In the middle of July, farmers were busy preparing for the season of harvest. Over 20 members in Kimcheon volunteered to help a farmer in difficulty from the short of hands.

On July 14, the volunteers visited a vineyard in Hwangan-myeon, Yeongdong-gun, North Chungcheong Province. It was to help a neighbor facing greater difficulty than themselves though many of them were also farmers suffering from the short of workers.

ⓒ 2005 WATV

The owner of the vineyard Ahn Gwang-seong and his wife Yun Ran were busy cultivating a rice field and harvesting grapes from their green house. Though they worked from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. without rest, they could not care for the grapes in the field. Before the grapes got ripened, they had to wrap them with envelops. But they had no time to wrap them because of the short of workers. The farmer couple thanked the volunteers very much for their coming to help them before it became too late.

Their vineyard was about 1,500 pyong: 900 pyong was green house and 600 pyong was field. In order to protect the grapes from the damages by blight and harmful insects and harvest sweet grapes, wrapping work is essential. The volunteers wore the working clothes and put the envelops in the pockets of their aprons. Then they started to wrap the grapes.

The members treated the grapes very carefully as if they had treated a baby. From their attitude, the love for the fruit was perceived. A member who was working very seriously said, "Through this work I can understand the love of God. Though fruits are borne in season, if a farmer dose not wrap the grapes because of the short of hands, the grapes will be damaged by blight and harmful insects and the farmer will harvest nothing and the heart of the farmer will be torn to pieces. The spiritual farming is the same, I think. If fruits do not put on the full armor of God's word because of the short of the gospel workers and they become harmed, how much distressed the heart of God will be?"

ⓒ 2005 WATV

The volunteers diligently wrapped the grapes with envelops so that they could finish the work within the appointed hour. Despite the hot whether, all the volunteers worked hard as if it had been their own work. As the they were wet with perspiration, wind blew and cooled down them. In the late afternoon, the work was done. The owner couple thanked them, saying, "I cannot thank you enough. All you also may be busy, but helped us as if it had been your own work. Without your help, I and my wife alone would work for a week." Then they offered ice cream to the volunteers.

The Overseer Hong Seong-shik who took the lead in helping his neighbor said, "It was a great opportunity to understand the heart of God the Farmer and to deliver the love of God to our neighbor. We will help farmers with the love of God if they require our help."

As the proverb says, the heart of the farmer is that of the parents. We are the spiritual workers who are entrusted with the spiritual work of vineyard. We shall be the farmers who deliver the water of life to the whole world with the parents' heart, the God's heart