Once a month at Pan De Vida, they have a feeding program just for the Venezuelans and their families. It’s heartbreaking to see the amount of people who come in that are desperately needing not just food, but love. A lot of people don’t have jobs and if they do, their pay isn’t much to support them. These situations are unfathomable. But we do our best to meet them where they are at and truly listen to their stories.
At about 3pm we started preparing the meal we serve to them. Sometimes they have bags of cheese or rice and this day it was rice. We bagged up about 60 bags. This month I chose to be in the kitchen every time if I had the opportunity. We started by chopping the onions and green peppers and grating the cheese. While people were doing the vegetables, the rice, beans, and the ground beef were being cooked. I was helping with the green peppers then I was pulled to start helping with the plantains. There were what looked like 200 plantains that I cut in half and then thinly sliced them. After that, I fried every single one which took about 2 hours.
Outside, there were volunteers and staff members who were registering and getting the people inside for the church service or the kids to the VBS. They were also counting how many children and adults there are to match the amount of food we are cooking. We got the announcement halfway through that there were 120 combined. As we started to package the food we got the announcement there were 220 people to be fed!!! My eyes popped out of my head as I was putting the cheese on top of the food in each container and I remember praying,
“Lord, stretch this food so we don’t have to make more. Let us be wise with the portions.”
Not only did we get a meal to every single person but we had EXTRA!!!
It reminded me of a story in the Bible in 2 Kings 4:1-7
One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”
The SAME way the Lord provided for this poor woman in the Bible, he provided for US on February 21!! He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and he does not change. It was truly a miracle from the Lord that we were able to serve as many children and adults as we did and pass out extra food to families.
But it doesn’t stop there..
As it came to an end and people were leaving, there was this family who had about 5 extra heavy bags of donations from the foundation, the meal that was given to them, plus extra for them to eat, and a baby!! The mom started to eat and the husband was feeding their 8 month old Brittany.
My thoughts exactly were…. “Ok so they’re going to have to leave soon and start walking. But the dad won’t be able to eat because he is going to be carrying all the heavy bags. Where’s a translator? How do you ask in Spanish “can I feed your baby so you can eat”? Will he be upset if I just take her and start feeding her? Whatever. I know I should, so I’m just going to do it.”
So, I stripped away my fear and I went with my gut and I plopped her on my lap praying she wouldn’t cry and started feeding her.
I started asking him questions to her father such as, “Do you have family in Venezuela?” His whole family and his wife’s is still in Venezuela and has been in Quito, Ecuador for about a year now. “Do you have a job?” No I do not have one. “Do you have a house?” No, we are refugees. And that was it, Juan Carlos said it was time for them to leave and I helped them gather their things and told them I would pray for them.
I didn’t see them at the foundation after that. But I’m trusting that the seeds that were planted that day continue to grow in their lives. It’s his loving kindness that brings us closer, his compassionate heart and care for one another. Lord I pray I can be more like you and less like me.
Here are a few pictures of me and sweet little Brittany.
