Gringo Almuerzo - Feb 22, 2015

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At Calvary Chapel Cuenca, the Ecuadorians serve almuerzo (lunch) between the English and Ecuadorian Services on Sunday. The almuerzo usually consists of rice, pollo (chicken) or carne (beef), fried plantain, and a drink (juice or yogurt with fruit).



About five months ago, we asked the pastor if the Gringos (which is not a derogatory words down here, it just describes someone who is not Ecuadorian) could serve our Ecuadorian brothers and sister in Christ a traditional American meal. He agreed so in November we served meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy and a green salad. The Ecuadorians had no idea what meatloaf was, but they loved it. They usually serve about 100 almuerzos on Sunday, but we were blessed and served 166 meals. It was awesome, but I was busy serving and didn’t have a chance to take pictures.



As we were cleaning up one of the elders, who also bought five para ir va (to go), said “Roger, la próxima semana, hazlo otra vez” (Roger, next week, you do it again). We said no (ha-ha-ha), every three months.



So in February we did it again, serving Sloppy Joe’s, potato salad and macaroni salad. It was a holiday weekend, so we only served about 135 meals, but we auctioned off the leftover macaroni salad and Sloppy Joe meat and buns.



This time I had the opportunity to take some pictures. As you can see, the Ecuadorian service is much larger than the English, but we are growing. When we first came here, there were only about 30 people in the English service, but on this day (a holiday) we had 48.



This has been a wonderful way for us to bond with our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters. Oh, how we have been blessed.

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