#158 – January 13, 2025 — Mitti Seva 2024!

Dear Friends,

Many of Ishwar’s friends were blessed with the opportunity to perform seva at Dera Baba Sawan Singh in 2024.  The most popular event was “Mitti Seva” when 85 sevadars gathered for a long weekend in September.  There was an abundance of work to keep volunteers busy, and plenty of time to talk with old and new friends.  
 Ishwar.jpeg
Below are some fun photos from Mitti Seva 2024.
1 Dera 2024 - mitti seva group photo.jpeg
Fresh prashad vegetables were harvested in advance of the arrival of the chefs and the cooks.
2 Dera 2024 - Susanne with carrots.jpeg
3 IMG_5980 - garden veggies.jpeg
4 Dera 2019 - garden broccoli.jpeg
The new Pole Barn was transformed into a busy kitchen by the many food-service volunteers.
5 Dera 2024 - pole barn kitchen (2).jpeg
Ishwar’s skilled chefs used gallons of garden veggies each day for making delicious prashad pakoras!
6 Dera 2024 - Vishesh Prem pakora (1).jpeg
10 Dera 2024 - kitchen vikram neel rekha (1).jpeg
Volunteers cleaned and prepared great amounts of potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, kale, squash, cabbage, onions, and other veggies for the lunch and dinner menus.
7 Dera 2024 - cutting veggies.jpeg
8 Dera 2024 - cooks.jpeg
Ishwar’s friends came from across North America, including quite a few Canadians.  The prize for greatest distance traveled was to a sevadar from Europe!
12 Dera 2024 - Dale Elesia Harjit.jpeg
Visitors enjoyed socializing and renewing old acquaintances.
14 Dera 2024 - Dwight in dining hall.jpeg
16 Dera 2024 - overview.jpeg
Once again, Ishwar’s Prashad Garden was a center of attention for volunteers young and old.
17 Dera 2024 - garden workers.jpeg
One group of volunteers built three new raised garden beds which will be filled with vegetables next summer.
18 Dera 2024 - raised garden beds.jpeg
19 Dera 2024 - from Barb and Bill.jpeg
The new Pole Barn also served as the cafeteria.
20 Dera 2024 - lunch in pole barn.jpeg
There are always things to painting at the dera.
22 Dera 2024 - painting.jpeg
The storage container that is being transformed into a sevadar bunkhouse was carefully cleaned of rust in preparation for painting.  Here’s the “before” view.
23 Dera 2024 - sanding container.jpeg
And here’s the “after” view.
24 Dera 2024 - container painted.jpeg
A character who identifies as “Ishwar’s Bo Bo” happily at work in the workshop.
25 Dera 2024 - Jonathan with grinder.jpeg
On satsang day, the Pole Barn became the lecture hall.
29 Dera 2024 - satsang in pole barn.jpeg
A full rainbow graced the prashad garden!
30 Dera 2024 - rainbow.jpeg
The evening campfires are always popular venues … especially if a certain Bo Bo is toasting vegan marshmallows!
31 Dera 2024 - campfire.jpeg
Two major dera events are planned for 2025:
     May 23 – 26, 2025 (Memorial Day weekend)
     September 19 – 22, 2025 (Mitti Seva)
See the ISHA Events page at https://ishanews.org/events/ for more info.
Volunteers are also invited to visit the dera any time between May 1 and November 1.  
Volunteers are responsible for their own lodging and transportation. For a list of local hotels, motels, and campgrounds CLICK HERE.

To learn more about the Meeting Hall, check out the dera website at https://dera.ishanews.org

If you would like to offer seva to Ishwar Ji, please visit https://ishanews.org/voluntary-contribution/

Any questions related to Ishwar’s dera can be directed to Jagannath Kerai’s email at chairman@ishanews.org

With warmest regards,

Paul Bauer

ISHA Dera Building Committee

Ishwar (1).jpeg