Cheq with Hope : Beans or Burritos: There is still a need

The delicious burrito felt cold in my stomach. I was starving after a long day of digging a sewer line for new bathrooms at the children’s home, but the burrito felt indigestible after what I had just realized.

Today was our first of 4 straight days with the kids in this home. Cheque and I had brought our tent to pitch outside the dormitories while the group members slept inside with the kids. We were all moved in, had worked hard that day, and were preparing for a bonfire that night with the kids.

Cheque pitching the tent with several very enthusiastic volunteers!

Half a burrito still sat on my plate. It was hard to eat knowing that these beautiful children hadn’t tasted it and wouldn’t.

A few moments before, I had asked what time dinner would be. The cook at the children’s home told me that the American group and the kids were not going to eat together because she was not preparing the same dinner for them to eat. A boy from the home came in, and upon hearing this asked ,“What are we eating, then?”

“Beans,” came the reply. “Then I want to be American today,” he said. There was laughter as he and the cook joked about this. I assumed the cook was joking too, until I saw her serving up the kids’ plates. Beans. Just mashed beans, with a little grated cheese on top.

I could hardly gulp down the large beef-filled burrito that was placed before me. How could I enjoy this when I knew 34 young kids and teenagers were going to go to bed with growling stomachs? Eduardo, a teenage boy, asked if Cheque would save him half his burrito. No other child complained or even asked for more. I could tell that for these kids, beans for dinner was not uncommon.

We had given money to the home that morning so they would have the extra they needed to feed our team, but had never once expected that we would eat like kings, while the kids went hungry. I had so many questions running through my head. “Did they not have enough money to feed these kids? Why hadn’t they mentioned anything to us? How often had the children only eaten beans? What could we do?”

I quickly talked with Cheque and we decided to run to the store and add a hotdog cookout to our bonfire plans that night in order to provide the kids with more sustenance.The children were thrilled with the hot dogs and s’mores and ate nearly every scrap.

Toto with his hot dog at the bonfire

While the kids filled their stomachs, Cheque tuned up the guitar for worship. I felt the Lord’s tug to ask if anyone had anything they wanted to share.Odalis, raised her hand and said, “ My dad is in prison. Would you pray for him to know Christ?” This started a chain reaction of little hands shooting into the air. “ My dad is lame and my mom has a hernia,” said Juan. “I don’t know where my dad is,” confessed little Josue. “Could you pray for my family?” another voice piped up.

So we prayed together, and cried together. And God’s Presence was there.

Those 4 days in the children’s home opened our eyes again to the need that is still so abundant in Mexico. Both physical and spiritual need. We praise God because He allowed His Spirit to flow through us to meet some of that need that night..