Pre-Pandemic

Tanglaw ng Takda

On of our most significant projects:  Solar Street Lamps

Plate of Faith

The Feeding of 500 lead us to see another opportunity to serve the people in the village. While not all of them are using “selecta” as their plates, we decided to give out real dining plates for the families and use them as a tool to share God’s Word.

Fifteen mothers and one father came on September 19. 2019 . With an average of 6 children in a family, the 16 parents represent at least 100 hundred people.

We shared Matthew 18:20-21 , actually a timely message for most of them- forgiving and to ask forgiveness. But the greatest forgiver is God who sent His Son to die for our sins.

(The Hotdog Argument)

Rich or poor , children from all generations are crazy about this juicy red thing, the kids in Camalig would love to have one on their plates . I’d like to see happier kids on June 19 , the hotdogs should do the trick! But I was rebuked by Arlene, why feed the people with something that is linked to serious diseases ? At first I argued that one hotdog would not hurt – just one hotdog , just for today , just to make them happier. But as I learned from our church theme , Truth Matters . Processed foods are directly linked to cancer, even if just a bite on that sausage is negligible, I have to stand by that truth. It’s hypocrisy on my part.

Ok so no processed foods in the feeding and we want all nutritious ingredients into the menu. The pansit was almost a vegan meal with all the greens in it. of course no MSG 🙂 and funny as it may seem, alongside was spaghetti serving courtesy of Tina Rosal. Complimenting the avant-garde pasta mix, fried chicken was added to the combo.

The Bread determines the numbers.

There are at least 250 families in the community averaging with 4-5 members . We can not accommodate them all so we simply have to resort to first come first serve rule. The 502 nutritionally-stuffed sandwiches was our way to measure . One for each in the queue , and while the fathers and young adult men were too shy to line up, their wives and mothers collected their shares as well.

Some challenges.

The faithful Nantes family has always been efficient in every ministry project in Takda. But facilitating the event, hosting , and documentation all fell on me- a challenge I have foreseen that is why I was hoping for volunteers who would actually go with me to Bicol.

The kitchen arsenal is no match to the large anticipating crowd. The “kawa” and “kaldero” are not big enough so we had to cook by batches, serve by batches.

Bring your own plates

By 4 PM the children were slowly populating the area with spoons, plastic cups ,and plates. In the past , we would usually provide disposable utensils but we figured it is not environment-friendly especially with 500 pax.

This also revealed that some families don’t even have decent plates in their homes- they came with recycled selecta containers.

Once the food was served the line moved smoothly as every one patiently waited for his turn- such a disciplined community of children and parents. There were no tables so find your own dining spot and it was a joyful picnic day in Takda!

I scream for Ice cream !

At this point, the orderliness was somehow shaken. Believe it or not, most of them do not get to enjoy the simple pleasure of eating ice cream. So it’s really understandable why the queue to the sorbetes was a little chaotic.

Yet everyone got to melt a cold yummy dessert in his mouth. Then it occurred to me that this should conclude every feeding activity in the future.

The support that came is overwhelming,  God truly provides and He does it in great abundance.  The Feeding of the 500 experience is also about stewardship as spoken by Jesus after feeding the multitude “gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted”  

Literally , the bountiful dinner was consumed to the last drop.  There was no left over.  But the message here is about sustainability, the ministry goes beyond the food and fun.  Good stewardship is making the most of what the LORD has given us, we will continue reaching out  to this community. It is our prayer that you consider visiting Takda and let God speak to you.

My next visit is in September 2019.  Would you consider joining me ?  In the meantime please pray for the following items:

• pray for a full-time missionary/teacher for Takda
• pray for God’s provision for repairs and expansion in the library
• pray for a sustainable livelihood in the community
• pray for all who heard the Gospel on June 19 , that God will continue to speak to them
• pray for dinner sets  for some 100 families (remember some came with selecta containers )