Nov 16 - New Boiler Arrives At GN

Dear Devotees of Gita Nagari Community!
Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. I pray that you and your families are well.
Since I last shared with you, the bliss and excitement here at Gita Nagari has gotten even more relishing.
I with the rest of the team of "cowherd boys" (Bali Maharaj das, Bhakta Trey, Damodara Rati, Jagannatha Kripa and Muni) have completed most of the winter arrangements at the barn for the cows, calves and oxen. We redesigned the space to accommodate retired milkers, milkers, oxen and calves, with enough space for them to both have shelter and open walking space. The children also tirelessly gathered bedding for the barns for the winter.
Venu and Bhumi are walked daily by the children, especially Vrindarani and Muni, and the calves are accustomed to being led by a leash now. This is step one of their training. We had a wonderful time with guests from New Jersey as well, especially Mother Jyoti-nanavati, in a special spontaneous Gopastami celebration. I will send you a separate update of that with pictures.
And if any of you have been to the area behind the barn, you will be more than familiar with the "non-essential" items we had stored there!!! Most of that has been cleared away and everything is a lot less cluttered and it feels lighter and spacious out there - special thanks to Bali Prabhu and Ekavira prabhu as much of it needed to be moved with the tractor.
We are also patrolling the farm more frequently now with it being the hunting season - the "no hunting" signs are up and devotees are reminded to wear bright orange even on our ISKCON property.
I also checked in with four families in the last week - thank you to them for sharing their perspectives - I benefited greatly and look forward to ecstatic service!
The boiler has arrived and Nandakisore Prabhu is working flat out to have it installed, in addition to his other services of keeping Gita Nagari Property issues functional.
The children, Mother Sri Vrindavan and I attended the local 4-H Recognition Banquet at the Port Royal Community Hall (Nandakisore Prabhu was busy on the skid-loader we had hired for the day (in the dark with temporay bright lights on!) around the boiler house, and Parijata was on the altar). The hosts graciously made specific mention of us and welcomed us both into the community and the 4-H world. There we met Club Leaders and leant how we can structure our farm activities to also host children here. I also met the folk I deal with frequently from the Farm Services Agencies and the Ag Extension. Our children incidentally won door prizes.
We are very happy to have Muktavandiya Prabhu back in the asrama - he is in better health and wants to get more involved in direct temple services.
Wood chopping and splitting are still a large part of our activities, and the rest of the team of devotees are serving sweetly in their respective services (deity worship, kitchen, school, garden, cleaning, administration, milking, special projects, etc). I am very grateful for them.
A big thank you to the Sunday Program teams (cooks, MC, Devotees giving the classes, those helping clean afterwards, those participating on varying levels, and the like) - the last many Sundays have been more ecstatic with a wonderful community spirit - I thank them for their selfless service.
We had our Community Meeting as well - thank you to the devotees for participating. I will post the summary of the meeting shortly.
We are keeping Little Damianti in our prayers, as well as her parents Bhubrt Prabhu and Mother Jhulan Yatra, as she so bravely goes through her health challenges, with a "never give up" attitude. We are also prayerful for the wellbeing of Jeanette, a dear well-wisher of the devotees and a devotee in her own right (daughter of Mother Indrani), in Washington DC.
And of course praying for the joyful transition of our special and beloved Kuvera Prabhu (disciple of HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami) who left his body a few days ago, in Washington DC. There is so much to share. Thank you devotees for taking the time to read this.
Till we speak again... Your servant, always Dhruva Maharaj das