No Water? No Problem!

"There's no more water!" said the cook as she went to wash her hands after preparing the duck for the soup.
   
"The broth isn't even boiling yet either." She looked at the large pot on our stovetop. It looked barely warm. We only had an hour before people were going to arrive, lining up outside to receive a special care package.
     
"I'll fix the pump, it must be broken again. And we can call my cousin and rent one of his gas burners, it should be much quicker."
       
Luke got to work trying to fix the pump so we could have fresh water in the kitchen, but to no avail. Thankfully we have a reserve tank that catches rainwater, though it's inconvenient and outside, it was enough to make sure we could wash our hands and some dishes, camp-style. The burner came quickly and soon the soup was boiling. 
     
The next few hours flew by quickly as we all pitched in to help. There were people arriving to eat, people with vouchers waiting to pick up their special care packages containing some food staples, and gently used shoes and clothing available for whoever was in need. We had planned on having a few more volunteers to help but they ended up not being to make it because of the busy traffic. The couple of volunteers that did come were up to their necks in cooking and receiving the guests with us. We were so busy that no one noticed when the blanket we had been using to lay the used clothing out on disappeared with one of our surely very grateful guests. 

As we said farewell to the last guest, we all sat down to enjoy our own lunch. I was glad when I sat down to taste the duck noodle soup and found out we had been feeding our guests the best duck soup I've ever had. But the work was far from over as we set to wash the many bowls, spoons and chopsticks using large basins and the water from outside. It took many rounds of the mop before the floor was clean again.

It started with the lack of water, then traffic and other things that could have easily taken our focus away from the great joy of sharing the love of Christ with those that came! As I thought back to the smiles on the faces of those who attended, how they saw the love that our Church had for them and heard about the love God has for them, I remembered it was worth it. The outreach was a valuable time, not because we had everything all sorted out and working perfectly, but because the love of Christ was able to be seen and spoken by His body to those who need it.