I’m Emily Werness and imagine this. You’ve been going non-stop at a short LDW (leadership development weekend) – exploring, shopping, catching up with other squadmates, sweating, etc. You stay up late packing the night before you head to ministry 3 hours away. When you get there, it’s hot and when your host arrives the skies open up and the rain dumps out of the sky as you sit and try to enjoy a hot dog at a little metal food truck on the street, attempting to stay dry and quickly realizing there’s no point as the wind blows the torrential drops your way. Riding in the back of a truck bed in the pouring rain, singing “Let it Rain” at the top of your lungs because it’s funny and God is funny, arriving at your host’s home only to be told you can’t go to your mission house just yet because the guy is still putting the windows and door on it…haha!
You sit and listen to the rain pound down on the tin roof of your host’s home, unable to hear your teammates speak over the sound, try to relax and sleep while you’re soaking wet and cold for the first time in awhile! This was me and my team our first night at ministry – ready to just crash on the thin mattresses on the concrete floor waiting for us at the mission house. Later on, we pile in the pick-up truck with our host and she just smiles and says there’s a surprise waiting for us. We walk in and my eyes are drawn instantly to the line of colorful streamers along the ceiling. My ears are met with Spanish music bumping from the speakers. Then my eyes land on this beautiful sign, welcoming us to their town, to their ministry, and into their hearts.
My heart swelled and in that moment I felt so loved – we all did. But it didn’t stop there, it hadn’t even begun yet! They tell us to sit down in the chairs set up for us along the wall and to prepare for our big surprise. They turn the music to a specific song and one by one enters the children we will be working with and loving this month. Each girl is dressed in a traditional white dress trimmed with green, yellow, and red and the boys in long sleeve white tops and pants with a red bandanna across their shoulders and a straw hat atop their head. Each girl’s beautiful black hair was done up in a braid of some kind with a red flower to finish the look. They present each of us with a handmade bracelet, a rose and a kiss on the cheek! Then they all lined up in formation and began to dance for us. I am pretty sure there was no stopping the tears forming in my eyes. They danced and sang for us and you could just tell how proud and excited they were to perform for us and how much it meant when we smiled and clapped along – even more so when we jumped up and joined the dancing!
The dancing was only interrupted by a shared delicious meal of rice and chicken during which we all introduced ourselves and laughed at our attempts to speak Spanish. The dancing and games ensued again and I couldn’t stop laughing or explain the burst of energy I got from their smiles and their hugs. The surprises didn’t end there! They had also prepared a dessert for us – fresh fruit cut up in a punch like drink – fruit salad in a cup! They were so happy to present it to us and share it with us. It felt like the surprises never stopped that night – such an amazing evening. It was the best and warmest welcome I have received on this race so far.
It’s easy by month 10 of the Race to get used to things. It’s easy to be tired and it’s easy to only do the minimum to get by – home keeps getting closer and closer as the days pass by…thoughts of the unknown future cloud the present. Coasting would be so easy.
I don’t want easy. I want to love until I have nothing left to give, which is actually never, because Christ promises us his strength – he promises to never leave us. He wants me to lean wholly on him because I cannot do it on my own and I don’t have to! These precious children and our amazing host have been preparing and waiting in eager anticipation for our arrival for 5 months! That much was clear in the overwhelming love and warm welcome we received our first night here. How can I not give all I have? I am supposed to be the one overwhelming them with love and service! They deserve to have us at our 110% like we were when we stepped off the plane for our month 1 in Cambodia. They deserve everything we have and more. It’s not a matter of making it through the next two months before I come home, it’s about soaking in every moment and not losing sight of just how precious these moments are – how special and not normal this race is even though to me life on the race has become normal and like second nature.
I will never be here again in Esteli, Nicaragua with team En Fuego, laughing and running around like chickens with our heads cut off when the boys’ room and the rest of the house starts flooding, dancing and laughing in a circle to Spanish music while holding Sandy’s hand, cruising in the back of a truck bed in the pouring rain, and cooking meals as a team with janky cutlery. I want to breathe it all in and fully engage in every second God has for us here.
Thank you Jesus for such a sweet display of your love through these new friends who already feel like family. Thank you for the gentle reminder of the little moments, for most of our lives are not made up of big life-changing events, but small snapshots every day. I just knew as these sweet children danced in front of us while the rain poured down outside that it would be one of these snapshots – one I will hold onto and not soon forget.
I’m Emily Werness and I’m discovering more and more each day that the most precious moments are found within the ordinary motions of daily living.
