Having been at Ameva Farm in 1989 year with my family as part of the summer team, God called us back the following year for 6 months.
My Dad worked as a mechanic, doing his very best to get all the vehicles in working order, my Mum home schooled my sister and I and taught in the primary school of an afternoon. As an 11-year-old, it was both exciting and worrying, leaving all we knew behind. My Sister and I were home schooled in the mornings and then the fun began.
Ameva was a farm full of happy, vibrant people who all mucked in, and I found myself mainly in the dairy. I liked being helpful, not sure how much but to me it was being a part of the community.
My favourite memory was jumping on the trailer every Sunday morning and travelling to the scout hut for our meeting there. The tractor pulling us along, stopping off to pick up people at different spots and all enjoying being together, singing and whilst trying to stay on the trailer safely.
The weekends were fun, Grace, Paul, Neil Abigail Valentine and Joanna Williams would come home from their schools and we made dens, went in the tree house, and play together for hours.
The openness of the farm, the freedom to roam and the friendliness of all on the farm. The students at the primary school, the sound of the children singing and playing, the atmosphere of students studying at the bible school and not forgetting the amazing boom of John's voice when he started up the song 'Let God arise and his enemies be scattered'. On my family's day off going to Ian and Elsie's (adoptive Grandparents) house and being spoilt rotten and using the swimming pool, these are childhood memories I'll never forget.
Thank you Ameva