Down on the farm...

The Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC) Foundation Incorporated is based in the southern part of the Philippines. It is a Christian approach to countryside development. It is a non-profit private volunteer organization supported by Christian churches in the Philippines and other parts of the world. One practical way of helping develop the countryside is through training courses on simple yet practical farming technologies and health strategies.

Home for NT365 Gap Year students since the end of August has been the MBRLC. Living & learning in one of the houses on the facility has become "home." The week of Oct 10-14 was spent learning more about the training that takes place at MBRLC. Getting an understanding of how these training methods can be applied to ministry in local communities was the focus of the week. Mornings were spent in lectures & afternoons were "hands on", participating in the work they'd learned about throughout the morning sessions.

I am so thankful for the passion, joy & willingness of the Director & trainers on the farm for showing us in just a week what their day-to-day life is like. My favorite day, of course, was being able to milk & nurture the goats!

-Abby

Farm week was by far the best week of AOT. We learned how to best provide for the physical & spiritual needs of people in this area & all across Southeast Asia. It's definitely going int he tool box to further God's Kingdom!

-John David

My favorite things about "farm training" week was the activity we did for community development. We took the villages we have been in for the past 2 months & created a plan of how to effectively encourage development from start to finish.

-Katherine