No Stress

11-28-09

So it was our last Friday at Kilometer 38 and we had decided that the best way to use up all of our excess food would be to plan out meals. Us girls sat down together and scheduled our remaining weekend meals. We had already made sure that we had used most of our fresh foods, so by the end of our writing, most of the meals consisted of things like rice, beans, lentils, split peas, etc. It seemed like we would be able to scrimp by the rest of the weekend without buying anymore food.
That evening I was on cooking duty and I had just about finished the spaghetti and beans (I know, great mix) when I noticed that the burner had gone out. No big deal, I thought, the wind at times blows out the fire on our stove. But as I tried repeatedly the relight the stove with no success, I realized that nope, it wasn’t the wind, we had most definitely run out of gas. As if perfect timing, the sun had just set, beginning our Sabbath here.

Our group got together to discuss our dilemma, we really didn’t have enough food to get us through the rest of the Sabbath unless we wanted to eat raw potatoes and uncooked lentils. Yum…okay, in my head that sounded like a really awful option…Option two, we could have someone run into town to buy more gas or go to a local grocery store to pick up some more instant stuff like bread. I will be honest and say that I was definitely leaning toward the second plan. After talking for a little while though, we decided that we didn’t want to buy anything on the Sabbath and that God would provide enough food or we would try fasting. Whether buying things on the Sabbath or not is right, it is not really a big point in my story, and I think that is everyone’s personal preference, so I am going to continue on.

So we went into Friday night, preparing ourselves to eat little the next day. After our nightly program though we had several families give us huge bags of mangos. Next, someone gave us two watermelons, then another a pineapple! Sabbath morning was actually more like a feast for us. We made raw oatmeal and loaded it up with sugar and stuffed ourselves with fruit. I figured that at least we would had a big meal to hold us over for the day.

Lunch rolled around after church though, and another watermelon had appeared with more mangos! We found out that one of the girls in our group had actually bought a big bag of bread rolls as well the day before for her but she decided to share it with the rest of us. I still wasn’t sure how full I would feel since I am not a huge mango fan but figured things would work out. As we were preparing our lunch, a girl came up to me and asked me to come and talk with her for a second. She then invited me to come to the little picnic lunch her and her family was having. I was given a plate loaded up with Peruvian spaghetti and potato salad of sorts. Wow, talk about being blessed once again!

At supper we were given more fruit and we ate the remainder of our bread! I couldn’t believe I had gone through the whole day being stuffed! Even though I got a little sick off of the food that I had for lunch, God most definitely provided for us that day. In a time where I really doubted Him, He went out of His way to overly provide for us. Although I may not be living with the frillies of life down here, I now feel super assured that God most definitely will provide all of my basic needs.