A Garden Center

It’s a one-stop-shop for plant lovers. It’s a 1-hectare land area, in the center is like a bodega that has no walls. Inside is like a grocery for plants where you take a cart and just get what you want from ornamentals, succulents to herb plants, pots, fertilisers, soils, gardening tools. Its water system is controlled. Floor is cemented with good drainage.

What’s lacking in the Philippines is a Garden Center. You can buy plants somewhere and garden tools at the malls, pots is found at another shop. Ande if it’s summer, the plant store is hot to roam around and if it’s rainy season, it’s wet and muddy. No one would likely to stay longer. But with the Garden Center that we have they will be enticed to stay even until night. Why?

Let’s start inside this Bodega arrayed with plants ready to be sold it is also arrange around tables and chairs for coffee and food lovers. While the wives enjoyed to look for something to buy the husband enjoys his coffee and kids with their juices and shakes or a family meal.

Apart from inside the Bodega that has chairs and tables for dinning and it look like a forest also. Tree trunks will be encourage to grow from the side to get into the middle. All around outside this building are pallet and bamboo balconies for families to chill and relax surrounded by colourful lights that glows at night. There will be rooms for overnight stay-ins also if you want your day to continue until evening. We will be serving breakfast, lunches and dinners by booking online.

“You like it? You can buy it!”

There’s more! All you see from floor to ceilings to walls will be DIY products, creations and inventions of families and individuals from the community we reached out. The do-it-yourself products are all designs of the area BUT you can buy all you like! From plates made of bamboo to tissue holders to tables and chairs to plants and frames to books and bamboo wireless speakers for your phone to wine bottle Chandelier lights, to hammocks and scented candles and industrial lamps made from bicycle chains and bearings, grass-tea tables, cups and reversible/foldable caps to beltbags.

Basically all products which are handmade from families and friends in the communities. Sorry, items you can find here cannot be found in the malls! Smaller items for wedding give aways are available for pre-orders too.

So when people visits the place their eyes will never stop being amazed by what they see. And of course, the next time when they comeback it be a different tables or chairs or plants hammocks or candle lights around because the one you saw the other day was just sold.

Anyone can work for an hour or two and anybody, basically disciples and families we reach out can bring their homebased made products of food like pizza, cakes or things and display it in the Garden Center. And guess what, it’s profit sharing. So this will give jobs for everyone who wants to work part-full time.

And when everyone receives their share of the profits, all would “lay down” for the apostolic work and it’s workers. That is to support sending disciples to make disciples and support widows, orphans and poor people. Because it’s profit is shared “there will be no poor among them as they own everything.” Among us is “no buying and selling” but only giving and receiving. It is shared life and benefits, shared responsibilities and profits. It is it that what is yours is mine and what is mine is yours. No. What is yours is yours and what is mine is mine, BUT, I voluntarily laid down my life to you and deny myself to you and so are you. Thus, I value you more than anything. The two core values that connects between two people in a kingdom community are: laying down one another’s life and deny yourself. That’s how you live the kingdom life.

So inside the area are tiny houses where every can stay. Widows and orphans lived in this kinds of community people. Saints will be living “from house to house” here.

And we offer weekends classes for your children like Succulent 101, Gardening 101, Baking 101 and the like. A playground area will be provided too. An area for each skills to learn will be provided – for carpentry, welding, sewing, gardening, etc. A place where you learn how to live, and not just about God.

So it’s a place where you can bring your whole family and chill throughout the day and night. Bring your team for a business meeting? Yes you can. Equipping and training? Go ahead.

Much more, for disciples who gave their commitment to love one another, this is for them. It will be their community, their businesses, their extended family, their place, their house, their land, their food, their cars. Where church has become a people who have “hundreds of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, land, houses, persecution and yes eternal life.”

It’s a place to ‘live,’ not visit to ‘do’ Ministry works.

How close are we in this goal? Honestly, if we could have a land our own we are all prepared for it. It’s been 9 years since we prepared ourselves for this to happen. We have done many DIY products that involves individuals and families. Have put up a 330 square meter store filled with plants, and we put a sewing shop, carpentry shop, home appliances repair shop and have sold our products of hammocks, belt bags, scented candles, bamboo wireless speaker for you phone, and other little things we have created.

God provided us a place to start this all bet again, only this time the land is ours and no more renting. For awhile, while developing the area we continue to stay where we all are living – the new area will be a “second” community. A try out? A small Garden Center. It’s a 663 square meter land that we are paying monthly for ten years. We are on our 4th this time to pay. All legal documents have been signed and so the work can start. It is owned by my beautiful “mother in the Lord” for almost 30 years now. She wants to have a legacy of which it started with me!

Will start building a small light-material house to apply for water and electricity. To build a cemented house cost a lot to apply for electricity. The light-material house will house workers in and materials to use to put a hedge around the land for protection, and material to start building an outdoor toilet, tiny homes, receiving areas is separate as well as dining area and kitchen. The purpose to do it like this so that we can finished one project at a time. The area will be surrounded by fruit trees of each kinds. Areas to raise chickens, etc for food will be provided, so as vegetables too. We are overlooking to the ocean so wooden boat for fishing will be good.

Can you journey with us in this project? This is a huge one, one that is beyond me and all of us. But this is for our next generation.

Private message me please if you want to help us as your friends and extended family here in CEBU, Philippines.

Molong, Lisa and the Saints here.