ELMER FROM FLORIDA

Well, this is our last week in Florida.  We are leaving so Olive and Albert can get some rest before the next crowd comes.  Porter is coming to pick Anna and I up on Saturday to take us to his and his wife's home.  I will get to see his train collection that I have heard so much about.  We will be staying Saturday night and Sunday night.  Monday, we will be going to work with Porter.  We will get on the Amtrak and head home.

Anna and I took Olive, Albert, Fanny and Amos out to dinner at Yoder's to thank them for all they did for us.  They said it wasn't necessary, which it wasn't, but we wanted to.  We all had a good time.

Also, Anna went to the doctor and he removed the original cast.  He gave her a walking cast.  She can get around with that and a cane, but not as good as she can in the wheel chair or the electric chair.  Our children, up north, are seeing if they can rent an electric chair for Anna when she gets home.

We look forward to coming to Florida each year, but it is nice to get back home again.  Eli is still trying to talk us into buying that cottage.  We had a contractor over telling what it would cost to remodel it.  Anna and I are thinking about it.  Eli and I could do it our self, but Anna asked if we both would want to come down to Florida and spend our whole vacation remodeling.  She had a good point there.  We haven't even bought it - yet.

John called and told us he wants to plant already this year.  I told him to remember a few years ago when we had an early spring and I planted all those crops.  About a week after I got the crops in, it froze and I had to buy more seed and replant.  That was an expensive lesson for me.  Told John to wait.

I know, every farmer, gets the ich when all the snow melts and spring weather comes.  Also, I know that John has a wife and son that he must support and take care of.  He wants to get as much profit as he can for when the bad year comes around or when crops don't sell as well.  I can understand.  But there is such a thing as moving too fast.  Told him to go out and turn the ground over, but don't plant, it is way to early.

We also try to get more than one crop in a year.  Usually, I get two crops in, depending on the vegetables, maybe three, but I don't push it more than that.  I also know that the Lord wants us to use the money we get for crops wisely.  He wants us to save during the good times for the bad times.  Anna and I have done this over the years.  Should we get a bad season, we would make it through.  We might have to cut back on a few things, but we would make it.  John, has to take time to build this up.  He and Sarah have some set aside now, but it takes a few years to build this up.

If things got bad, you can be sure Anna and I would not allow any of our children to starve or do without necessary supplies.  We would help.  But, on the other hand, they are to plan ahead to take care of their own.  It is hard to save when you are starting out.

John is not the only one going through this.  Jean and David's Thomas is also going through the same thing.  Many young farmers are going through it when they first start out.

Now before someone asks, yes we give a some of the money for our crops to the Lord.  We are not asked to give a certain per cent or amount.  What we are asked is to give generously to the work of the Lord.  We collect at church twice a year.  Bishop Eli lets us know when it will be.  One of the donation times is after harvest.  Before we give Anna and I pray that the Lord will let us know how much we should give.  On the Sunday of the collection, a bag is set by the door, you put your money in. No one watches it to see how much anyone puts it.  Unless you write a check no one knows who puts in what.  The money is used to help others.  It could be for medical bills or groceries or building a barn, etc.  If they do run short between collections, Bishop Eli announces that at church and advises that someone will be coming to our homes on such a day to collect.  It is usually the deacons that show and we put money in the bag.  Whatever amount we feel comfortable with.  No one is asked to put in a certain amount.  Since Eli has been Bishop, they only came to our house once.  It was when one of the people had large medical bills for a sick child.  Our money is conserved - used wisely.

Well, I went on longer than I thought I would.  The next post you get from me will probably be from New York.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer