monthly focus ~ recipe for ministry in mexico

RECIPE FOR MINISTRY IN MEXICO

For many years Barbara-Lee Glessner has had the idea of getting to know ladies through a cooking class.  When the Glessners moved to Puebla, Mexico, as EBM missionaries, Barbara-Lee decided to see how this idea would work. Last summer she invited her neighbors into her home for the first class.  These ladies invited others and by fall, the group had grown.  At that time, Barbara-Lee designed the time to include 1 hour of cooking and 1 hour of Bible study twice a month.  Typically the class works through the prep together and then while things are cooking in the kitchen, Barbara Lee leads the Bible study.  At the end of the study, everyone finishes up the time by “testing” what they have made.   

She discovered many Mexicans in their area do not know how to make many desserts.  Typically they buy something to have at home or take to a party.  In the beginning the draw was teaching how to make different American desserts. At Christmas, they worked together on making gingerbread houses!  But from the beginning she wanted the ladies to be involved in the class, and a few shared some recipes during the summer session.  At the beginning of this year she asked the ladies to begin teaching more of their Mexican recipes. This has helped Barbara-Lee to learn how to prepare more Mexican dishes. Recently they have taught each other two different types of tamales, a few spaghetti recipes (unique to Mexico), and in the next class, they will be making another very typical dish – Pipian.  By having the ladies take some of the teaching in cooking, not only are they learning to help each other with traditional cooking skills, but it allows Barbara-Lee to focus on the Bible study part of the classes.  They are studying women of the Bible at each study.  This has opened opportunities to share the truth of Scripture and the Gospel.

Barbara-Lee writes: “ I’ve been really grateful for how this ministry has been going and the doors it’s opening up. . . .  Since the class is totally comprised of neighborhood ladies (and a few youth from our neighborhood youth group), my goal is to sink our roots in deeper here in our neighborhood, get to know families, minister to them in their needs, get them excited about what the Bible really teaches (many don’t know much about what the Bible says, just the traditional things they have heard from the Catholic church), and most of all share the gospel with them every opportunity I get.   

I feel that this class has been an excellent way to get to know the ladies around us and some of their families.  We’re excited to see what God might do in their lives over the next few years.  In the past three weeks at church, we have seen a neighborhood family (both the husband and wife have come to the cooking class . . . ) start coming to church.  They have expressed interest in regularly attending with their children and some extended family.  We are thrilled to see them taking this step.  Our next-door neighbors know much of the gospel . . . .  We are praying for them right now as a close family member is dying.  We are praying for the opportunity to witness to him and see the Lord change this family through these difficult circumstances.”    

Cooking classes—A Recipe for Outreach.  This creative idea for outreach is not “for missionaries only” but one that anyone who loves to cook could use as an open door to ministering to the neighborhood.  For more information on the ministry of the Glessners in Puebla, Mexico, visit their website:  http://www.theglessners.org or contact them at tglessner@ebm.org or mexico@theglessners.org