Nr.24 ended with: “A few days later I flew to California, not knowing that there my surrender to God would be greatly tested…….!”

80 percent of the world’s almonds come from California’s Central Valley, an 800,000 acre area of almond orchards. My employer, John Vis, had two farms, one where the son lived and where the buildings were with most of the turkeys. John himself lived in a small town, Denair, east of Turlock. He also owned orchards with fruit trees, peaches and almonds. I lived in a large mobile home in an almond orchard which also had several thousand turkeys in an enclosed area. The trees were irrigated from canals that carry water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. One of my jobs was to move the irrigation pipes and sprinklers twice a day so that all the trees got watered. It was hard work as it was very warm, often up to 40 C* or even more. Several times a day we would jump into the canal with our clothes on to cool off. Once the almonds were ready to be harvested, we would use clubs with thick rubber endings, climb a tree, stand in a fork and hit the branches so that the almonds would fall on the ground. Then we would rake them together and put them in bags and they were shipped out. 

One day I was standing quite high up in a tree, lifting up my arms with the club ready to bring it down hard on some branches, when I felt my shoulder slip out, being dislocated, which had happened twice before in Bible College. There I stood, not able to move. Another worker came with a piece of irrigation pipe and held it against my chest to keep me balanced and I was able to slowly twist my shoulder back in, which was very painful. I couldn’t work for two weeks as my arm was in a sling. I had become very good friends with John and his wife, and one day he made me an offer that made me reel………!(Go to Musings)