One day, in the jungle, we were told we would have brunch at 10am and leave for ministry around 11 where would pray in nearby villages. Except this isn’t what happened.
Instead, we were woken up at 7am to someone saying, “Wake up y’all. Someone has died. We are leaving in an hour.”
We have later debriefed that that is indeed not a good way to wake up and a few added facts would be appreciated in the initial announcement.
Our thoughts:
“It’s not someone we know that died, right?”
“Do we need to wear black?”
“I’m guessing it’ll just be a service and maybe we will pray over the family at the end?”
“Oh no, in typical world race style, we will probably be asked to share the Eulogy.”
“They’re going to make us see the body aren’t they?”
“Do they even want a bunch of random Americans there?”
Our reality:
It was not someone we knew.
I wore the only outfit that I brought to wear.
We went to the family’s home. We carried the coffin in, stood for a service, starred at the dead body, and took many selfies with neighbors.
Then we went to the cemetery that was deep in the woods where our sweet squad mate, Nick, helped dig the grave.
Although it was a crazy, long and random day, it was an honor to participate. It was an honor to walk alongside people during one of their toughest days.
We prayed and mourned right alongside them and offered our condolences through our presence instead of our words.
Maybe showing up for people is enough. When we can’t fix the situation or even say anything, we show up, stand next to them, and show them that we are here.
God will heal their hearts, but for now, we can just stand there and that is enough.
