this group, and today reminded me that God can use even small acts of service to make a real impact.