One more sandwich!

One more sandwich!

In the gospel of John 21:15-17 Jesus says to Peter:“Feed my lambs”, then Jesus said:“Take care of my sheep.” Finally in verse 17 He says:“Feed my sheep”. These scriptures greatly motivated Roger & I once we arrived in Tijuana, Mexico in August 1990. Again, these words were my motivation to write this article, because it is so very important to take care of the poor. Upon our arrival in San Diego, for several months we worked with a black American lady who was already working in the shanty towns of Tijuana. Every Sunday, we would pack up her van with food and used clothing and go to three different colonias. With the help of an interpreter, Sister Stamps would preach a short gospel message. Only after she finished preaching did the people gathered outside, where we then distributed groceries to each family. Sister Stamps was very adamant that the people received the Bread of Life before they got bread for their bellies. Actually, Roger & I adopted that same “rule”. In 1992, after we founded Tender Loving Care Children Ministries, we went back to one of those areas to teach the children a weekly bible study. Afterwards, we fed the children. Many of them had to go to school and had not eaten since getting up that morning. We fed them various type of easy to make meals but the most popular was peanut butter and jam sandwiches made with fresh white bread and accomppanied by a glass of cold white milk. To some of you, this will seem to be a very humble meal. But for these kids it was a very special meal. We would set up a table at the front of the little church and then we would make lots of sandwiches. Some of the moms would help us by making the kids line up to come to the table or by serving them a glass of milk. For sanitary reasons, we always wrapped the sandwiches in a white paper napkin. The children were always permitted to get back in line if they wanted a second sandwich. One day one of the moms approached me and said:“Hermana Denise”, and pointing to a little girl in the line up, “this little girl has come several times to get a sandwich, but she has not eaten any of the sandwiches you gave her, she has them all on her chair.” As this cute little girl, about eight years old, got yet another sandwich, I decided to follow her to her seat to find out what she was doing. She had already 6 sandwiches on her chair. When she realized that I was beside her, she bowed her head probably thinking I was going to scold her. Instead, I took by the hand, and I asked her: “Mija, (which means dear in spanish) why are you accumulating these sandwiches but not eating one of them.” She lifted her cute little face and said:“Hermana Denise, we are nine living in my house and we have nothing to eat. I was planning to take these sandwiches to my house to feed my family.” With tears in my eyes, I took her by the hand and picked up the “accumulated sandwiches” and I went back to the table where Roger was still busy making sandwiches. I made three more sandwiches, grabbed a plastic bag and put all of the nine sandwiches inside. Giving the little girl a hug and the bag of sandwiches, I told her:“Precious, go home and bring these to your family”. I also I handed her a bag of groceries that the kids always received every week before going back to their shacks.” She gave me a big smile and out the door she went. Roger had noticed that I had left the table and he had seen me come back with this little girl, but he had no idea what was going on because he was busy making peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Once we finished feeding the kids and gave them their bag of groceries, we got in the van to return to San Diego. Once back on the road, Roger asked me:“What happened with this little girl that made you disappear from the table and then come back to the table with her. What happened that made you cry? With tears pouring down my face this was my answer: “Roger, this little girl got in line several times, because all she wanted was another sandwich.”

Sincerely Denise !

I have no picture of the little girl in this story.