So you’d
think, after all the priming Adventures in Missions put us through to NOT have
expectations, that we’d be over all that.
It turns out, most expectations are
subconscious, and aren’t discovered until disappointments reveal them. Go figure. Honestly, I don’t think
there will ever be a time where we are completely
expectation-free. Last week’s unfulfilled expectation took me a while to
get over…
Since 2006 I have been reading
blogs from World Racers all around the globe – blogs filled with all the
touching, fun, hilarious, miraculous, and thought provoking moments of their
journey. Somehow, without realizing it, an impression formed in my mind that
the World Race was filled with moments like these – that every day would be an
adventure! What their blogs failed to reveal (or maybe I just missed it…) are
all the day-in, day-out living-around-the-world moments…you know, the ones
where there’s nothing to do, you’ve finished ministry for the day, and there’s
suddenly a lot of down time to fill.
Because of the rain, this past week was filled with those moments, and I really struggled with it. Boredom
is not a feeling I expected to have on the World Race. I also wrestled with
thoughts like, “are we really making a difference here?” and, “I could be doing
this at home”.
In reality, we are making a
difference…it just took going through that week to realize it. When we’re not
building houses – when there’s seemingly nothing to do – the opportunity to meet
your neighbors and get to know the community suddenly opens up. We’ve had so
many opportunities just walking around town, and stopping at our regular
hangouts, to talk to people about what we’re doing, and get to know them. So
many people we run into remember our names, and are excited to see us and talk
with us some more. Our presence in El Nido is touching people!
I love how God works in ways that
are not always readily apparent. Though we may never see the full results, I
know, through conversations, that God has moved through us in El Nido. He is
doing great things in that little community, and I know even greater things are
yet to come!
