What is Manistry month you say? Well I shall explain. I mean, I wasn’t there so I can only speculate. But for one month on the World Race, all of the men are taken off their current teams and unite for ministry. I imagine there’s lots of manly things happening like fixing things, cooking outdoors, maybe some Tim Alllen style grunting… So yeah, Manistry is manly men doing manly things for one month of ministry. Or so I imagine.
At the beginning of the month, team Relentless said goodbye to two of its members. Dave and Cody were dropped off in Siem Reap with the rest of the B squad dudes. Us ladies continued on to our ministry in Phnom Penh. Since our team was two men down, we were paired up with the ladies from another coed team – Radical. I was excited to get to serve with these four girls especially since I haven’t had the opportunity to get to know them very well yet. Kagan, Laura, Leanna, and Kimberley joined with us for the month. Colleen, my former team leader and now awesome squad leader, was also going to be spending the month with us. But it doesn’t end there. We would be getting one more new member as well. AIM launched a new program called Exposure. I know it sounds scandalous, but it really isn’t. It allows a college age person to come on the Race for one month and experience what it is like. It’s an up close and extremely personal look at ministry, feedback, team dynamics, other cultures and everything that the Race has or offer. So yeah, Amber, or the Exposure Girl as we affectionately called her before we knew her, arrived shortly after we did. In total, that is eleven women living in one house (more like two rooms in a small part of the house). Any of you who know me really well also know that being closely surrounded by that many women is not my first choice.
While the men were off being manly, I was basically living in a sorority for Christian girls doing ministry overseas. I never thought that would happen on the Race. I remember Stephanie talking about how excited she was for this month. Being married, she would never have an opportunity like this again. It was worth it just for her to be able to experience it. In YWAM I had my fill of close quarters with a large number of girls. Maybe it’s good to be put in these situations every so often. It really does pull out the best and worst in people (myself included). I got to see some of my not so attractive traits that I should probably work on before I get married. I also got to see selflessness and the servant’s heart in those around me. If there’s one thing for sure, you can’t hide anything when you’re living that close. And sometime a long hard look in the mirror is exactly what we need to see how best we can grow.
