……… I know right! When I told my best friend the story, after she finished laughing at me, she said; “ I would be sad to, if I was almost considered a murderer!” Ah! Best friends, you gotta love them!
Hey friends and family! This blog is long overdue! As I sit in a local coffee shop and in the full swing of our month 9 ministry in Los Andes, Chile; I finally have some time to stop and update you all on how month 8 (Argentina) went and how month 9 (Chile) is going!
But before we get into Chile, let me tell you all about how I almost killed my teammate and all about ministry and my time in Argentina.
In Argentina,we lived in a small, I mean very small town, Casada, Argentina. Casada is home to 30 people and 11 of them are apart of the Martinez household! Month 8, the team had an amazing opportunity to serve an amazing Argentinian family and their 9 children! Because of the beautiful hearts of two people, 4 of the children are natural, while the other 5 are through adoption.
Meet Marcos and Paola…..
A sweet couple who left everything behind in Buenos Aries, Argentina (city) to move to a smaller town, Casada, for one reason only, OBEDIENCE! Marcos is currently building a house in Pasman but for now they are living in an old school house in Casada. Partially our ministry looked like helping him build their new house.
It was only a couple of days into our Argentina month and I was getting adjusted to the 27 degree weather, being on a different continent, the drastic time difference and after been given 3 days to adjust, it was time to start our ministry for the month. For the record, construction is not my thing, I am too clumsy to be building a house, but if Construction was what we needed to do, construction it is! Well as I was doing my duty of serving with all of my heart, It was nearing the time for us to leave. I started to clean up and attempted to pick up the extra pieces of wood off of the grass. As I bent over, I mistakenly knocked over a very large and wide piece of wood that was leaning against a tree. It fell from its position and hit my teammate, Kalyn on the top of her head as she was sitting on the ground removing nails out of a piece of wood! All of a sudden ( story according to Meyuna) Kalyn fell to the ground and began to hold her head from the pain! I immediately stood over her and asked her if she was okay. There was no response from Kalyn! Her husband, Matt, soon came over and helped her off the ground and walked her to the truck. I overheard Matt asking Kalyn question after question, making sure she was alright. Kalyn began to explain to Matt that she did not know what happened, she just woke up on the ground and in pain! SHE BLACKED OUT!!!! I immediately walked over and after attempting to see if she was alright, she asked for some space. I was furious as I watched her cry from the pain, alone in the truck.
Once it was time to go, everyone packed into the car and all of a sudden started to tell her to ” not go to sleep, because she might not wake up.”
NOT WAKE UP!
Do you mean, I almost killed Kalyn!
My heart almost jumped out of my chest and I started to cry quietly in the car.
I was so upset and angry! Let me paint this picture for you. This was icing on the cake….. my phone broke, I was cold ( went drastically went from 90 degree weather to 27 degree weather), and to top it all off, I almost killed Kalyn! It made it worse because shortly before I decided to pick wood off the ground, I was sitting in the car, being a support and encouragement from the car, to those that were working hard. I was operating in my gift of encouragement ( from the car). I was perfectly fine and all of a sudden I had a urge to help and BOOM… I’m knocking people out! “I should have stayed my butt in the car” ” I should have stayed in my lane” I told myself as we rode back to to the house.
Friends… I was UPSET!
I don’t even like construction and here I am out here almost killing folks! After the day was over, I told Matt, who also serves as our team leader, that I refused to go back to construction and if he did not tell Marcos, our host, to give me another job.. I was going to tell him myself and it was not going to be nice!
I WAS PISSED!
Over the past couple of days, I was so upset. I was annoyed and I was completely over it! My teammate Matt pulled me to the side, gave me a hug and not only extended me grace and love but explained to me that it was okay to have bad moments and months and that things happen! That nobody was mad at me and if I wanted to serve in a different capacity, I could. However; If I am not serving in construction out of fear, then that was another story and I needed to sit with the Lord.
Well, friends, I would love to tell you that I went to Lord and He told me that I was operating in fear and the next day I went back to construction in full confidence….. well NOPE….I didn’t!! Actually, this month was one of the hardest months mentally for me to get through! I talked to our host Marcos and he told me that it was okay and that I could stay in the house with his wife, Paola and help her!
My type of ministry. House work. I am very good at that! Laundry- DONE! Dishes- COMPLETE! Floors swept- SURE! You can’t mess these things up!
Even though why I was able to stay in the house were terrible, the beautiful part about this was that I was able to stay at the house and help Paola (didn’t) in the house every day! We cooked, cleaned, I gave her a face mask, and I was able to love Paola as she carried out her first ministry and that was taking care of the house and her children!
It was great!!! I absolutely enjoyed serving Paola and her family for the month! They truly opened up their hearts and their home to us, which was such a beautiful gift of sharing the gospel through love and A LOT … A LOT of gestures… oh and google translate is my best friend! It definitely gets the job done!
Oh, and Kalyn is okay! No Concussion…… *wipes forehead* CAN I get a HALLELUJAH!??!!!!!!
But friends, through this experience God taught me a very valuable lesson. Pastor Micheal Todd says it best, the Lord turns LOSING moments into LESSONS!!! What things are we running from because we messed them up at first? What areas do you ‘feel’ inadequate? What things are not working out for you? Even though it worked out for me to stay at the house, the feelings of “making a mess”, being “inadequate” was still present, it stopped me for fully serving! One thing I am learning, by being on the field, is that the Life that the Lord calls us to, requires FULL DEPENDENCE on the HIM! It will get uncomfortable, it will get messy, and you just might hit your friend in the head with wood! But, in the moments you feel the most inadequate are the times you should dive deeper with the Lord! It does not mean you quit. it means you go even harder!! Let’s GO!
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28
Everyone. EVERYONE in the bible messed up or had some type or form of aliment! A lot of them felt inadequate to do what the Lord called them to… But the Lord still used them for HIS glory! The Lord specializes in the children who hit other people in the head with wood! Ask Noah, I am sure he hit plenty of people in the head with wood as he built the ark- BUT it did not let it stop him. He was focused on being FULLY OBEDIENT!!! ( FYI: that is not in the bible.. but I’m sure he did it ) ha!
Friends………… let’s not quit when things get messy! lets go all in! As I go into my last 3 months, I am choosing to go ALL IN! Will you join me?
A little bit on month 9…….
WE arrived in Los Andes, Chile two Fridays ago and let me say.. Chile is absolutely GORGEOUS! This month we are living with a pastor and his family! Every day we evangelize and bring people to Jesus! A lot of boldness, hugs, telling people about Jesus, REJECTION, language barriers, singing, dancing, and praying!
Here are some pictures from the past 2 weeks:
Ruben, Noami, and Mia ( youngest of their 4 children)- Chilean Host
Friends, as we wrap up the last 3 months of the RACE my prayer is that these words and our experiences are fully transforming the way you SEE and KNOW JESUS! Let me tell you, HE IS BIGGER than we ever imagine! We are coming up on the end but this is just the beginning!
Thank you so much for supporting me!
Love yall!
MeMe
