As I sat across
the table from my teammates, the looks on their faces were starting to scare
me. They did not look happy. We were going to be staying at a resort with our
ministry contact’s team, but we were definitely NOT going to be living the
resort lifestyle. We weren’t going to be able to cook food, we weren’t going to
have a refrigerator, and we had to bring all of our food for 10 days. And then
I had the audacity to tell them to pray that our food would multiply and that
we would be blessed.
In Africa, there
aren’t a lot of options for food when you can’t cook it and you can’t
refrigerate it. We have been left with cereal with milk that doesn’t have to be
refrigerated until you open it (so we get one carton every morning between the
team) and peanut butter and jelly/honey. Yep that’s it. You ask, “right so what
do you eat for dinner?� Well, peanut butter and jelly/honey.
Do you understand
now why I felt like my team wanted to hurt me severely? I don’t blame them.
The next morning,
they set out to the store to get all of our groceries while I continued to work
out the kinks with ministry. They left looking less than pleased, but came back
with smiles on their faces. I was relieved to say the least that they didn’t
hate me. I even thanked them for not being mad at me. They did a fabulous job
and got plenty of food for us and
they were under budget! I have the best
team…just sayin’. Anyway, we set out to the Ostrich Farm, peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches and all. We maintained a pretty good attitude about the food
we were going to be eating. Things turned out well.
Then it started
coming. Manna…from America, that is. Pastor Steve and his wife Karen, started
it. They said they had left over food from their trip to Uganda and wondered if
we could use it. I tried to pretend like it wasn’t a big deal, but when I
looked in the bag she handed me I couldn’t contain myself. Granola bars, raw
almonds, crasins, dried mango, American
chocolate, and Werther’s Original candies!! We definitely threw up a prayer of praise to the Lover and Pursuer of
our souls!!! I thought, man God is romancing me! BUT HE DIDN’T STOP THERE!
Pastor Alan came up to me with another bag! He said, “I heard you guys might be
able to use some more food.� In my mind I said, “Might??� We gladly accepted
the blessing. I told him about how when Steve and Karen gave us their bag we
looked into it like kids at Christmas time. While telling this story I looked
in the bag that Alan gave us to reenact what happened, when, to my pleasant surprise, I saw Cliff Bars. The
kids at Christmas time thing happened again. I exclaimed “WHAT?! THERE’S CLIFF
BARS IN HERE!!� I immediately composed myself and graciously thanked him for
his blessing. He walked away and Nicole and I went rummaging through the bag to
see what other goodies were in there. We were making a pretty big ruckus,
because some of the other Americans sitting at the next table started laughing
at us. Throughout our stay at the Ostrich Farm our American friends continue to
bless us by giving us left over food that they don’t want. They also graciously
share their M&Ms and other treats with us. Some have even offered to buy us
sodas! We have been quite literally kids in a candy shop these last few days!
So we’ve been blessed beyond comprehension! It’s really cool to see how God
provides—really how He blesses—and how creatively He does it.
I also find it
funny that I now see Cliff Bars, Werther’s, and M&Ms as gifts from my
Beloved. I would have never
considered something like this as a blessing from God before I left the US, but
now that’s ALL I see it as! I am my
Beloved’s and His desire is for me! And I don’t care who thinks I’m ridiculous,
weird, or joking!
