A Miracle at the Old Mission Legion Post

Editor’s Note: Rudy Rudolph recounts a recent miracle at the Old Mission Legion Post, and says he now truly understands the parable of the Loaves and Fishes. Read on for his thoughts. Also, the sale of the Old Mission Tavern is now complete, and Stephanie Krupka and crew are hoping to be open by spring! More on this later. -jb

We go through life, most of us, without ever experiencing a “real” miracle. Oh sure, you can argue that the sun coming up every morning is a kind of miracle. Or you can argue that the birth of a newborn babe is a miracle. Certainly finding love is a miracle. But these are miracles we are used to. They happen all the time. I’m talking about a “real” miracle, an unexpected miracle, a miracle we could never have predicted. A miracle of biblical proportions.

That happened to me on Tuesday evening, January 6th! The first Tuesday in January. Like most first Tuesdays, it was the night of the American Legion dinner at the Garland-Tompkins Post in Old Mission. These dinners, open to the public, are scheduled the first and third Tuesday of each month. A simple gathering of fellow Old Mission Community members to share a simple, family style meal and visit with friends. Usually these are predictable, low key, very normal events. Enjoyable, but not miraculous. This time it was different. This time I experienced a “real” miracle.

The Legion Post has been serving these dinners to the community for decades. This is one of the primary missions of the Old Mission American Legion Post, our way of serving our community. The dinners have become routine and predictable. We have records of attendance that go back many years, and we observe a definite pattern to our attendance. Usually in January we can expect 25 to 35 people to attend. During the middle of the summer we will have 40 to 50 diners. This is a predictable pattern we have learned to plan around. We know how to do this. It helps our cooks prepare. We have a good idea of how many people they will have to accommodate and use this information to guide them. This Tuesday, though, was different. This Tuesday I saw a “real” miracle!

Dawn and Raj Asava, who had served the Legion Post as cooks for many, many years, took a well deserved retirement in December. But, lucky for the Post, the new purchasers of the Old Mission Tavern were willing to help us with meal preparation, until they had completed the purchase and opened for business. So, we were able to book their services for the January dinners.

The first question they had was, how many diners should we prepare for. This was a pretty easy thing for us to answer because we had a lot of past history. So we confidently told them we needed to prepare for a minimum of 30 and expect a maximum of 40 people. Then, we were off and running. Stephanie, Brian and crew came up with an interesting menu, we posted it, and we expected a pretty routine evening.

Then, on Tuesday, January 6th, a few of our friends and neighbors started showing up about 5:30 p.m. Then, more people arrived. And then, more people arrived, and more, and more. We set up two new tables, then a third. As Commander, it was overwhelming to see the turn-out and it put me into a slight panic, because … I knew we had only cooked enough food for 40 people.

Making the opening announcements, before the invocation, we had to confess to the crowd of almost 80 people that we had not prepared enough food. We explained that the cooks are not to blame, as we were the ones who told them to only prepare for 40 people, because all our data showed that would be a big crowd in early January. Folks listened attentively, even laughed at a rather lame joke. We started serving what we had. And that’s when the “real” miracle happened.

Everyone got fed. And now, I truly understand the parable of the “Loaves and Fishes”. Now, maybe Stephanie and crew hedged a little with the preparation. Maybe, but not that much. I think it was really the community, sharing what was available, with each other, that made the “real” miracle happen. And I was blessed to see it.

Thank you, Old Mission Community, for continuing to amaze and encourage me. Patti and I are truly blessed to be with and share with you all.

– Rudy Rudolph, OMP Resident

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