Let me give you a look into a day in my life. No two days are the same, I do not have a weekly schedule that is always the same. Literally every single day is different. So I will tell you about yesterday. First thing on the list was school, we teach preschool on Wednesdays. They are a tough class to teach, I am not really great with little kids so that makes it just a little bit harder for me. The longer we are in the school the better idea we have of how to teach the kids in each of the different grades. We discovered that singing songs helps the preschoolers so we have tweaked a few songs to make them what we need for the class. After class we were going to meet with a girl from church to start discipleship, but the train got derailed at 8:30 when Donna got a phone call saying something needed her attention immediately. Okay. We are on the way. Got to the church and Donna went to deal with the problem and I..well I sat and read a book and chatted with a few friends who happened to walk past. ((Sometimes I get to read or talk with people when Donna is dealing with things I cannot help with)) Then we went to grab some coffee and something to eat quick. Once we finished there it was back to talk with a couple more people to figure out some solutions. Then time for some discipleship with two of the girls from Pochocuape. After that we had one more stop to make so Donna could work this all out and hopefully be done with it. While she did that I talked with Jose Rene (he is in his last semester of seminary) and we got to know each other a little better. I have been so blessed to have time to just sit and talk with some of the Nicas who work in this organization. They have become some of my best friends and I am so very thankful for that. Then we finally got to head towards home, we stopped to grab some food on the way and got home around 9pm. Oh and I think we made it home at some point in the day to switch out of our nice clothes from school..
Something I have learned is that ministry doesn't always look like what we think it will. It isn't always this beautifully put together group of people who always get along and never choose to sin. Sometimes ministry is coming alongside those who make some bad decisions and working through it with them. Sometimes ministry means dropping all the plans you made for the day, good plans, plans that edify God, so that you could go help someone else with their mess. And maybe then end up with one of your own because you now have to figure out how the things you needed to do will get done. Sometimes ministry means you get to sit with some girls and talk about the wonderful gift of salvation and what that means for our lives now that we have received it. Sometimes ministry means staring in the face of someone who has so much need and is following God's calling on their life and telling them that they have to trust God to provide. Sometimes ministry means you are who God is providing through...but sometimes it doesn't... because we are not meant to try and fill every need we see, we cant, and we are not asked to. Sometimes ministry means you get to have fellowship with friends and just talk and laugh and enjoy life together. And sometimes it means showing up to be with them after their dad passes away.. There will always be good and exciting parts of ministry, but along with the good comes the hard and broken and just down right ugly. And usually they walk hand in hand...because as soon as God is getting hold of hearts and moving in lives the devil gets pretty upset and takes every inch he can find and does his best to make them miles.
These months have been extremely stretching for me in so many ways and I am thankful for every one of them. I am so incredibly blessed that God chose me and gave me this life and this love for this country. I would not trade one day of it...well maybe the few I was sick.. God has blessed me by showing me so many different sides of the ministry and what the true cost of living a life fully surrendered to Him looks like. These are the people I have worked with, people who have left their homes and their families because they knew God had to be greater in their lives, people who have handed God their children, people who have moved to some place without anyone so that they could share the good news of Jesus Christ with a community that so needs Him. This is ministry. This is radical faith.
Will you pray for me? This is my last week here for now and it is incredibly hard for me to think about leaving. I know that God has a plan and he is in control, but this place and these people hold my heart like never before. Pray that I would be able to take each day as the gift that it is and use it to glorify God in whatever way He has asked of me. Pray for my friends who are struggling with many different things. Praise God for being sovereign over every situation! Thank you so much for your prayers and your love and support!
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
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