Their meals for migrants smell delicious, feel like peace
By Elket Rodríguez
Jesus multiplied loaves and fishes in Galilee to feed a hungry multitude. For more than two years, Natanael Segura and Blanca Pedraza have fed thousands of migrants in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
Every day, Segura and “sister Blanquita,” as fellow church members from Iglesia Bautista Valle de Beraca refer to Pedraza, wake up at 5 a.m. to feed up to 600 migrants dispersed throughout the city. Seven volunteers from Valle de Beraca help the married couple cook and pack the food.
“I prepare the food the day before, and I anticipate what I am going to do the next day,” Pedraza said. “I finish cooking everything in three to four hours.”
The menu is varied, but it always is traditional Mexican food, she reported. Rice and beans with stewed meat, flautas with vegetable soup and pasta, and mole with white rice and black beans are the typical courses of any day. It is a lot of work, but Pedraza stressed it’s worth the time. “Sometimes, I don't feel my feet in the afternoon,” she said. “But I don't even notice it during the day, because I'm so happy and so grateful to God for what I’m doing.”
Pedraza and Segura, who are now enjoying retirement, used to operate a wholesaling business, where they learned to deal with large amounts of food. Today, they utilize that knowledge and their gifts of hospitality and service to serve God and the community. "We are very grateful to God, because people come here and tell us that they feel peace," Segura said about migrants who have showed up at their home.
Peace in the “Comedor Beraca” (Beraca’s Dining Room)—as Eleuterio González, pastor of Iglesia Valle de Beraca, calls their house—is undeniable, and their passion for serving others is palpable.
“God selected this couple for this ministry,” González said. “God had already prepared them for this ministry."
With the help of volunteers like Segura and Pedraza, González operates a feeding ministry in Matamoros, serving migrants who are living in the streets, in apartments or in the slums of the city.
Volunteers like Pedraza and Segura are vital to González’s ministry, especially when border crossings and expulsions of migrants to the cities in northern Mexico are increasing.
Amid so much need, Comedor Beraca is an oasis in the desert. “You feel the presence of God when you arrive,” González noted. “Blanca treats you as if she’s your mother, and Natanael seeks to make sure that you are happy.”
The couple’s vitality has grown since they began to serve migrants, he added. “When they started this ministry, Natanael approached me and said to me: 'I was born again (with the ministry). This has given me life.’”
If you would like to contribute to Fellowship Southwest’s immigrant relief ministry, which supports the work of Pastor González (including purchasing food for Comedor Beraca) and other pastors all along the U.S.-Mexico border, click here.
Elket Rodríguez is the immigrant and refugee advocacy and missions specialist for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Fellowship Southwest.