Still multipying the fishes and loaves

He Still Multiplies Fishes and Loaves

In a previous testimony titled "Making Seeing Eyes Blind", I shared my adventure with a fellow pastor where because of God blinding the eyes of the border guards, we were able to smuggle building material into Mexico. This was in preparation for a planned mission trip with a bus load of teenagers from all over San Diego County. It was on the trip that the foundation was laid for the testimony that I now share.   

After dropping off the van load of smuggled building materials in El Porvenir, a small village south of Tecate, we continued south on hwy 3 towards Ensenada praying and asking the Lord for direction regarding the upcoming mission trip. Although we had numerous projects planned for our time in Porvenir, we were still feeling the Lord had something else we were supposed to do. Our drive that day was a search for that "something else".

On our way to Ensenada, we came across what at first looked like a dump, then like a refugee camp, and then like a tent city. It turned out that it was a little bit of all three of these. Spanning what must have been ten acres was an assortment of broken-down cars, tents, pallets, tarps, lean-tos, and cardboard shacks. Milling around like ants among what was sadly their living quarters, were dozens if not hundreds of people. Men, women, small children, teenagers, and the elderly, all of which had been forced by their poverty to make their home in what was in reality, a county dump.  

We were able to park our van on a hill overlooking this menagerie of homes and humanity, spending several hours that afternoon and evening just watching and praying. The poverty was obviously in such extreme measure that we knew people had to be dying. Sitting there in silence that evening we watched as these many pitiful souls combed the dump for materials to form some sort of protection against the cold night air and occasional rains. We both soon recognized that we had not arrived here by chance, but by divine appointment. The Lord was stirring our compassion by tugging at the cords of our hearts.

One particular scene that evening was the final straw that spoke to our hearts confirming that we needed to do something for the people of this tragic community. It was just becoming dark when we noticed a young couple wander into the dump. It appeared they were new to this sad community as they had walked in from just below the hill in which we had parked our van. They were not alone in their wanderings, for at their feet trailed two very small children, a boy and a girl. The children were about three and four years old. As this family entered the outskirts of the dump community, we noticed they had been picking up small limbs and various sticks. Each of these sticks ranged from about four to five feet long, none of them looking much larger that the size of a childs wrist. At first, we thought they were collecting these sticks to start a fire. The dump was full of many such fires created by collecting anything burnable around the dump. However, we soon learned that this young couple had, if possible, an even more humbling and prosaic plan.  

After fifteen or twenty minutes of scavenging for limbs with the help of their two small children, the couple found a place to make their nest for the night. Working together, this young couple leaned the sticks together to make a sort of teepee. After using something to tie them together at the top, both mom and dad took off what looked like very thin and worn sweaters and laid them over the sticks, enclosing the little miniature teepee. Once they were able to secure the coverings in place, they opened a small space in the side of the teepee. We watched as they ushered their two small children into the little structure where they would spend the night. Last of all, both adults laid down on the ground on each side of the teepee as if hoping to provide further warmth and security for their children that night. Recognizing that the Lord had brought us to this very place to witness the hardships these souls were living with, we knew we had to do something. Only a week later, we made another trip back to Porvenir to speak with our missionary friend Marcos. We were encouraged to learn that Marco knew of the situation at the dump and had, when he was able, brought food and help to those poor people living in such squaller. We made a plan to bring food packages to distribute, and to also bring a few meager building materials to provide a few more "shacks" to maybe keep some of the more needy out of the elements.  

It was mid-December when we made the trip back to Porvenir, with another van full of materials, this time with 8 or 10 teens sitting on top of them (actually two vans this time). We also drove a bus carrying another 40 or so teenagers and a number of adults. Using the previously smuggled building materials, that week we began work on a roof for an elderly woman and playground equipment for the local park. We also brought around 300 toys to distribute to the children for Christmas (children would come in from far off communities). We also brought a pile of clothing to be distributed by Marcos as the need arose.  

The food supplies we brought to distribute at the dump took up almost as much space as the stack of long 2x6 boards we smuggled in under the seats of the bus to rebuild the woman’s roof. At Marco's advice, we brought flour, beans, rice, and powdered milk. Many of our teens had worked for hours back in San Diego separating these supplies into 5 lb. packages. We would deliver a "unit" to each living space in the dump. A "unit" consisted of a 5 lb. package of flour, 5 lbs. of beans, 5 lbs. of rice, and 5 lbs. of powdered milk. When the day came for the trip to the dump, I was occupied with the playground project in the local park. Because of this I would have to stay behind with about fifteen teenagers to finish that project. Betsy joined Marcos and several other adults and the bulk of the teens and traveled back to the dump. It is her accounting of what happened that day that provides the testimony of the things that follow.    

The plan was to have the teens working together in groups to distribute the food. They would take a "unit" (20 lbs.), each carrying a 5 lb. package, and beginning with one side of the dump they would go up and down the crooked rows of "homes" distributing the food. Marcos assured us this was necessary saying that if we just handed it out from the back of the bus, those who take advantage of others in this sad community would grab the bulk of the food and either sell it or use it for their own purposes.     

Our ministry group had reached the dump around noon that day, and after looking at the number of "units" in the bus, Marcos advised that we would likely cover what he estimated to be less than one quarter of the "homes". Marcos had done this for many years so we knew he was experienced in his estimation. We had purchased about 300 lbs. of each food item, so we had around 60 "units" to distribute.  After an hour or more of distributing the food, the leaders informed Marcos that they had covered the entire area he had designated, but there still remained more food in the back of the bus. Marcos was amazed that the food had stretched that far. He instructed the leaders to move the bus to another part of the sprawling community. Setting up again with the teens taking their "units" to the new area of homes, it was another hour or so later when they had again provided food for the entire new area Marcos had designated. Marcos again expressed his amazement, saying in all the years he had distributed food at the dump, he had never seen the food go this far. There was still food in the bus.   

When Marcos tearfully instructed the leaders to move the bus this second time, they all began to recognized they were all seeing a miracle as the Lord multiplied the food even as it was being taken out of the bus. That day, they moved the bus again and distributed food to yet another area of the dump. Still in tears, Marcos testified that the food and gone four times farther than he had imagined possible. The teens and the leaders all returned to Porvenir knowing they had been a part of a miracle. Especially for those teens, many of which had come on this trip not knowing Jesus Christ, that day was a life changing experience where the Bible story of Jesus multiplying the fishes and the loaves came off the printed page and into the reality of their lives.  

Back in Porvenir, the miracle working power of God was not done. Over the next few days, each of the other ministry projects experienced their own testimony of the power and presence of the Lord. (those are the subject of yet another testimony).