Food Fund
			You can provide food for Jesus, who will one day say to you, "I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat. "

When American missionaries John and Beth Carey first met Clara and her son Chophan four years ago, they were living in a leaky and dilapidated two-room village house in post-communist Kyrgyzstan. Neither knew Jesus, and before long, both became very ill. Chophan contracted tuberculosis and Clara, just skin and bones, found a thyroid tumor growing on her neck.

The Careys led Clara and Chophan to the Lord, and funds for their medical treatment were provided by I Was Hungry. Chophan had to spend eight months in the tuberculosis hospital, and Clara had a large tumor removed from her neck. Both Clara and Chophan are doing much better now. They were also able to move from their old leaky house to a better one-room cottage, although it was never intended to be inhabited in the winter, but built as a summer get-away during communist times.

This past summer Clara worked hard in her garden to raise and sell food to provide for herself and her son. But she asked the Careys, who live on next to nothing themselves, if they could help her with coal for heating and some basic food products through the cold winter months. I Was Hungry has provided the funding needed, and John delivers coal, flour, oil and juice every Friday to Clara's house and conducts a Bible study for her unbelieving neighbors. John is a super soul winner who knows the difference between American Jesus and Bible Jesus.

I Was Hungry is helping the Careys feed seven other poor, single-parent families in Kyrgyzstan this winter. Five of the single mothers are believers whom the Careys and their co-workers have led to the Lord. Pray that the other three will soften their hearts as they experience Jesus' love. All of them are being threatened by Muslim leaders not to accept help from Christians.

Lima, Peru, is a sprawling city of eight million inhabitants, many of whom live in "neighborhoods" of tiny shacks built with mud brick walls and tin sheet roofs. Our primary contact in Peru, pastor Ruben Cano, has been reaching out for many years in such places by feeding children three times each week and planting churches in their neighborhoods. He doesn't believe that he should preach the gospel to the hungry without giving them food. So pastor Ruben follows Jesus' example, providing bread both from earth and heaven.

While I was in Lima, I visited an impoverished neighborhood on the outskirts of Lima where Pastor Ruben has a vision to open another children's feeding center and church. Many of the families who live there make bricks for a living (see next story). I was blessed to entrust pastor Ruben with $1,000 from the Food Fund, plus make a pledge of $200 a month to purchase food for his new feeding center, and give him funds for a plane ticket to the U.S. so he can raise more funds. (If you would like him to visit you, let me know.)

I also visited a previous feeding center and church that pastor Ruben started five years ago. There was lots of joy in that place where, three times each week, children (116 in all) gather for a substantial meal. Most of them folded their hands to pray before eating. After lunch they stayed to watch puppets act out Bible stories. I'm so glad we can support these good works.

Near the neighborhood where Pastor Ruben will soon be starting his newest church and feeding center there are wide pits that have been dug to a depth of ten feet or more. Local families work in those pits making bricks by mixing top soil with water. The mud is packed into molds, from which the wet bricks are then dislodged to dry in the sun. Each family is paid about 3 cents per brick. Ten thousand bricks nets only $300.

We found Romulo and Andrea Garcia and their five children working together one afternoon, using forked hoes to mix water with soil. Everyone in the family works every day, although child labor is technically illegal in Peru. The Garcia's 10' x 18' "house" is made of stacked mud bricks (no mortar), and consists of two small rooms with a dirt floor (see photo below). They rent the land their house is built on from the man who owns the brick pit. I kept thinking to myself, What if I had been born into such circumstances?

My only consolation is knowing that, because of our help, pastor Ruben will soon be starting a new church and a children's feeding center in the Garcia's neighborhood. Perhaps their hearts will be touched and they'll find Jesus. Please pray for them. To view a two-minute video that shows the Garcias making bricks and some of the children at one of Pastor Ruben's feeding centers, click here.