Need Fillers, Need Fillers

The Food Truck ministry has always intrigued me. I've been an intern here, at The Dream Center, for a while but never got to work with Food Truck. That is until recently. I was blessed to have the opportunity to go out with the Food Truck ministry and see what they do. I regret that I didn't assist or at least observe their "preparation process" of loading the trucks. If I had, I would've experienced the full magnitude of the ministry. All I know is that I've seen them on various days – loading the trucks with tons of food – and I appreciate their hard work.

After we met up and prayed out, we jumped in cars and the trucks and headed to different distribution neighborhoods. The Food Truck group I went with delivered to Imperial Court in Watts. When I arrived, I jumped into the truck where the food was and quickly switched out my winter mittens for latex gloves. I worked alongside a short-term missionary from a small town in Washington whom I had met earlier that day. Our job was to put frozen chickens into grocery bags, tie them off and hand them to the neighborhood volunteer outside.

The neighborhood volunteers were some interesting characters. They were helpful but some were pushy and agitated – the Devil's always busy but I wouldn't let him take my joy! I just accepted the fact that they weren't used to me or the short-term volunteers, and we weren't used to the pace of this outreach since this was all our first time. Like a pastor who preached here once said, Satan's biggest attack against Christians is: offense. Knowing that, I stayed focused because this missionary experience is not about me.

If you struggle with offense, I encourage you to get past it, so if you ever come to the Dream Center – or wherever you do outreach – you can stay focused. The Scripture that has helped me the most in this area is Colossians 3:23-24, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ." (NKJV)

When I got outside of the truck, I had a new job: hand out bags of potatoes. We had good-sized piles of chickens, potatoes, and half-gallon juices which seemed huge at the beginning. But quickly, I began to notice that those piles of food were diminishing rather quickly. At the end of the food distribution we had to tell several other needy families that we didn't have any more food to hand out. That is a hard thing to bear witness to. Imperial Court is a huge public assistance project in Watts, here in L.A. The need is great in this neighborhood, but we can only feed as many people that we have food for.

I encourage every reader to support The Dream Center and its mission to fill the needs of those around it. And no matter how "offended" you may be toward a brother or sister in Christ, remember that you give and work unto the Lord. Don't let the devil stop you from being a blessing.

- LaQuesha