Trudging down the stairs of our hostel, tired from our usual Sunday morning church events but slightly more upbeat from the snail like wifi that I just had access to, I pass by one of the several cleaning ladies we have seen during our nearly two week stay here, folding sheets with her mop bucket close by.
“Bon soir” I quietly say, wanting to wish her a good afternoon but not wake up our after church nappers in the rooms around us.
She smiles and returns the greeting, tacking on a “ca va?” Just as I start to head into the room that leads me to where my team was.
It was so quiet that it could have easily been skipped over or lost in the ever present sound of the creaking door handle. She would have assumed I didn’t know what she said anyway, because let’s be honest, our French is minimal.
But this I knew.
I turned around and let the words spill out like I had practiced this often, when in fact I very rarely got this question. Most people assume we have “bonjour” down pat and not much else.
And they aren’t completely wrong.
“Ca va bien, merci.”
I could see the surprise on her face, probably because I replied so quickly and probably because I thanked her for asking me how I was.
We’re usually just happy when we correctly say we are doing well to someone in French, so the thank you tends to get forgotten.
And there we were. Standing there, smiling at each other like we had accomplished some big feat.
We both knew we couldn’t carry the conversation on any further than that, but it was something.
A connection.
This month we are pioneers. K Squad is the first World Race team to come to Cote d’ Ivoire.
It’s exciting to explore a new country but tough at the same time.
Most countries a racer goes to has been traveled through by another squad. Hosts and their ministries are well established. You know how to get transportation and where to adventure and go for wifi on days off. Most days are filled with ways to work and serve your host in the best way possible.
But it is different when you are pioneering a country. You know who your host is, but helping them with ministry is harder because they are figuring out what needs to be done right alongside you.
Going outside of our compound is harder because we don’t have translators who can help take us places, just those within our ministry, and it’s not like they are around for us alone. They are busy and have other jobs.
For my team we are working with Pastor Matthew and his beautiful family at their church. It has been a joy to get to know them and their small congregation. We preach on Sundays, and lead Bible study on Tuesdays, and help with any extra services they have during the week.
But their church isn’t close by so they have some people come get us so we can get to them. But they don’t always need us. And when that happens we are kind of stuck on the campus with not much to do.
I’m a person who likes to stay busy at all times, so the few days a week that we don’t do ministry it gets hard for me. I want to be up and moving and serving in any way I can.
I was journaling one day about all that we had done, knowing full well the next day we had nothing planned.
“Why are we here?”
The question guiltily came rushing to my mind.
I loved what we did, and adored the Pastor and his sweet, servant-hearted and thankfully English speaking family, but the helpless feeling I had on days without ministry was starting to get to me.
I wrestled with that question, prayed over that question. We know God puts us in places for a reason, even if we don’t always know the answer.
He waited a good week to answer my question.
I found it in the sweet soul of a lady who was cleaning up after the 31 slightly messy Americans.
It’s about the connection.
In the third chapter of 1st Corinthians it talks about those who have told others about Jesus. It doesn’t say it was all up to one person, it says that there were many; every person had a different part that ultimately led others to Christ.
It uses the example of planting seeds to how others come to a relationship with Christ. It’s not something that is always instantaneous, you form a relationship with a person and continue to invest in them.
Vs. 8 says “The one who plants (the seed) and the one who waters (it) works together with the same purpose.”
We’re here to plant.
We might not see the fruit of what we have planted, but that isn’t always our job.
Our job is to establish connections with people.
We’re here to encourage our Pastor and his family. To uplift them, and bring joy as we make his wife laugh with our jokes, silly dance moves and disdain for a Ghanan dish that we pray we won’t eat next month.
To bring a new perspective to the Faith Revival Church in the way we teach.
And more laughter with our dancing during worship.
To become good friends with James, who so sweetly drives us to church every time we need a driver.
To make people smile as we pass by and offer up our broken French.
To give a mother a break as we spend time with her children.
To leave lasting good impressions on those around us, so it can be possible for other teams to come after us.
And water what we have started.
So during the days when I don’t feel like I am serving like I really want to, I’m reminded to seek out the opportunity to just look someone in the eyes and smile.
Greet them with a simple “bonjour”.
Pray over our team, our church, the campus we stay in.
Jesus can work in the smallest of ways.
And so we plant.
And so we plant.
