Just imagine

Just imagine for a moment... imagine you are waking up to the early morning light seeping into your tiny home under and around the dirty, musty blanket that serves as a makeshift door.  You can hear the scuttle of nearby cats, dogs, rats, and other animals as they, too, begin to yawn, stretch, and begin their day.  You are trying to stretch your aching bones too, after sleeping in a cramped bed on a lumpy, moldy mattress with 2 or 3 siblings.

The tiny room that you call home is about 14 feet by 14 feet and filled with 2 double beds, a few broken chairs, and several overflowing dressers.  The walls are made of cold cinder block and roof is made of tin which cooks the small room during the heat of the day and reverberates with every rain drop during the rain.

You must be careful as you step out of bed.  The dirt floor is filled with potholes dug out by dogs and cats as they search for a bed of their own.  With a wide yawn from too little sleep you begin your day- the aching bones now forgotten as the gnawing in your stomach becomes ferocious.  There was no dinner the night before and you are pretty sure there will not be much for breakfast today.  Your mother is cranky from lack of sleep and a good meal too.  She brusquely reminds you to hurry off to school with promises of a warm tortilla with salt for lunch when you return.  So you gather up your school things, try to straighten the dirty clothes you slept in and make them presentable for at least one more day, and slip your sockless feet into a pair of shoes with broken laces and a floppy sole before you slip through the curtain you call a door.

This is no imaginary game for so many children that we see on a daily basis.  But with just $5/month YOU can change the ending to this story.  YOU can make it possible for a child to end his/her school day with the promise of a healthy, filling lunch at our new feeding program.

You can be a part of changing a look of desperation

 

into a look of hope....

The children bound up the stairs of our ministry base, leaving their dishes in the kitchen to be filled while they spend 20 minutes or so having fun with one of our teachers.  Each week we teach a Bible truth in a different and creative way.  Each week the children's souls are nourished as well as their bodies.

Abigail with the children

It is a race to see if the kitchen staff can finish before the class is done.

Venancia filling plates

Chrissy filling water bottles with Jamaican Rose tea

Once the class is over the children race hungrily down to pick up their full dishes before they rush off home.  The hallway is filled with giggles and glee as at least THIS day they can go to bed with full tummies.

We have a waiting list of at least 30 more children who want to come.  Please pray about how you can get involved.
Perhaps your Sunday school class, youth group, or ladies' group would like to sponsor one or more children.
Perhaps you want to organize a trip and come help in person.
Perhaps you know of some young person who would like to spend a few months with us.

Perhaps you could pray and join your faith with ours.
Perhaps you could pass this blog along to others.
The Lord will show you what you can do if you just ask Him.

Feel free to contact me for more information: sarah@crossculturejesus.org

A Glorious Day!

Thick, angry clouds gathered in the gray, dripping sky.  It was a bleak and bleary morning that threatened to make its despair my own. 

I fought against a deep weariness that came from several nights of only a 3 or 4 hours of sleep followed by several days of battling my pre-schooler's high fever. 

As I beheld the less than glorious morning I felt joy and strength begin to well up on the inside of me.  I glanced over at Francisco and we shared a smile as the Lord whispered to our hearts that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  We had certainly been waiting upon the Lord.  In fact, we had been waiting for a very long time.


Suddenly I knew that I could soar on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint (Is. 40:31) because the Lord was with us.  His hand of favor was upon us.  And I knew that it was a glorious morning despite the weather and weariness.  This day was the day when a long awaited dream was becoming a reality.  This was the day we would serve our first meal at the ABA feeding center.

Our first meal, as we called it, was a success.  We held the inauguration of the feeding center on a Sunday so that students from the Mariano Galvez University that have been helping us could be present.  They brought with them a group of volunteers called the Fabrica de Sonrisas (Smile Factory) who go to hospitals, orphanages, etc to bring smiles and cheer to children and adults alike.

The volunteers from the University were hard at work in the kitchen.

Francisco was hard at work doing odd jobs like helping to organize the flow of people traffic and entertain the boys!

While the food was simmering away and the volunteers setting up the activities room I was busy putting names on each plate and water bottle.

 

 

And of course I had help!  my helpers are never far behind....

 Finally the plates were all set and just waiting to be filled.

Meanwhile the kids were having fun with Smile Factory.

And we were busy filling plates and getting ready to hand out the meal. 

As the children left they were each given the plate and water bottle that corresponded to them.  Because of space limitations we have decided to handle the feeding center in this manner- giving the children the food to go.  The will be responsible to bring back their dishes each week to be filled again.

A well deserved break after the kids left and before the clean-up

 a future attendee---

All of us at CrossCulture Jesus and Brazos Abiertos want to sincerely thank each and every person who has been a part of making this dream come true- not only for us but for the many families who will benefit from this feeding program.  Years of trusting God have brought us to this point and you have all had a vital role to play.  

May the Lord bless you and keep you!!!!!!