I'm Alma Leticia and I have loved to cook all my life. For me, God, my family and the love of cooking come first. Who taught me how to cook? God. He is my Teacher. I have always been a responsible mother– always taking care of my children. I was not rich; I was not poor. I am from a middle class, and then my love for food was born.

I started selling food in Reynosa. This business- I have never looked at it as money. The dollar sign has never existed in my life. I have always looked at the business with love and as a blessing. I have never needed money in my life because everything that God has put in my hands, I have always mulitplied it. Apart from the fact that God and my children are my life- food is also my life, my passion.

We see two kinds of people in life - those who love work and those who love money. In my case, I love work because from the work, the money is earned. And the work is never done, but the money- it does end. I am a person who likes to do things with excellence for God first and for my clients as well. I am a woman of faith; I am a woman of love. I am a woman who has suffered, but a woman that God has also raised up because I have always depended on God.

When you learn to depend on God, you will never need anything. I came to the U.S. and I started selling food, but my dream was always to have something of my own one day. I worked for twelve years in a restaurant. I loved that restaurant as if it was my own. But there came a time when I told my ex-employer that I had to leave because I knew that I had a power in my hands that God had given me, and I had to go.

For you to make something work and have something successful to call your own, you must learn to obey in order to command. I love food and I love serving people. It delights me to watch how my clients eat the food with so much love. Customers who get up and give me a hug- people that I don't know. And they say thank you Mama Lety for making this food. But there is also criticism and I also accept that because the person who does not accept criticism, will not accept praise.

I like to sit and watch the people when they are eating and to be able to say, “Thank you Lord- thank you, for giving me what you have given me.“ A high price was paid. It was a hard process, but looking at what God has put in my hands is beautiful, precious and wonderful. I am very much appeased serving people and looking at them smile- it is absolutely priceless to me.

And I love the seniors that come to my restaurant- I love them. But for me, all of my clients are the same. I make no distinction of race or color- I love them all. I am a woman who prays for my clients. I am a woman who prays for my workers. I am a woman who prays for my family. I am a woman who serves God and who loves what I do. My recipes are all in my mind and in my heart, and I do everything with love for God, who blesses me with these recipes.

But I am also a very strict woman with myself- with my food, because I don’t consider my food as just any food. ALL of my dishes are made with LOVE, and I am very careful with what I prepare, but I do think that my favorite dish here is the Guiso Verde with rice. Everything is fresh. Everything that my customers eat bears a special seal: the seal of love.

So looking at my family, my children, my grandchildren, my daughter in laws - working here for my husband and myself is a blessing that nothing, or no one can take away from me because what God gives me, no one can take away. My peace comes from above because you have to love what you do and the secret of my food is the love of God.

That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their labor—this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 3:13