It’s so easy to set your sights high at the beginning of every month, to think “This month will be amazing! This month will be better than last month. This month we won’t face the challenges we did last month. This month we’ll get more done, reach more people, or connect better with our ministry hosts.” This may all be true. It’s certainly within the scope of possibility. Yet a few days later, things will get hard. Every month has its highs and lows, triumphs and challenges.
The courtyard of our beautiful home for the month
Ministry is hard work. Connecting with your host and being a blessing to them is hard work. Relying on God rather than yourself and your own understanding is hard work. Basically, the Race is hard work, but it’s worth it. Every month is worth it.
This month my team has a very full schedule. We’re helping out with English classes at two different schools, two days a week.
We help the kids practice the English they already know. If they don’t know much English at all, we teach simple English lessons. The Gospel is shared with these kids as the opportunity arises. We tell the kids what church we are working with and invite them to come to youth group or worship on Sunday morning.
Both schools seem very excited about their students learning English from native English teachers (one school even fed us breakfast both days last week to express their appreciation!), and would gladly accept our help more often, but like I said, our schedule is very full.
The rest of the week we have church events to attend and help out with, church members to get to know, and other ministries we have been scheduled to do. Our schedule can become quite overwhelming and tiring!
Last month my team felt like we could, and should be, doing more. This month we don’t have that problem. We are working with a very energetic pastor who has a great heart for reaching everyone in his city with the gospel!
Last month was hard, yet amazing in it’s own way (I miss “my” class!), and this month will be hard, yet amazing in it’s own way. God has presented us with different opportunities each month. We just need to keep our focus on him in order to make the most of each opportunity. It’s not always easy, but it is worth it! We are working for the Kingdom of God, and that is pretty great.
