Hi there!
I wanted to give you all a quick recap of what my month 10 looked like. I was in Delgado, El Salvador, right outside the main city of San Salvador. We worked with a local church called Iglesia Cristiana Timoteo and our ministry host was Pastor Aldo. He was one of the sweetest hosts I’ve had on The Race. He drove us all over the city to get the best pupusas, did a day trip to the beach, and even took us to a waterpark at the end of the month. I really couldn’t have asked for a better host. We ate plenty of pupusas during our time there; I think I’ll take a pause on those in my diet for awhile. I learned how to make them with some of the women in the church and I had a blast laughing and doing a terrible job, but they accepted my work graciously.
Ministry this month encompassed a variety of things. We had church 4 nights a week and during that time slot, we helped out with the children’s bible class. I hung out in the nursery for most of the month and we did puzzles, tossed kids in the air, blew bubbles for an hour straight, and other similar activities. I was exhausted from kids at this point to be completely honest, so I had to rely on the Lord’s strength to get me through this month. I’m here in month 11 so God clearly came through for me. He tends to do that quite a bit (:
Besides kids ministry, we cleaned the church in the mornings. We swept the concrete floors and also swept water when it rained, which was often. I can now say I’ve swept water and the dirt ground outside (details below) after this month.
On Tuesdays, we drove 2-3 hours one way to a city called Usulután, where they had a sister church. It was here that I swept the dirt. We tidied up the area and set out chairs. Then they held an adult service under a shade tree. We did a kids service in a little building and danced (and attempted singing) to Spanish songs while the kids mostly just watched us make fools of ourselves. Skits like David and Goliath or Daniel and the Lions’ Den typically proceeded afterwards.
Tuesdays were long: let me be real here. I was pretty amped for our fourth and final trip on that chicken bus at the end of the month. Now you may be asking, “What in the world is a chicken bus? Are you actually riding in a bus with chickens all around you?” The answer to that is: sometimes. We had a duck, chicken, and tied-up iguana with us at one point. Riding a chicken bus equates to sitting in the back of a large pickup truck with wooden seats and a tarp to cover your head. Not the most comfortable…let me tell ya. It was rainy season while we were there and the tarp had leaks in it, which resulted in some of us getting completely drenched.
What amazed me most, though, were the people of the church. These people that go to this city every stinking week and get rained on and sit in the back of this really uncomfortable bus. And they have JOY. Pure, real, authentic joy. And they aren’t young and agile. They are seriously grandparents, and they’re in the back of this thing laughing and smiling. Talk about being convicted for the feelings I was experiencing.
Those humble, patient people were exactly what I needed month 10. I was exhausted and caught myself just wanting to be home. To be in the comfort. But these people. Man, they had some neat perspective that I was able to witness and learn from. They choose to be servants of Christ and do it with such willing hearts. That is who I want to be. Always. There’s no point in going out there and doing the good thing if we aren’t in the right heart posture. In fact, you’re better off just not doing it at all.
Month 10 convicted me of this in the best way. It took me out of my rut and gave me incredible clarity going into this next month’s ministry.
Here’s to my final month of The World Race!
– an exhausted World Racer with some more clarity
