I am at the end of my first month as a World Racer (and no, I still can’t believe this is really happening) in the very beginning days of our next country: Nepal. This past month has been amazing and full of totally unexpected things – from a mountainous and cool Northeast India where nearly everyone speaks English as opposed to the hot, bustling India surrounded by Hindi, to things I never would have called ministry that my squad and I have participated in this month. Among these are:
Moving dirt from a hole in the ground into concrete pits in a church
Putting flowers in our ears and playing with the kids that handed them to us on our walk to meals
Cutting people’s hair for free
Playing soccer in the mud with some kids we found in the street – and wiping out. (Yes, there are pictures)
Moving bricks two at a time in an assembly line up four flights of stairs. Over and over.
Going out to watch our ministry host play soccer
Sweeping concrete floors with brooms made of bundled rice stalks
Visiting and praying over hospital patients
Helping push cars free that had gotten stuck in the mud due to the incessant downpours
Rolling cotton balls out of a brick of cotton
Sitting in on seminary classes
Being asked to stand up and teach said seminary class upon entering – despite the fact that I only have a bachelors degree and don’t understand the meaning of the word “homiletics.”
Playing games, rehearsing skits, and watching wrestling or soccer with the seminary students
Hanging out with our ministry hosts and sharing stories, helping cook, and making memories
Following a bunch of kids through stream up to a waterfall because they ask us to go. (Yes, there are pictures.)
Getting asked about my ideal husband in the middle of teaching an English class
Being ready at any moment for a girl to make a running leap into your arms – even though you’ve never even made eye contact with her
Praying for two hours over a man who didn’t get healed, but then befriending and visiting him throughout the month – and later paying his hospital bill so he could receive adequate medical care (for that incresible story, check out my squadmate’s blog about it HERE)
Letting a girl who’s never seen a white person before touch your face and ask to play with your hair
Sitting through a two hour church service I don’t understand, being respectful and paying attention anyway
Skipping a function one night to watch a movie with a friend who wasn’t feeling well
Leading a woman to Christ at a medical camp
Chopping enough onions and green beans to feed 60 people – three times a day.
Visiting people in the hospital and praying over them
Putting on an entire VBS with maybe twenty minutes to prepare
Leading worship in a Sunday service
Doing a drama about God’s redemption and salvation for over 600 people at a conference – in a church we helped build
Holding study sessions for a Hebrew Grammar class (Seriously. This is my study group)
(I also got “full marks” as they say in India… and I’m not even in the class! I am a true nerd.)
Encouraging the professors by being obsessively interested in talking to them about the subjects they teach (sorry… nerding again)
Lining people up, running prescriptions, and ushering people into offices during a free medical camp for the community (where nearly 2,000 people received free medical treatment and medicine)
Playing volleyball with seminary students
Offering free physical therapy and EMT services when visiting people’s homes just because people on our squad have the skill set
Rolling cotton balls? Passing bricks? How are some of these things ministry? Don’t get me wrong, if you would have asked me a year ago – or maybe even right before I left for the race – how many of those were actually called “ministry” I might have said 6 or 7; the obvious ones. Leading someone to Christ, putting on medical camps, VBS, etc., those count. But talking to your ministry host? Hiking to a waterfall? Explain that one, Mer.
The truth is that being on the World Race is an unbelievable privilege, but there is only so much true impact and difference we can make in a month. If we wanted to do that, the better investment might have been giving the money we raised straight to the ministries we work with instead of spending all this money to go. The difference we can make, however; is pouring into the people that get to stay. Providing lift to them, encouraging them in their faith, being a bright spot for them – in addition to “physical ministry” – is just as much a part of a mission trip as the other stuff; and it may be argued it’s more important.
So yes! I got to sit in on seminary classes, study Hebrew, take an exam, teach English conversation sessions – all things where I find complete purpose and come to life – as well as things like rolling cotton balls so the nurses can use their time to care for their patients, or slipping and falling in the mud playing soccer, all of that is part of living on mission. Doing it right means all things can be considered ministry… that’s the goal I’m working toward.
Two final things:
1. Whilst being here I’ve been given a name in the common language of this corner of Northeast India. After sharing a little bit of my testimony with some of my seminary students, I was given the name Lalnunthar – which means “The King has given you new life.” In sharing a little bit of my story and interacting with this guy for an hour and a half, he was able to tell enough about me to know that I live a life of worship to a King who has given me new life.
2. Since we’ve been here this month several visitors from the States have come to the ministry we are working with, and several of them have gotten to speak to us. One of those pastors talked about being the pen God uses to write a letter to his Bride; but the pen doesn’t get to choose – or sometimes even know who it’s writing to. My friend and squadmate, Elisa, really poignantly said, “what I think I’m here for is not what I’m actually here for.” Keeping that attitude keeps my mind open so much more to seeing His hand in everything – even rolling cotton balls. Maybe my ministry was participating in leading someone to Christ, or maybe it was my precious friends at Trinity College and Seminary and getting my new name.
I you’re a World Racer, future World Racer, vicarious World Racer, or someone who loves one, the lesson is equally applicable: even the smallest things can be ministry, and keeping your mind open to how they are makes them so. Having an expectation of what constitutes “ministry” means:
A. You might miss a lot of it.
B. You’ll probably be disappointed.
So, Father, open our eyes to the work You have set before us, and help us see you in it; starting with me.
