Monks need a tractor

St Enoch and St Elijah Monastery is situated on 50 acres of volcanic land in Northland, New Zealand. We are a small community of women and men living a contemplative life in Christ dedicated to prayer for the world and our individual journey in union with God. As a charity we rely solely on donations and accommodation income to fund the monastic community, its projects and our charitable works. The monastery hosts 30 free-range chickens and 36 ducks (12 ducklings about to hatch), 5 cats, a variety of beautiful birds, a citrus orchard, small vineyard and 10 garden beds. We harvest and make our own produce, and as a rural property depend on tank water. We have a vision towards renewables and self-sustainability. With much of the necessary systems now in place to grow and nurture the monastery, we now turn our attention to community engagement and beautifying and maintaining the property. We are blessed to pray and work in this paradise for God, and want to share the space with those seeking peace, prayer and contemplation. To this end we have begun work on a Gethsemane Garden. It is a volcanic rock grove in the forest. Our plan is to plant olive trees in this sacred space where Jesus spent time with the apostles, prayed and was captured. It is a place of contemplation and for sinking deeper into God.

We find that in order to move rock and boulders, in order to slash grasses, to dig the earth, to lift posts, to level the grounds, we need machinery. Specifically, we require a tractor, not only for the Gethsemane project but for the path making, the pond creations, the levelling of grounds, and so many other jobs that we simply cannot do ourselves.

This is a long term investment for the monastery: a tractor. It would transform our lives here and enable us to continue to maintain and beautify this place set apart for God and lovers of God.

We are standing on the Lord's promise that what we sow here will grow, whether prayer, plants and trees, ideas, ventures and projects. And so we stand on and in faith with you that the tractor is coming to us. We don't know when, but we know that one or ten or a hundred of you out there are those whom God will touch and move to aid us in this venture by your own sowing of seed into his good works here at the monastery.

And we thank you for your faith.