The Bolivian Mission tries to emulate Matthew 25:31-46
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
We had clothed the poor, housed the orphans, and visited the jail, but we had not fed the poor and hungry. That changed in 2002. Nancy Main and her daughter, Michelle, had spent some time in Honduras when their spouse/father was stationed there, and they became reasonably fluent in Spanish. We partnered with a large church in the Mercado where the poor people work and live. The church was perfectly situated for our feeding project, and the members of the church were willing to work for free for the two weeks of the project, three meals a day.
The first year all the volunteers were divided into three groups, and the members of each group wore either a blue, white, or red bandana. The women did the cooking in extremely hot conditions, but they had no complaints. In the end, they cooked 18,000 meals for a cost of about 25 cents each. This was a complete meal with chicken or beef, salad, rice, and vegetables.
The next year we decided to serve only lunch and dinner, and in the ten days during which we fed the masses, we managed to serve over 20,000 meals. In addition to the food, we showed the Jesus Film in Quechua, Amarya, and Guarani languages, in addition to Spanish. These are the four languages spoken in the Mercado. Bibles were given to those who completed some lesions that were given at the same time as the meals. Martha Rodenbeck was the coordinator the second year, and the miracle that occurred that year was that she spoke no Spanish, and yet the project was a great success.
We had a limited feeding in 2004 as we began to partner with Etta Projects, ettaprojects.org, an organization feeding poor children on a year round basis. This organization also teaches the mothers of the children how to cook cheaply and inexpensively, as they have to volunteer in the kitchen one week a year. Healthy meals are given, and good habits, like washing hands and brushing teeth, are taught. And the children are tutored for up to four hours a day. At the same time, some of the mothers are taught living skills such as sewing and beauty parlor techniques that will allow women to become independent business people. Some of these women may be eligible for our micro-finance loans, which will be available in the near future.
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