. - HispanicLatino

      When talk of Christmas tamales came up in November, Saray quietly said that she could make better tamales than the ones we purchased last year. She made good on her promise and we had tamale-making day on Wednesday, December 17. Jana,Gail and Christine Jones,Saray, and I met in the morning and saw a table of ingredients that have never been seen in Wanchese before. Under Saray's direction, corn husks were soaked and cleaned, chicken was cut up in an unconventional way, peppers were roasted, corn meal was mixed and chatter filled the air. I watched as Saray expertly concocted the mole sauce which was nothing like the commercial product. Gail and I kept saying, "this is the real deal."    We patted circles of corn meal on corn husks, put on a piece of chicken and covered it with sauce. Then we rolled it all up and tied each end. Tamales are a traditional Christmas dish because they symbolize baby Jesus being wrapped in swaddling clothes. Five hours later we had about 150 beautiful babies.
     It was such a festive atmosphere the next evening when the Hispanic/Latino men started coming in to Bethany's fellowship hall. Spanish Christmas carols were playing, the pinata was hung, the tables were decorated in red and green, and smell was mouth-watering. We have a good core group of regulars now and there were new-comers as well. For the first time, we met two men from Gallop Roofing which showed us we are starting to reach beyond the boat building
community.
    When I told Saray that we wanted to do something for her for all of her hard work, she said, "I do it for Jesus." And so do the rest of us. Oh, we have a lot of fun, yet sometimes I wonder what will come from this ministry. But, if it is done for Jesus, there has got to be something supernatural as a result--something that may not be
revealed to us in this lifetime.
     If you dream of tamales, you have a 12 month wait. If you dream of serving, join us in January!                                In Christ, Nancy