I just finished my second month on the World Race and let me tell you, it was extremely challenging. My small team was divided from the rest of the squad which was difficult because you had to say goodbye to the people who became your family in month one. My small team was beyond blessed with a dedicated ministry called Isaiah 61 Ministries. They were church planting and encouraging youth outreach within different cities surrounding Quito, Ecuador. They told us a lot of our time there would be spent doing construction which was completely out of my comfort zone. I have barely even lifted a hammer let alone build a church. We shoveled rocks and dirt and we also worked with the youth groups within their church which was such a blessing. I really wanted to start making better connections with the people we were working with.
I could go on and on about the amazing things that occurred in Ecuador but my team struggled with one thing… ministry was light. By light I mean, we had four days a week with ministry that was two and a half hours at the most. My first day at the construction site lasted two hours then we ate lunch with the Pastor and waited to be picked up. The next day, I gardened for two hours then did a quick prayer walk around the city. Our youth outreach days on Saturdays were only two hours. The catch was that getting to the church was an hour and a half there and the same back. Most of the ministry day involved finding buses to get there. At first, you would think we would be happy that it was an easier month and we were “let off the hook” but truly, we struggled with feeling inadequate. We felt we were not giving enough to this ministry. What we didn’t know though was that we were serving them exactly everything they needed. We also didn’t know that we were being served in the exact manner God needed us to be served as well.
We spent so much time growing as a team and growing as people that even doing things we weren’t comfortable with or didn’t like, we started to fall in love with and beg to do more of. My team looked forward to shoveling gravel from one end to another because we were just excited to serve. Look at that growth!!!! Our first month was so ministry heavy that sometimes I felt like I was losing my spark and my spunk towards ministry but when ministry was light, I fell in love all over again. Does that make sense? I used my free time to self-improve like I have never self-improved before. I am glad I got this time at the beginning of the race because it changed the way I looked at the rest of the race.
Every month I write an email to my website subscribers (go to thenicolerowe.com and subscribe!) and it gives a rundown of my month with photos, blogs, and fun facts. The title of the email for Ecuador was “Thank you, Ecuador” because I am so thankful for Ecuador and the fact that God used this time to renew my mind and spirit about my attitude towards serving in the community and the people around me. Ecuador taught me what it meant to be a sister in Christ and what responsibilities it comes with. Even though I lived a mile away from actual civilization, I looked forward to the daily walk on the dirt road because that was my “cardio time”. Even though I knew going to the construction site meant a huge meal after that I could barely finish, I ate every last bite because I was just so thankful that someone cared enough about me to serve me. Even though my team barely knew each other, I looked forward to playing hours and hours of one card game with them because they made me feel like I was back home again.
I am excited to see what next month brings in Peru. It could be heavier ministry or it could be light again but I don’t mind because now, every second of serving is my favorite regardless of where it is being done.
“It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” 1 Peter 1:12
