Following an evening meeting during camp meeting, Pastor Carlos Ancheta sat down next to me and my husband, Mitch. He asked if the Fond du Lac Seventh-day Adventist Church would be able to provide a lunch for 200+ missionaries and families at the Mission Aviation Support Association (MASA) tent during the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) event on Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Oshkosh, WI. MASA supports mission aviation organizations attending the EAA AirVenture every year.
I told him that shouldn’t be a problem, as we had previously served lunch to the Fond du Lac Police and Fire Departments. We would just need to bring it up at the Church Business meeting when we returned home after camp meeting.
One of the obstacles that we had to consider was that we were already committed to the Fond du Lac County Fair. Each year our church has a booth in which we provide literature and balloon art for the kids. The Fair would end just one week prior to the MASA event.
Another need would be to find a supplier that could provide the produce needed, because Pastor Ancheta asked if we could do a Baked Potato Bar. We also wanted to provide a tossed salad. This would be our first time doing this event and we did not know what to expect. We wondered how it was going to work out but felt that, just as when Jesus fed the 5,000 and the 4,000, all would go well.
We found just the right supplier in Milwaukee: V. Marchese helped with all the items we needed and then some! We ended up over ordering most items and had left over produce that we donated after the event. Many of the missionaries we served compliment us for our first time serving and about the Baked Potato Bar.
Church members that helped serve included Mitchell Mally, Vickie Mally, Estie Muranyi, Linda Schmitz, and Matthew Williams. Linda Schmitz shared, quoting from Mark 10:45 which says, “‘The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.’ Jesus is our example. We are to do as He has done. Jesus shows us that true living is caring for others. Serving others changes hearts, you forget self and when you see the smiles on faces being served, it is a blessing.”
Next year, we will have a better idea what we need and how much preparation time will be required. We also will have more time to prepare. The items from V. Marchese were already precut and ready to go, so we only had to bake the potatoes and wash some of the salad items. Other needed items we learned we can buy in other places in larger quantities. God was with us through this year, and no one went away hungry. As I said earlier, He helped us just like when He fed the multitude!
I do not know who it was that requested that the Fond du Lac Church serve in this way, but I found a blessing in serving the missionaries their last meal before they packed up to leave for home.
Mitch Mally shared the following about his experience: “It had been a number of years since I had been to the EAA convention in Oshkosh.” Due to moving away from the area he said, “I never really was sure if I would go again, especially after COVID. Well, that all changed this year at camp meeting (2024) when Pastor Carlos Ancheta approached my wife and asked if she would be willing to lead out in catering the luncheon for the MASA Missionaries on the last Sunday afternoon of the convention.”
Mally went on to say, “I was not sure, at that time, if we were going to be capable of doing something like that never having done anything like that before, but I was willing to give it a try. With lots of prayer and the Lord’s leading, we were able to do a very nice job in serving almost 200 hungry men, women and children.
“It was a pleasure to serve all these people from denominations all over the country and hear about the work they do. God bless them all. We didn’t see many planes, but that was not what really mattered. It was knowing we were able to make sure these people who worked so hard for the Lord all year round got a good meal to eat and spent time together. I can’t wait for next year to do this work that God has for us to do.”
Vickie Mally, Community Services Leader at the Fond du Lac Church
Photo Credits: Vickie Mally and Douglas Chandler
