This month looked a little different than usual. (I write that as if there’s a World Race “usual,” HAH!) Instead of having a set ministry contact to work with all month, the nine of us guys showed up to La Ceiba, Honduras on December 1st with no set plan. Our only agenda was to seek the Holy Spirit and dive into whatever ministry He had prepared for us.
For several days we would walk through our neat little neighborhood, grab a bus or taxi on the main road, wander around town looking for potential ministries, post up at various restaurants and coffee shops to grab wifi, email a bunch of organizations, spend too much money at said establishments, hop on the local transportation en route to our beloved “Residencial Monte Real,” and stroll back to our humble abode.
In town, we found some really cool ministry opportunities, but none of them were getting me excited. None of them felt like the ministry where God wanted me to be. Right in our own neighborhood, though, there was a school that caught my eye. We passed it every single day. I was interested in volunteering there as soon as I saw it. This was a bilingual school, after all, which means it has teachers and students who speak English! But the school’s fortress-like appearance prevented me from pursuing my curiosity for the first few days.
Well, after passing the school a good ten times and confirming no other ministries, my teammate Jacob and I decided to shoot them an email expressing our interest. Then I stalked their Facebook for a while and became a little obsessed with the place. I had a feeling this might be where God was leading me this month; Jacob felt the Lord calling him to the school too. On our way back home that day, I felt a nudge in my spirit to just go into the school. So we tried our luck and walked up to the intimidating gate.
The security guard only spoke Spanish, so he had me awkwardly speak into the phone, “We are missionaries interested in volunteering at your school this month.” The secretary buzzed us in without hesitation, and just like that we were meeting with the principal, Mrs. Dixon! It. Was. Incredible. She was thrilled to have us there. The school had so many different ways for us to help, and we were welcomed with open arms.
And the coolest part? They had been praying for missionaries to come to their school. This was the ministry I was waiting for. This was the ministry where God wanted me to be. And He used us to answer a prayer! Talk about humbling.
Well, ministry at the school this month was even more exciting than our experience getting connected to it. I spent the majority of my time in the 1st and 3rd grade classrooms, and I loved those kids. My favorite part was that I actually got to teach! We read stories, tutored math, graded class work, helped with English, and just spent time with the students and teachers. (Who knows, God may be calling me to a career in education…) The week of Christmas I even got to share the story of Jesus’ birth with kindergarten, 1st, and 3rd grades; before that moment some of the kids didn’t even know Jesus was the reason for the season! It was so cool to be the one to tell them that Good News! Gosh, I loved teaching those children.
The coolest part of our ministry at the school, though, was getting to know the teachers there. One afternoon a bunch of us stayed after school with seven or so teachers to help them practice their English. We just had great conversation with them for two hours (they had some hilarious stories about their students). At the end, we had a chance to pray for them – it was beautiful.
I believe that afternoon, and specifically that prayer, changed the whole atmosphere at the school. We were no longer just random guys kindly helping out in their classrooms. We were people who loved them, men they could trust, ambassadors of Christ. Our next day at the school, a teacher confided in me some struggles in her personal life; the next day, another teacher shared similar struggles with Jacob. Just by loving them and offering prayer, the women at the school were opening up to us, we were praying for them, and we could feel God using us. It was awesome!
Then the last day before the school’s Christmas Break, Mrs. Dixon invited all of us to the faculty potluck. As if the abundance of delicious food wasn’t enough to make my day, God’s presence really took over. I borrowed the mic to say a quick thank you to all of the staff for being so welcoming to us. Then I prayed blessings over them and invited any who were interested to come to us for one-on-one prayer after the meal.
We weren’t really expecting anyone to approach us, but within a minute after I spoke, a teacher came to Jacob and me asking for prayer. We went to a classroom and listened as she told us about her struggles with divorce, depression, and eventually giving up on God. We encouraged her, offered her spiritual guidance, and prayed for her. It was one of those moments that I knew it wasn’t Jacob talking, it wasn’t Ronny talking – it was the Holy Spirit talking. It was incredible. We opened our eyes and turned to see Craig on the other side of the classroom with a whole group of ladies. We joined them, and next thing we knew we had essentially started a whole prayer group within the staff!
And to think this all happened simply because we followed the Lord’s call to walk into that school and allowed Him to use us there!
My time in the school reminded me that ministry is just a way of life. We didn’t do anything too crazy or spectacular at the school. We just loved the people, listened to them, and shared our love for Jesus with them. We said yes to God, and that allowed His Spirit to break forth in that school.
P.S. During their Christmas Break, we also got to help with some destruction (aka knocking down walls) in the cafeteria that they’re renovating! Talk about manistry.
