What’s a pollada?” I asked, understanding that it had something to do with chicken (the Spanish word for chicken is pollo). I was told it’s “a chickening” or “chicken shower.” I’ve come to understand that it is a chicken-dinner fundraiser.
We recently attended a pollada at Roberto’s house to raise money for his healthcare. Roberto, a dear member of our congregation here in Lima, Peru, and his family seasoned and fried up about 20 chickens for the dinner. The evening of dinner, dancing, and socializing raised enough money to buy a three-month supply of needed medicine.
As I looked around the dance floor (in his mother’s living room), I saw many members of the congregation. We were happy to be together and to be able to help. Perhaps I should translate pollada as “the mutual up-building of the saints.”
“Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
How do you encourage one another in your faith community?
This message was adapted from “Thanks Be to God!: ELCA Missionary Stories” written by Sue Edison-Swift that first appeared in the November 2010 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.
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