Yesterday the Servants missionaries in Guatemala had the opportunity to attend the “grand opening” of the Mercado family’s new business.  Olga, the mother of this family, used to have her own business selling tortillas years ago.  She closed that business when they came to live at the house of refuge for 2 years in Linda Vista.  Recently, Olga and her 3 children have reached the point where they are stable enough to move out of the house of refuge and try life in their own home.  For work Olga decided to use her amazing cooking skills to start selling Honduran food in front of the church and house of refuge.  This is one of the busier streets in Linda Vista so Olga is very thankful the pastors are allowing her to sell in front of there because the street she lives on is not very busy.  Thankfully, Olga still has her tortilla grill from her old business and one of the sponsors for her family donated money to help buy the things Olga needed to get her business started.

Olga in front of her tortilla grill from her old business. Preparing to cook the first tortilla for her new business.

She decided to start with just 1 thing on her first day and chose to make baleadas and chirmol. This is a Honduran meal which consists of a flour tortilla with refried black beans, chorizo which is a flavorful sausage they serve in Central America, and grated hard cheese which is a cheese that is similar to Romano.  The chirmol is made up of cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions with lime juice and salt.

The first tortilla is cooked so it’s time to prepare the baleada.

Adding the chirmol!

The first plate ready to be sold…now who will be the first customer??

Woohoo! Olga’s first sale and first profit from her new business!

On the first day Olga sold almost everything she had prepared which was 24 baleadas.  She made a good profit that day and the very next morning was excited to go buy more supplies for business that day.  Olga’s business will be open Thursday – Sunday in the evening so that she can still have time to take care of her home and help her children with homework after school.  Please continue to pray for the Mercado family and for a blessed and profitable business.