Hey! How is your afternoon going or how did it go? Maybe you did not even have one yet and it is morning right now for you.
It is currently the afternoon as I am typing this blog out, so I will say buenas tardes! This was a common greeting in Spanish we would say to the people in Ecuador and Peru during the afternoon. Most afternoons in Ecuador on ministry days were spent doing chores at Pan de Vida (our place of ministry) or serving food to refugees on a Sunday. Our days would be long sometimes: beginning our work at 9am sometimes and ending it at 5pm. During that time period, we would work until lunch time (usually around 12:30pm), take an hour break, and then keep on working until it was time to go back home. I remember that sometimes our hosts back at home would like to surprise us with how creative they could make our lunches. One that stuck out to me the most were the dulche de leche and cheese sandwiches that were complimented with a bag of chips or dried plantain chips (a common snack in South America). Work never really seemed like work because there was a greater purpose behind it. Even though I could not speak Spanish very well, I believed that actions proved greater than words sometimes. When we were helping a family build an additional room to their house, my motivation to complete our task was the joy I imagined them having after it was done. I tried guessing in my head what the room would be used for: maybe it was a dining room where they could tell stories at the table or a living room where they could hang out and enjoy each other’s company with friends. Whatever the purpose was, I knew that it meant a lot to them at the moment and we were able to be a light to them. We later took pictures togther and I played soccer (or footbol) with the kids during our lunch break. Our ministry day schedule in Peru varied a little more. It was about every week that we would be at a different place for ministry. We would spend days mainly doing chores or construction and then we would work with the kids on only a couple days of the week. We would have them play Twister, Simon Says, or sometimes play broom ball, which I learned is a game that has similar rules to soccer.
Another way that would keep us going while we would work on projects was by having a good time. We would listen to music, sing, and dance (even if we did not have the coordinating moves to go with the song at the time). We would be folding clothes for hours some days, but the time would fly by so quickly because of how we chose to work. Some days were difficult and we did not have the strength, but God continued to lift us up and remind us that He is our strength in the little and big things that would cross our paths during the day. Exodus 15:2 says: The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. This verse spoke to me because it was a reminder that it is ok to have weak moments (we all have them) because that is when God steps in and suffices for our strength. Then we can give Him the glory in result of that! It is through learning how God intervenes as our strength that will make us stronger in future circumstances because we understand how much greater He is. Some days, our ministry would be supporting local churches (some being almost 2 hours away) by attending their services. One really cool service I experienced was from a deaf church. The service was silent, but not the hands that were signing. A couple of us knew sign language (I only knew a very little bit), but the rest of us (including me still) were struggling to keep up. We even had the amazing opportunity to see 2 locals get baptised! One lady had opened our eyes up to this unique world by having us sit in a circle one day and silently watch this incredible man sign with his hands. He was deaf and blind so he had to have someone touch his hands to communicate with him. When he was done signing to her, she turned to us and asked, “Now who is the one with the disadvantage?” It was us because we did not really understand what he was communicating due to our lack of knowing sign language. Later on that day, I had a small conversation with him by tracing Spanish words onto his hand, then he would take my hand and do the same. It was so cool!
I recall a time when ministry meant giving a police officer a water bottle and praying over him after they had been targeted in riots. That morning after breakfast, me and a friend went out into the streets and found this small shop. There was an older lady and a younger one who were running the buisness. My friend who is fluent in Spanish stroke up a conversation with her and I bought water bottles from them for the workers up ahead. We said goodbye and thanked them for the water and headed towards the workers. As we were walking, one worker popped up from behind a mound of dirt and I realised that I had miscounted how many there were and decided not to give the water to them because it would not have been fair if he did not get one. Instead, I decided to give them to my friends (a couple of them joined us at the small shop while we were there) and told them to pass the bottles out to who they wanted to. Everyone had passed their’s out pretty quickly and I was left with the one in my hand still because I had not yet felt a strong calling to one person to give it to. It was about 15 minutes before we had to be back to where we were staying. As we were walking back, I spotted a police officer talking to a team member of his. I asked my friend if she could translate to him, so she said yes and we both went up to him and handed him the water bottle. Then, I asked if I could pray for him (with the help of my friend translating) and he nodded his head yes. At that moment, I felt like God had answered my prayer I had given to Him during the riots a few days before: that He would use me to help out and that He would resolve them. He did both! During the time of the riots, my team and I had set aside a 24 hour prayer time for Quito (one person would pray in a room for an hour and then would switch out until 24 hours were over). Later one day, after I had taken my turn, I recieved a text from a friend who was in the city, saying that the riots are over! Yaay! That was one prayer request answered and then He answered my other one by using me to reach out to the officer.
God can use you in anyway to do ministry! You do not have to cross seas or land to do that. One thing I realised during my missions trip is that I need to focus more on the ministry of those around me. I remember my leaders saying that it is just as important to minister to your group as it is to those you came to serve. Ministry to me is an act of demonstrating the selfless love of God. It is an act of humility and love in result of our devotion to Christ. One question I had been asking myself before the Race was “How do we love our enemies or those we are not so fond of when God calls us to (Matthew 5:44)?” I learned that we have to make a choice to love those people first and then allow the right emotions to fall into place. It is the kind of love that is unconditional and impartial that should drive our actions in ministry, to seek out how we can help those in our paths like Jesus would. We are not naturally born with this kind of love, so we have to choose daily to lay down ourselves (selfish desires) and become more like Him. Before I bring this blog to a conclusion, I am going to leave you with one question: Who is God calling you to minister to? Is it a family member, a friend, a co-worker, someone across your home, across the world, or maybe someone working at a favorite café? I want to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and explore the opportunities that are presented to you and see what comes from that. Maybe doing that requires you to just say hi to someone who is lonely and see how they are doing.
Thank you so much for taking your time to read another one of my many lengthy blogs! I hope you have a blessed day!
