When Magdalena Gonzalez joined the community at Sembradores Church in Fillmore, California, she knew she wanted to do more than sit in the pews on Sunday.
Magdalena saw the physical and spiritual need in her community. She didn’t want to keep her faith limited to Sundays at church; she wanted to go out into the community. Magdalena asked the pastor if she could use the church’s community center to host a women’s Bible study. At the end of the 30-minute study, they would hand out food. What began as a group of five women soon grew to over fifty.
Magdalena and her daughter, Ariana, began delivering Food Paks to families in their community. They took the time to get to know many of the families around the church, many of whom only spoke Tarasco, a dialect spoken in Michoacán, Mexico.
Magdalena and Ariana are just two of the women involved in mercy ministry through one of CHF’s partner churches. Around the world, hundreds of women volunteer their time to deliver food to families in need every month. We share stories of the pastors who deliver food, but many times the pastor’s wife is just as involved in the ministry.
Karine Sargsyan in Armenia is one of these women.
For Karine, it is her own experience with poverty that helps her relate to the families. After her husband died of a heart attack, Karine and her two sons spent a few years living off her meager income. There was not enough money to pay bills and buy food. “For three months, the winter cold was so bad that even the water in a glass would freeze inside our home,” she recalled. She sold many of her household items in order to pay for essentials like food.
Today, Karine serves along her new husband, who is a pastor of one of CHF’s Mercy Network churches in Armenia. The two of them serve alongside one another, visiting families with Food Paks and the hope of the gospel. As many of these families are led by single mothers, Karine has first-hand knowledge of their struggles and can offer a unique perspective, sharing how her faith in God got her through the worst of her challenges
Ruth Musana is another faithful member of the CHF ministry and holds a pivotal role in our ministry in Uganda.
Like Karine, Ruth knows what it is like to live in poverty, though her story began much earlier.
When Ruth was just twelve years old, she came home from school one day to find that her mother had left. As the sixth of seven children, only Ruth and her younger brother were still living at home at the time. Her father did not live with them and when she asked him what she should do, his reply was that now they had to begin living on their own. A few years later, her father died, and his property—including the home where Ruth and her brother were living—was sold.
“I remember remaining with one dress,” Ruth shared, “We started begging for food within the community, and sometimes we slept hungry.”
One of Ruth’s cousins told her about a church in Kampala called Miracle Center that would be able to help them. Ruth and her brother were welcomed by the church community and received a meal at the end of every service. It was through that church that Ruth decided to give her life to Christ.
The pastor at Miracle Center saw something special in Ruth and would pray for her regularly. During this time, Ruth felt something growing inside of her. “I didn’t understand it because I was still young,” Ruth shared. “But there was a voice speaking within me that I had something I can use.”
Ruth began teaching English and math to the children in the area. She was so good at it that the parents began to pay her for teaching their children.
Over the next several years, Ruth was steadfast in her desire to continue her education and was able to finish school and even had the opportunity to attend university. Afterward, she was connected with Gaba Community Church and immediately engaged in the ministry to the community.
In 2015, Ruth became CHF’s Mercy Network Coordinator in Uganda. Ruth is responsible for coordinating the fifteen churches we partner with in Uganda. Every quarter, Ruth uses funding from CHF to purchase the food items that the churches distribute to the families they serve, paying attention to price fluctuations and availability of the various items. It is a large amount of food, enough to feed over 250 families for the entire quarter! Ruth also participates in home deliveries to ensure that churches are following the ministry model laid out for them and gathers the feedback stories that we have the privilege of sharing with you.
It is no small role, but Ruth is grateful for the opportunity to serve. She has seen what a tremendous difference food makes when reaching those in need with the hope of the gospel. “Previously,” Ruth shared, “church volunteers were going to the field evangelizing, but they didn’t have anything at hand. The people they were meeting were vulnerable people who were starving. But the Food Pak has opened doors for us to homes that we never thought we would be able to reach.”
Through her own experience with poverty as a child and as a single mother today, Ruth can relate to the families she serves in a very personal way. She continues to serve out of gratitude for all that God has blessed her with and for the people who make the ministry possible.
“The opportunity you have given us is unbelievable,” Ruth shared. “If it weren’t for the mercy and generosity of the donors, all this work wouldn’t have been done. So I bless the Lord so much for every partner, for ever donor, for every individual who has sacrificed to see that people are being helped. I pray that God may bless our donors mightily and every individual who has stood with this ministry.”
We couldn’t agree with her more.
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