Froggers Feast!

No, we didn't eat a feast of frogs, or frogs legs or red frogs....

No, we didn't feed a mass of frogs either! eww!

Froggers Feast is an awesome event run by the local branch of an organisation called Red Frogs. If you have been to schoolies week, or any youth event, then maybe you have seen them handing out water and yummy red frogs!! Our local Red Froggers also goes into local high schools and makes sure students get a good breakfast of yummy pancakes. Basically, a bunch of amazing young adults reaching out to take care of other young adults and our youth. 

Once a month we open the doors of our church (well, they are always open, but you know, figure of speech type thing) and our kitchen and cook up a feed for the local uni students. Its a place they can gather, chat informally, hang out listening to music and other entertainment, maybe ask a few questions about our church, or not...and get a FREE feed! 

So April was the month that hubby and I stepped up and volunteered to feed the masses, Chinese food! Easy peasy we thought. We love cooking chinese food, and hubby is a great cook, so yeah, easy done. 

Soooo not as easy as we thought. 

Firstly there was taking our recipes for 4-6 people and turning them into a recipe that would feed around 50 or more people. Suddenly instead of 500 grams of meat, we needed like 5kg of meat! instead of 2 carrots and a few other veggies, we needed kilos of mixed veggies! It was a little scary and overwhelming!

But, being the control organising freak that I am, I broke it down, opened up a spreadsheet and planned it all. I chose the recipes, a nice mix for all eaters. I wrote down all the ingredients, how much we would need for each meal. All the extras like spices, sauces etc. Then I transferred all that into lists so I knew exactly what to buy in each area and what we already had. it looked like this....

The next step was prep. We do not have any sort of chopping machine. So a whole day and a half, several blisters and stained fingers, we had all our veggies chopped and our meat diced and marinating!

The day arrived. Adding the the stress, I had to work all day, and Miss Teen was hiking with Scouts, so it was up to Hubby to organise the troops and get cooking! He did a great job! By the time I got there, Miss Teen had also arrived and dived into helping and everything was well under way. The team of volunteers was working hard! It was so much fun working hard, chatting and just enjoying the camaraderie of our church family. 

As the uni students arrived, I got excited! It was so much fun, the atmosphere was bubbly and happy, there was music, and chatting, and kids (well, young adults acting like kids!) running around having fun! They happily dove straight into our meals and ate to their hearts content! 

We didn't have as many as we expected, mainly because we forgot about uni holidays! But, those that came had a ball, the food was enjoyed and plenty of left overs went home with the students to feed themselves in coming days, or to feed friends who couldn't make it! So nothing went to waste.

Doing things like this, serving our church, makes me feel so happy. I feel so light hearted, I forget about my own problems for a while, and see the bigger picture. I enjoy the company of like minded, genuine caring people that our church has in its congregation. I remember that in serving our church we are serving our Father God, and that is a wonderful feeling. 

It feels like home. 

It feels like I am doing exactly what I am meant to be doing.

And isn't that what we are looking for? That feeling of belonging? That feeling of safety and security? That feeling of family and home.

So yes, while we help to serve our church, it also serves us. It serves our hearts, our spirits, our souls. 

And that inspires me to do more. 

I cannot wait to help out again next month. Maybe not the menu planning etc, but I will certainly be a team member, in the kitchen, serving up a meal for the masses!