This is a picture of a few of the littlest ones we had the privilege of feeding a meal to.  These kids were from the neighborhood, and made sure they made it to lunch at 2:30 pm every day.

 

On the first day, we realized just as we had no idea how many kids would show up, the ARTSA staff didn’t know how many to expect either!  When we began to set up on the first day, the kids immediately began arriving.  Nate and I were both in a little shock at how many appeared out of nowhere, but it was amazing to see how God equipped us for the moment!  One of the most amazing things to see was how the kids were desperate for simple love and attention.  Asher, a 12 year old from Breckenridge, had a knack for engaging the kids- when it came to putting fears aside and reaching out, he had every single one of us adults beat hands down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the first day of the feeding program, we had just about 80 kids.  While we had prepared every sandwich possible, the head of the feeding program, Jeannette, told us to cut them all in half because we weren’t going to have enough.  As we began handing out a plate to each child, the pile of sandwiches was decreasing rapidly.  It was so cool to see God work as we just kept putting sandwiches on plates and somehow the supply did not run out!  After realizing that God was providing for these kids, we started putting a whole sandwich on every plate, and were able to give extras to the kids who only received 1/2 to begin with and then were able to feed the parents who had been hanging around as well.  It was something that I can only say was God mighty hand reaching out and blessing the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the top of this page you’ll see the kids were eating of paper plates.  I’m not sure if you can tell, but the pap and sauce/gravy that they were eating was definitely soaking into the plate.   Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like as Americans we have an unspoken rule that you don’t put sauce/gravy type things on a paper plate because it will soak through, right?  Well, after using the paper plates, we collected them, presumably to put them in the trash for the kids.  Oops!  A fellow team member later told me that he saw a local ARTSA staff person taking those plates of the trash to use again later.