Hey everybody!
My team and I have just finished our first week of ministry in Honduras and I am so excited to share with you all what we are doing this month!
Be on the look out for more blog posts this month, as I have more time to write and am loving ministry here!
For now, I wanted to catch you all up on how last month was for me. I wrote a brief blog about Nicaragua before we left, but I wanted to go into further detail now that I have had some time to process everything my heart experienced last month.
Last month was something we call “all squad month.” This is a time where our whole squad of 46 people come together and do ministry for the month. We eat, sleep, and breathe community. Community is a popular term within AIM and while I agree with establishing healthy boundaries, calling each other higher, and pressing into everyday life together, nothing could have prepared me personally for a month full of 46 people my own age. For the first two weeks, I pressed into community full force. The time I was spending with everyone else was greater than the time I was spending with God and even with myself. Because there was never a shortage of warm bodies around, I found myself not needing to talk to God throughout the day so naturally, I started to drift.
During our first day in Honduras, our ministry host David said to us all, “ If you are here doing ministry FOR God, but WITHOUT Him, what is the purpose?”
Man, did I need to hear this in Nicaragua. Have you ever been so distracted in life that your relationship with God takes a backseat?
It could be deadlines at work, or strained relationships you are trying to work out with loved ones. It could be unhealthy friendships that are slowly wearing you down or even pulling you apart from God. Sometimes it can even be our selfishness getting in the way of what He is trying to say or do in us.
This was me last month. Distracted.
Distraction is a devastating term to any relationship, but especially to the relationship we have with God.
Not only was I distracted with my squad, but I was also distracted with the ministry we were doing last month. I think door-to-door evangelism is wonderful, but only if you are going into it with no expectations. I realized this after our tie there.
Everyday our squad would go out into the hot sun of Nicaragua and we would pour our hearts out to the people in Chichigalpa, only to continue receiving the same response, “I will wait to pursue a relationship with the Lord, but thank you for sharing.”
My squad quickly realized through these conversations with the locals that in the Nicaraguan culture, you have to live a sinless life in order to even pursue a relationship with Jesus. In Nicaragua, it is more about religion than relationship. Religion is what is causing everyone to fear the Lord in unhealthy ways rather than to embrace the love he has for them and the price He has already paid for them and their sins.
While I grew very frustrated with what seemed to me like fruitless ministry, the Lord reminded me about mustard seeds and how they work. While I have always been a person of immense faith in what I can and even cannot see, I was surprised that I had forgotten all about mustard seeds. Then again, I was doing ministry for God and not with him, so had I been in better communication with Him, he probably would have told me this sooner. Even this shows the importance of not missing a moment with the Lord — He really can walk us through some of the most challenging times of our lives if we let Him and if we continue to make Him the center and priority of our life.
So last month was a bit rough for me and I have been feeling impressed to explain to you all, the good and even the not-so-good moments of this journey. I hope that through my blogs, you can get a better sense of where my heart is at and what the Lord is doing in and through me, and maybe even some things can be a reminder for you guys in your walk with the Lord. If any of you ever have questions, about anything please email me and let me know. I can always go into further detail about something and/or am here to be an encouragement to you in your journey’s as well.
My email is [email protected]
Here are some photos from last month also. The poverty we were in everyday was by far the worst I have seen yet. Please continue to keep the people of Nicaragua in your prayers. They are such precious people, who desperately need freedom.
