As I wrote about in my previous blog, our time in Nepal was filled with challenges and growth. One of the huge things God revealed to me and helped me grow in is redefining ministry. Ever since I was little, I've always pretty much stuck to doing what I was told. I was obedient, which is great, but I never really went above and beyond what I was asked. So far, my time on the Race has looked like that. I fully participated when asked to speak, pray, or serve, but I never took the initiative to do anything I wasn't asked to do. This month was different. Ministry was outside of the box for me.
It all started when a little girl followed Kelly and I around begging for money and food. Since the beginning of the Race we were told not to give to beggers. The reasonings always sounded legit, so even though my heart broke for the poverty I saw, I did as I was told. As I turned beggers down again and again, it became easier and easier as my heart hardened toward them. But this girl got to me. She followed us for a good 20 minutes, waiting for us outside of stores. I found myself getting annoyed, but then as soon as she did leave us, the conviction settled in. Matthew 25:40 came to mind: "Truly I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." I called myself a missionary, and yet day-to-day I was not living out what Chirst called me to do. I prayed for forgiveness and asked God to give me a second chance. Later that day, we ran into the girl again. This time, I immediately sought out a place to get her some food and then I prayed over her. Thank you God for gracing me with a second chance to show this girl His love and kick off a month of redefining ministry.
Our ministry this month has included the following:
-Praying for street kids and carrying around granola bars and silly bands to give to them
-Teaching pastors how to use Facebook, Gmail, Blogspot, and Flickr for them to use in their ministry and allowing them to use my computer to learn on, even when I was gone to the villages
-Coloring, painting nails, and dancing with kids from church who were off of school because of a Hindu holiday
-Playing with neighborhood kids in a hay field
-Befriending a Hindu girl, sharing the Gospel with her, praying over her dying sister, and helping her with medical bills
-Working on typing up the contact information for all the churches in Nepal during our free time so our contact can post it on a website
-Initiating a Bible study with our hiking guide, who is a new believer
-Hugging, comforting, and praying for a girl on another squad who had to fly home because her sister died
-Praying for a woman who served us lunch on our hike
-Cooking dinner for our contact's family
-Going to a village to have fellowship (musical worship, a message, prayer, and listening to testimonies) with a family who is the only Christian family in that village
-Sharing Scripture at church
-Playing the "Everything" video my former team made (check it out in my blog titled "You're Everything")
I posted this summary of our ministry, not to glorify myself or my team, but to glorify God. As I mentioned before, I'm a do-as-I'm-told girl and I never would have done any of this on my own. As I look back and reflect on the month, I'm in awe of how God used us. I'm in awe of how He gave me the boldness to take initiative in these ministries. I'm so thankful that God redefined ministry for me. It is not just what I'm asked to do; it is being Jesus' hands and feet every opportunity I can each day. I'm so grateful that God has given me freedom from the boundaries I put around ministry and I'm excited to see where this freedom brings me over the next 7 months and beyond that when I get home.
Travel Itinerary (not too crazy this time around)
11/13 5:00am: leave in taxis for the airport
5:30am: arrive at airport, overcome with joy at being reunited with my former teammates, wait outside for the airport to open
6:00am: check-in, spend the rest of my rupees on coffee and splitting a candy bar with Hannah, watch the last half of Home Alone 2
7:00am: find out that our flight is delayed 3hrs, eat a complimentary breakfast
10:00am: go through security, find out our flight is delayed again until 2:30pm
12:00pm: eat a complimentary lunch, go back through security, run into Daniela by divine appointment praying for her and sitting with her until her flight leaves, find out our flight is still delayed
5:30pm: board the plane to Bahrain
8:40pm (1 hr 45 min time backwards difference): land in Bahrain, rush through the airport to catch our flight, and board our plane to Nairobi
11/14 2:45am: land in Nairobi, get our visas, and load up a bus to go to our hostel
4:40am: fall asleep on a BED (thank you Jesus!) in our hostel room that my team shared with 2 random backpackers
We will have debrief until the 17th, then my team will head to Nakuru for our ministry with Bliss Women and Children. Please pray for our ministry there this month.
