The past twenty-four years has had families from Our Father Lutheran Church in Centennial, Colorado making the trip to El Paso during the week of Thanksgiving, working through Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) to distribute several hundred Thanksgiving meals in El Paso and Juarez.

“It’s a tradition for our church families to support this mission,” shared one of the long-time volunteers and coordinators of the annual trip, “Families bring their children year after year, and those children become teenagers who look forward to this mission trip.”

Last year, Our Father not only served church families and community members of San Pablo, La Santa Biblia, San Lucas, Cristo Rey, and San Pedro y San Pablo, but they had the opportunity to distribute close to 80 meals to migrants camped out at Chamizal Park as they waited for legal processing into the United States.

“We’ve built friendships with so many of the people we serve,” shared Carol Hill, one of the Our Father members who organizes the annual trips from beginning to end, “We look forward to getting to see them every year.”

This year, however, was different.  With a heavy heart, Pastor Micah Steiner shared the difficult decision of having to cancel their twenty-fifth Thanksgiving Mission Trip to YLM.

“We are saddened not to be able to send a team to Ysleta this year,” he shared through an email, “We trust and believe our Gracious Lord provides for every need and we are already seeing how He’s providing.”

One of those ways was getting pre-cooked and de-boned turkeys from Colorado to El Paso for families in need.  The Woodward family, participants on this annual mission trip for many years, met Teri Muhr, Pastor Karl Heimer’s daughter, at the New Mexico/Colorado border to transfer those turkeys.

“I was willing to make the trip up to the New Mexico/Colorado border,” Teri volunteered when the news was shared via a virtual devotional meeting, “I brought them all with me the weekend of Thanksgiving.”

Our Father had already collected eighteen turkeys before officially canceling the trip, and Carol Hill reached out to more members to reach a goal of twenty-five, which could feed about 150 people, really making a difference even if they wouldn’t be able to personally be here.  In the end, people kept bringing turkey donations past the deadline, resulting in almost 70 bags of cooked and sliced turkey, ready to re-heat and enjoy.

The turkey transfer took place the day before Thanksgiving, and half of the bagged turkeys were distributed as soon as they arrived at YLM Saturday morning at the Drive-Thru Food Pantry.  As the food runs out, the last few families miss out on fresh produce, but thanks to Teri’s timely arrival, those last few vehicles were able to take turkey home with them.

The other half was taken across the border to distribute among those who come to La Santa Biblia in Anapra for food, blankets, school supplies, and toys.  “This is an especially hard time,” Rosy Lira, deaconess of La Santa Biblia, has shared with the YLM staff, “Many of these people have lost their jobs, they can’t see in the second hand stands set up in the main Anapra street because of Covid restrictions.  They have no way to feed their families, so this was something special to be thankful for.”

The turkey was divided into plates and bagged, given to individuals so they could eat at home, as they are not able to congregate.  As the need grows in Anapra, YLM continues to support Juarez’s mission-churches, such as La Santa Biblia, by finding ways to help them serve their communities, which is made possible by ministry partners, such as Our Father from Centennial.

This 2020 year has been most unusual, and as the holidays approach, many people feel the differences brought on by restrictions, fear, and uncertainty, but we are still thankful because God provides for those in need through His children.  In this case, Our Father still provided hundreds of meals for people hungry for food and hope, even if they weren’t able to physically do so themselves.

Give thanks to the Lord, all nations, for He is good and merciful!