be careful when you tell the Lord you’re excited to be uncomfortable…He might put you in a tent for a month, showering and washing your clothes in a waterfall, waking up before the sun every morning and eating bread for EVERY meal for a month. Ironically, I’ve been reading through Numbers and I feel like I can honestly not blame the Israelites for complaining about all the manna
but, for real, as I’ve been reading I’ve been realizing (and criticizing) how much they didn’t trust God…they would just assume things were going to get hard, and then say they should have stayed in slavery. time and time again God would provide for them, and even still they would doubt.
this month, not only could I relate to them on the manna thing but I also did the same thing to God. last month was SO good. I was dreading this month. I thought for sure God had no idea that He was making a mistake causing this introvert to live with 47 other people for a full month even though, just like the Israelites, He has never failed me before.
but, this month has been so much better than I expected it to be. I have never felt more accepted and loved and comfortable so quickly than I do after being with these people. Our ministry was different every day and the missionary family we were living and serving with loved us well and gave us so many different opportunities to be exposed to different things.
some days, we taught Dominican kids English. some days we did manual labor working digging ditches, holes, trenches and connecting plumbing pipes on our hosts property. some days we were in charge of laundry and meals for our squad. and some days we prayer walked and did Bible Studies and evangelism in the city. and every day, I saw God show up somehow in someone.
If you know me at all, you know that two of my favorite things in the world are concerts and coffee. these two things were hard for me to give up for a year (I know, #firstworldproblems – just being honest) but throughout this month, the Lord has given me things that are even better.
when we were teaching English days of the week to the little guys, listening to them sing, “Moonday, Toosday, Weeeensday, Toosday (the Th sound was just a no go for them), Freeday…” was so much sweeter than listening to Miranda Lambert sing anything. working alongside hard working Dominican men digging trenches and them stopping to ask how American people dance to Nikki Minaj and watching them try was so much more fun than watching Luke Bryan do it. sitting around under the stars in the mountains, singing along to a guitar with my entire squad worshipping Jesus was so much better than driving around in my car in Virginia singing along to Brantley Gilbert. listening to and trying to learn what Christian, Spanish rap Allie is rapping was so much more fun than trying to learn Wayne’s new song. and laying in bed (well, my sleeping pad) and listening to the missionaries down the street lead a worship service in Spanish, made it no problem to have no battery on my iPod.
and Jesus, because He is so gracious, provided coffee almost every morning. and the second the coffee came out my entire team would yell my name to make sure I didn’t miss it. for Valentines Day, Schuylar got me a coffee mug so that drinking my coffee would feel more like home. and when we would run into coffee shops, friends would offer to love on me by buying me cups of coffee.
He may not have switched the manna over to pigeons and he may not have given me water out of a rock when I was thirsty, but He provided for me in specific ways that made me feel so uniquely loved by Him. He showed me that what I had left and given up was nothing compared to the “promise land” of what I’m getting to experience now, even if it looks a little different. He knows how to love, so well.
It’s even sweeter because I have been able to see how He has allowed me to pour out this love on some of the people I’ve met here. Creating relationships with the people in the town we are living in has been such a blessing for me. Everything from sharing English/Spanish lessons with the men who help us cook our meals, to being invited into the home of the sisters who run the fruit stand (with the world best mangos and papayas, btw) down the road to learn how to make Dominican hot tea, has opened opportunities to love on them, build friendships and have real gospel centered conversations.
So, what’s better than getting Starbucks before a Florida Georgia Line concert? Drinking Dominican coffee out of a gifted, yellow mug looking over the mountains, surrounded by people who love and serve and sing to the Lord.
