Limon Nurture Center Fundraiser Was Great Success!!

Last Sunday Reverend Dale Capron prayed that we would raise the exact amount of money needed to support the Limon Nuture Center for another year. With the help of an awesome base of domestic missionaries from the community, enough donations and pledges were made to help keep the program going for another year!

Arriving at the church on Friday afternoon at around 5:00 I had my doubts about how successful we were going to be. The barbecue was prepared, and the set-up crew was there. However, that was about it. There were still last minute decisions being made, and not all of the food had been bought! Knowing the success prayer had given me in the past week, I took a moment.

After returning from Winn-Dixie, things had changed quite a bit! All the tables were decorated with matching table cloths and centerpieces brought back from all around Honduras. Lou Altman and Anna Capron had placed fabric leaves with pictures of Limon's orphans pasted to them on each table. Things were starting to come together, but there were very few guests and no butter or sour cream for the baked potatoes! It was 6:15! The dinner was to start in fifteen minutes, and there were two big setbacks! Returning to Winn-Dixie, I was again a doubter. Had two months of planning been for naught? Again, I directed my spirits inward.

Plan and Pray

Back from the store for a second time in an hour, the scene had changed dramatically. The church parking lot was full! I'm talking Easter Bunny full! I walked in with the potato accoutrements, handed them to Chef Beryl, and peered from the kitchen into the fellowship hall. The room was bustling with several dozen people...most of whom I had never met before!

The positive energy of the room captivated me so much that my mind went from party planner to party! Whose table would I join? Would I have chicken or pork? Who are those people? Wow, it smells good! And back to planning-mode...the people were there, but how were we going to unite them as a new generation of domestic missionaries in support of the Limon Nurture Center? Danny Arnold, Brother Dale, Anna, and I talked about what to say, but then word came from the kitchen crew that they needed ten extra minutes to prepare the fresh dishes. It was time to quit micromanaging God's plan for Friday evening and let the good times roll! 

Just as there was a lull in the roaring conversation and smacking lips, as if he were waiting on the Lord's signal, Danny Arnold stood up and told us how the Limon Nurture Center began. Speaking calmly and passionately Danny reminded us that service work “is not about what we want to give but asking communities what they need.” With every eyelid in the room holding back tears of empathy, he closed with the question “What can you do to help?” Just as soon as Danny sat down, Anna Capron stood up to tell us how the soup kitchen of 2008 turned into the Limon Nurture Center of today. With the love of a mother's heart, Anna expressed the importance of expanding our familial devotion outside of our homes. “I left my newborn son in Alabama, but after seeing his face all over Limon in the smiles of the town's orphans, I could not stand back and see a generation grow up without a place to find a smile and a hug.” 

Finally, Pastor Dale showed us how easy it is to help. His explaining how only $10 a month would feed a child five meals a week made supporting the Limon Nurture Center more approachable. “You and nine friends can send $1 a month to fill a belly. You and a neighbor can use your $5 footlong money to help end hunger-related illness. You and your Sunday School class can start a 'find a penny, send a penny' ministry” to liberate a child from the burden of searching for means of survival. Dale ended by asking everyone that sponsors a child to take the picture of their child from the table and place it near their most prized possessions around the house. Every table was faceless by the end of the night...

Corbitt "Mission Man" White, Samantha Jacobi, and I are sponsoring Dellia in 2011

Through continued preparation and prayer, hunger and malnutrition will not be an issue for Limon's orphan population in 2011. The world's problems can be solved one by one. Driving home that night I felt like God was giving me one of those “I told you so” moments. 

“Not a doubt nor a fear, Not a sigh nor a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey.”

Special thanks to The Hilton, Nichols, and Williams families, Lou Altman, all the guests, and donors!