Desirae Nachtwey and Nikita Peterman, two college students from our GBCC family, recently experienced the impact of Feed My Starving Children firsthand. Desirae shares the experience in this letter to Tricia Murphy.
Hi Tricia!
Recently, I traveled with Nikita Peterman down to Belize for a study abroad opportunity with NWTC. We were in Belize for 2 weeks, where we were student teaching in the schools there. Nikita and I were both placed at a small school, 55 children and 16 preschoolers, called San Antonio Government School. The San Antonio community is very poor. Siblings bring younger siblings to school, walking miles, as their parents gamble or find a different way to spend their time rather than taking care of the little ones. Nikita and I both felt so blessed to be placed at San Antonio, as other students on the trip were placed at "better off" schools. The children there are skin and bones, but love on each other more than I have ever seen children do so before. They share everything that they have, without a question of whether or not there will be enough left for themselves. They are kind and understanding.
One afternoon at San Antonio, Nikita came to me very excited, as she had discovered a dirty, beaten up box in her classroom. A FMSC Manna Pack box. Filled with bags of food to be handed to the students. We smiled excitedly at each other, in awe of the way the Lord was touching the hungry bellies of this small government school. The way the Lord had found us, shown us, that He is in all places, serving all people at all times. The teacher of that classroom said that they hand the bags out to the students there who most need it. They are very thankful when they receive a box of Manna Pack food. They hand the bags out sparingly.
Tears filled my eyes that afternoon as I reached down, touching the beaten up edges of a box that looked so familiar from the days of packing back in the States. Belize had left its own marks on this particular box, and there was beauty in it's brokenness. Every bag on the inside still in perfect condition. I sort of looked down at my hands, dumbfounded by the realization that I was packing at GBCC because it was a serving event at church that was fun and made me feel like I was making a difference. This moment, standing in an old, worn school room in Belize, the Lord snuck into my heart and gave me new perspective. We pack because it's fun, but those pallets of boxes that were prayed over, they made it. They got where they needed to go. It's here, it's feeding. These children can now learn. And I wasn't watching a video, and I wasn't writing a check. I was watching little hands and little feet growing and experiencing and loving because they were no longer hungry.
I know how passionate you are about Feed My Starving Children and how the food we pack at church serves those around the world. When you began talking about it this morning, I thought I might share with you the moment when I truly saw how important this organization is. Thank you for directing all of the GO events at church...they're changing the world.
