Month 10 feels like the start of the final lap of a marathon you’ve ran around a track. (Candidly, I’ve never run a marathon around a track BUT I can imagine, okay, bear with me.)
The routine has grown innate: travel for an atrocious amount of hours, find an adequate place to lay your head, unpack your backpack, tuck away the half of your stuff you carry “just in case” but haven’t needed in months, decide if you want to risk drinking the tap water, scrounge up a post travel day meal, and fall asleep in an unfamiliar place (again). The next day: get your bearings, see the outside world in the daylight (because arriving anywhere before dark is unheard of), find a grocery store, meet with your host, know exactly what questions need to be asked, get a rough idea about what ministry is, rest.
Month 10 means a new country! Which has grown sadly so routine, it is barely cause for excitement anymore. But, alas, we find ourselves in (the kingdom of) Lesotho! (Two kingdoms back-to-back, huh? Pretty cool stuff.)
This country is possibly the most beautiful I’ve been to this year, and my team (Ember) is in the “highlands” for the month. We live in an area called Mokhotlong at about 7000 feet elevation, and are partnered with a church here. We enjoy beautiful views everywhere we go, and see a lot of them as we walk… everywhere we go.
Daily ministry looks like walking to the hospital for a 7:45 a.m. devotion, then returning home, walking to the church/school for manual labor at 10:00 a.m., coming home around 12:30 for lunch, walking back to the church again at 2, and returning home around 4:30. Once a week we help with a soup kitchen at the hospital, we lead a devotion at the local prison, and we also help with the church’s youth group. Just walking to and from ministry activities clocks us at about 6 miles a day.
Back to the marathon analogy…
I feel like we’re at the point where we can see the finish line! Flights home are being booked. Final plans are being made. Apartments and houses are being hunted for. Jobs are being applied and interviewed for. We’re closing in on the final lap.
It’s this strange in-between of excitement and melancholy. We’ve moved on from doing the dang thing to FINISHING the dang thing, and that feels good.
Month 10 is nice, because we’re at the point where we don’t waste our time. Team conversations are pretty direct and honest, everyone’s pursuing the Lord intentionally, and we do our best to make the most of ministry. Thinking about going home and planning for it is no longer considered “not staying present,” so it’s fun and exciting.
But ministry this month, and considering life once we’ve all transitioned back to the states or into the next phase of life, constantly brings to mind the verse in 1 Peter 3:15: “….but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect….”
Our ministry here involves a LOT of structured opportunities to share Truth with people. We’re given the time and space to share almost daily, and… there’s only 5 of us here. So in two different locations at the same time each morning, we share a devotional. And then on Sundays, we prepare to share testimonies and sermons at the churches we visit. And at the soup kitchen, and the prison, and the youth group, we share more of what God says and promises in His Word.
We are put in the position where we must always be ready to share the reason for the hope we have in Jesus.
What a beautiful, challenging, stretching, and glorious gift.
Please pray:
- for health, safety, and wisdom as we wrap up the weeks (!!!!) we have left on the field.
- for provision over every big and small detail as everyone plans for and transitions into the next season.
- for intentionality and compassion toward our teams and ministries in these last weeks on the field.
