Life in the Canyon
Helping Children and Families in Tijuana Mexico
My name is Dave.
I began my journey in 2009 when I first visited the Canyon.
I was part of a Church group from Green Valley Community Church in Placerville CA. We visited a local church to help serve breakfast to the community.
When I saw the children living here, it broke my heart. I've not been the same since that day. I knew from that moment that I couldn't go home and do nothing.
Six months later, after putting my affairs in order, I packed up a 1976 Chevy Pickup with everything that I needed and made the drive without a place to stay or having met the Pastor yet. But God took care of my every need.
I began helping at the Breakfast Ministry washing dishes. The ministry had one cook and one server, both volunteers from the community who served between 30 and 60 children. The ministry struggled to keep their doors open due to a lack of funding.
But it was obvious that God was pleased with the ministry. Over the next couple of years, there has been incredible growth. Not only were children fed, but they came as a family. What was once done by 2 volunteers was being done with 22 volunteers from the community and as many as 360 people being served a hot meal each weekday morning.
After 2 1/2 years, God spoke to me and asked me to start working with the families in a bold way. I knew it was God who was speaking, because I had no idea what he wanted me to do or how to do it. And it wasn't something I wanted to do. It was then that I realized how comfortable I had become. I still protested saying that there was no plan, no funding, no office to work out of. He reminded me that when he asked me to come to Mexico, I had only my hands and feet and he provided everything that was needed. Just to go out and do what he asked...and he would take care of the rest. Then I got to thinking, maybe this is not such a bad deal after all. I could get a few months of vacation out of this. But that never happened. I transitioned on a Friday and began working on projects on a Monday and things just grew from there. Four years later and we have a two story school building we use for free that we have out grown as well as the use of a very large piece of property with an abandoned community center that we have been working to renovate.
As of the date of writing this, it's been over 12 years on what was supposed to be a 6 to 9 month journey. I still don't know what the big plan is. I don't know were we will be going or what we will be doing. But I don't need to worry about it. I just need to make sure that I'm ready, willing and able to do what He asks of me.
During my time here, I met Petra who lived here in the Canyon. Her faith in God not only amazed me, but it inspired me. Her faith was so much stronger than mine. We married in 2017.
It was Petra's idea to open Ben's Kitchen. She oversees the day to day operation of the Ministry along with her mother and sisters and brother.
But to be clear....everything that is done here, is done by volunteers from the community. They operate everything and each have their own area of responsibility. Petra and I provide the structure and resources.