Thanksgiving feast stretches El Pozo in many (good) ways

While the El Pozo campus ministry in Puebla, Mexico, is dedicated to being culturally relevant to its Mexican students, the CMF team takes the lead once a year to share an American tradition that means so much to them: Thanksgiving.

Last year, for example, the ministry had about 200 people at the annual Thanksgiving lunch, including 50 children from a local orphanage. This year, the team decided to separate the two events and focus on Thanksgiving with the students and have a Christmas party for the kids from the orphanage. “We planned for 120-150 people and, as usual, cooked all day on Wednesday and Thursday to make sure the mega Thanksgiving feast was ready,” says Kami Burns, leader of the Globalscope Mexico team in Puebla.

“So the students started to arrive,” reports Kami, “and they didn’t stop. We started serving food at 2:15 p.m. and at 3:15 the line was still 40 people long! The portions had to get smaller, but every single one of the 230 people who showed up to celebrate Thanksgiving with El Pozo ate turkey, dressing, green beans, mixed vegetables and pineapple casserole and washed it down with some sweet tea.”

Kami and her teammates couldn’t help but be amazed as the day unfolded. “As I was carrying casseroles from our kitchen out to the serving line, pushing my way through the crowd, tears came to my eyes as the weight of the miracle that was happening out in the new building would hit me. Not only the fact that it was a huge ministry event and that the food was going much further than it should have (loaves and fishes, anyone?) but I was so blessed by the presence of the individuals represented by each of the 230 plates of food.”

Baruk, a freshman student, spoke for many: “I’m thankful for the staff here. They’ve accepted me just as I am since the beginning.” His friend Luis then thanked Baruk for inviting him to El Pozo and added, “I guess I’m still new here, but I feel like I belong because I’ve been accepted and loved.”

And Kami and the El Pozo staff had a wonderful Thanksgiving to remember. “I’m just thankful for those two and their 228 friends who brought me to tears on Thursday by showing their gratitude for El Pozo,” she said.