The other night, I finally got the opportunity to talk with my mom. Between the time change and not-so-great African wifi, I have not been able to talk with my family much. As we were talking, my mom asked, “So, what exactly are you doing in Morocco?” I’ve talked a lot about things going on with me and the team, but not as much as what our m-nistry focus has been this month.
First of all, know that social media is not an accurate description of life here in Morocco. For security reasons, our pictures are touristy pictures. This is to protect the people we meet and the relationships we’ve built.
Secondly, I want to explain the difference between my route, the expedition route, and other traditional routes. In traditional world race routes, each month has a set host and set m-nistry. The m-nistry options can be all kinds of different things—working in orphanages, doing construction work, or street ev-ngelism, just to name a few.
The expedition route is different in that most months we don’t have a set host or m-nistry. We call those months Ask the L0rd, which is commonly abbreviated as ATL. When we do ATL, we, as a team, sit with the L0rd individually for awhile and ask Him what He wants for us for the coming month. Then, we come together and share with the team what we got. Doing ATL on a consistent basis allows a lot more freedom and flexibility, but it also means that we have to continuously press in and not become apathetic.
Our month in Morocco has been an ATL month. After being in Morocco for a few days, our whole team took time to sit individually with the L0rd and ask Him where He wanted us to be and what He wanted us to focus on this month. Then, we all came together and shared what we felt the L0rd had showed us.
When we came back together to share what we got from the L0rd, we found that we were unanimous about several things. First of all, we wanted to have a place to ourselves that we could invite friends into. Second, we felt led to go to places like the mall or the English-speaking school and build relationships with people. The goal was to make friends, invite them into our home, and have opportunities to share the love of J-sus with them.
We found the perfect apartment for our team to stay in and so several days later we moved in and began to make ourselves at home. It took us awhile to get going this month because the whole team ended up getting sick for about eight days in the beginning. After the sickness had subsided and most everyone was feeling up to par, we then began our “m-nistry” for the month.
Our “m-nistry” was not working in an orphanage or teaching English. Our “m-nistry” was living daily life and bringing people into that. At training camp, one of the things they taught us was to have a need and let people help you. Whether that’s help with going to the grocery store, getting a taxi, or in my case, going to the doctor. When you let people help you, it opens doors and turns out to be an amazing way to build relationships with people.
Towards the beginning of our time in Morocco, we spent quite a bit of time at the mall making connections with people. One day we were eating ice cream at this little frozen yogurt place and started developing relationships with the girls behind the counter. Those girls invited us to their homes for couscous and tea and we have since kept up with them.
Then over the past few weeks, we were able to build some amazing relationships with people right around us. Some of the greatest friends we made were our neighbors. And what was really cool—we tended to leave the windows and doors open during the day when people were home because of the heat and it allowed our home to be an open place for our neighbors to come sit and talk. Our neighbors felt like part of the family. And not only that—some of our friends began asking questions and wanted to know more about why we believe what we believe. It was really cool seeing the walls come down and having the opportunity to go deeper with people.
In just doing life here, we’ve made so many connections. Even with all my medical stuff that I’ve had to do this month, G0d has brought forth so many beautiful connections through that. From my friend that helped me go to the doctor to the physical therapist who worked with me everyday for a week and a half—G0d has consistently brought people in.
One thing I love about doing ATL is that it is something that I can carry with me when I go back to the States. I don’t have to have a set ministry in order for something to be ministry. I am learning what it means to live m-ssionally each and every single day. That means that every person I meet—whether its the taxi driver or the girl serving me ice cream—they are a part of my m-ssional life.
I am going to miss Morocco and all the amazing people we’ve met here. It has been an amazing month with so many good friends and good connections. On Thursday, we fly out out to Cyprus, with a layover in London, to begin month four! Thanks for being continuously being part of my journey!
Praises:
1. My foot is doing SO MUCH BETTER! Not 100%, but I can walk without pain. Thanks for all your pr-yers!
2. We had an amazing month in Morocco with so many great friendships and connections.
Pr-yer Requests:
1. Pr-y for my squad-mate, Adrian, who just lost her nephew and Papaw within 24-hours of each other.
2. Pr-y for travel day on Thursday and Friday as we fly to Cyprus!
3. Pr-y for the people we met in Morocco and that G0d will continue to reveal Himself to them.
4. Pr-y lastly for our squad that we will continue to press into the HS!
