The past two and a half months have been filled with a lot of preparation.
Month 4: Albania – preparing the property we lived on for upcoming summer camps
Month 5: Bulgaria – preparing the property we lived on for upcoming missionaries to have a comfortable place to stay
Month 6 (current month): Romania – again, preparing the property we live on for the summer camps that will begin here in July
At times this preparation process has been extremely difficult, because typically, it has involved manual labor – which is NOT something I (and a good handful of my friends here) signed up for when I decided to go on this Race.
At the risk of being vulnerable, I’m going to tell you that… (drum roll please)… manual labor is not really my thing. I find it monotonous and after two and a half months of it I think I can conclude that it gives me way too much time to think. Even moreso, it puts my “relationship” focused mind into a panic. I find myself asking, “How are we going to make an impact if we don’t even talk to people and do ministry off of the property?!”
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However, over the past two weeks, God has really brought some things to light for me.
The first has been a slap-in-the-face reminder that when I signed up for this trip, I knew I wasn’t going to “save the world”. I knew that a major part of this year was going to be encouraging the missionaries we would be partnering up with to continue on in the service they’ve committed their lives to. This month, I’ve been able to realize that manual labor is a large part of that encouragement. In doing such work, we are able to be the hands and feet that these missionaries need in order to get a lot of the “little” tasks completed so that they can personally have more time to work on the “major” issues. Whew – it’s amazing what a new perspective can bring to the table.
The second has been that a large part of ministry and work in general is in the preparation process. We silly humans tend to get so caught up on the “big movements” in life and ministry that we often forget how long it can take to get to those moments. Sometimes it takes months… and sometimes it even takes years of preparation to get to where we want to go. Patience, determination, and joy in the “slower”, harder parts of life are most important.
Third, He’s shown me that often times we have to be creative when it comes to impacting people. People don’t typically come up to us screaming for help or asking about Jesus… typically, we have to go to them. Over the past few months God has taught me how to step off of the property I’ve been designated to work on and find opportunities to befriend people and hopefully, eventually tell them about the joy of Jesus.
Lastly, God has revealed to me that I too, am being prepared for bigger things to come. He’s shown me that I’m not quite ready to handle the big tasks ministry has to offer… that there are things deep down in my heart that I need to work through before I can be handed any major responsibilities and be trusted to see them through to the fullest. Whew, I’m so thankful that He is gracious in His timing and has given me the past six months to work through parts of my life that I probably never would have recognized as problem areas had I not had this time.
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All of that to say, I’m thankful for the preparation processes I’ve been a part of on the Race – both in the ministry my team has been called to and in my heart. I’m thankful for the challenges they have brought, because it’s in those challenges that I have been forced to grow and have been invited to stand on higher ground. & I’m thankful for the ministry that they have and will lead to. I’m 100% convinced that God has some big things in store for us in Africa – that things are about to get crayyyy. I’m thankful that when that time comes I’ll be able to say, “I’m ready, baby. Bring it ONNNNN!”
