What Are The Odds?

If you've been reading our blog from the beginning, or if you've taken the time to read some of the older posts, you probably know a bit about the children's breakfast we serve in Torreon every Saturday morning. 3 weeks ago, Stephen told me that I would be taking charge of the breakfasts. Every Friday, I have to go to the food bank in Torreon, get what we need for the next day (usually bread, yogurt, and milk), and then drive to Torreon bright and early Saturday morning to serve breakfast. Since I'm still relatively new here, I don't know where the food bank is, so Stephen told Paul and I to go that first Friday. However, when Friday came, we didn't have a car to go in. Fine, we said, we'll go next week. The next Friday rolls around, and Paul and I set out in our ancient pick-up truck. All is going well until about 20 minutes into the trip, when the truck suddenly slows down for no reason. Well, actually, this was the reason:
So off we trekked into town, called for help, changed the tire, and decided to try again the next week.

The third Friday comes along, and we set off again (in a different car), feeling a bit of trepidation...but we passed the spot where we broke down...halfway to Torreon...success!! We made it to the rehab center! All we have to do is wait for a couple of people, and then we're off to the food bank. BUT, while we're waiting in the office, we get a phone call from Stephen - there's a problem at the bank, and we have to go back to San Pedro to sort it out. So close...and yet so far...so this week, a month after our first attempt, we'll be heading out again - please pray that we'll make it!

However disastrous our attempts to get to the food bank, the breakfasts have been going very well. Three weeks ago we fed about 60 children, two weeks ago about 75, and last week over 120. While we're glad that we're reaching so many people, this week we ran out of food before we ran out of people. It's difficult to look at the people and tell them that there's nothing left, although they received the news calmly. To avoid this problem in the future, we're hoping to involve some of our church members in buying beans and tortillas and making burritos to supplement the food we get from the food bank. It will also be helpful when we get the new kitchen built because if we start to run low on food, we will be able to make more on site, instead of guessing how much to bring every week. This is a picture of the new building right now. We are praying that we will be able to expand it further to accommodate more children and more workers.