This month in Vietnam has been full of lessons, life lessons. Mainly because this past month we have just lived in community and done life with each other. We started our ATL ( Ask The Lord) month knocking on doors of orphanages, schools, and churches to see if they needed help. We were repeatedly told no. While, it was a disappointment each time we were told no we continued asking the Lord to guide us. Praying that He would use us and our time would not be wasted. While spending time with the Lord one day we came up with a term “walking with a purpose.” What does that mean? It means to be interruptible at all times. It means to go about living your day to day life (walking around the city for us) but to always be listening for the Holy Spirit’s promptings. It means life is ministry, ministry is life. By living this way we met Natalie, she grew up with atheist parents. While talking to Natalie we learned despite growing up in an atheist home she believes in something but just isn’t sure it is God. By the end of our time with Natalie, she was looking up the World Race and very interested in it. All this happened because one night, not during “ministry hours”, my teammate felt the Lord tell her to ask the lonely girl in the hostel lobby if she wanted to go to dinner with us. Be interruptible.
During another “ministry day” we met a homeless man, Mark, while we were out praying for the local park that everyone hangs out at throughout the day. I was praying at the other end of the park when Schyler came up to me clearly shaken up. She told us about a guy who was yelling “I hate Christians and I worship the devil” at the other end of the park. Schy told us she felt like we should go walk by him and pray for him. I nervously said, “okay” and off we went. As we walked by praying He continually cursed us and Christianity. I was pretty much terrified. We got to the end of the sidewalk, Schy turned around and started walking up to him. I said a quick prayer and followed suit. As I walked up behind Schyler, Mark asked if we wanted to sit, so we did. Then we talked to him for a bit and asked if we could pray for him, so we did. When I lifted my eyes from praying there were tears streaming down his cheeks. He told us how grateful he was for the prayer. That it came at just the right time. We then continued to meet with Mark everyday. He would always greet us with a smile, we would sit and talk for a while. I know the kindness and peacefulness that Mark now had came straight from the Lord. Be interruptible.
All of the above I had written during our last “ministry day”. What I am about to tell you happened on a “travel day.” We were walking through the park on our way to the coffee shop when we saw Mark in his usual spot. We stopped to tell him bye one more time. He gave us hugs and we told him we would come back by before we left for good. We went across the street to the coffee shop. I had some last minute treasurer duties to finish. As I finished up, I heard a knock on the window. There was Mark holding a bottle of iodine pointing at his leg. I sat up and told the rest of the team that I think he needed our help.
In the time we spent with Mark he told us of a gunshot wound. We weren’t really sure if it was true or a story. However, he often told us of how bad his leg hurt.
So we got all of our stuff together and headed across the street to see what he wanted. He asked if we could clean his leg before we left. I told him we would. He sat down and pulled up his pant leg. His leg was wrapped with old t-shirts. Once he got the first shirt off I knew it was going to be bad because you could see that his leg had been oozing through the shirts. He got to the final shirt and his skin was peeling off with the shirt. I immediately knew that he needed serious medical attention. Knowing that going to a doctor was not an option we began to clean his leg with the supplies we had. I will leave out all of the details for you who have weak stomachs. At one point while I was cleaning his leg he was in serious pain. He looked at me and told me Jesus didn’t die for him and his life wasn’t worth Jesus dying for him. He told me he was a terrible man and wasn’t good like us. In that moment I was able to share how Jesus died for us ALL. I was able to tell Mark about the Lords love and grace for each and everyone of us. Each one of us girls were able to speak life and truth into Mark. Be interruptible.
Finally, it was an “adventure day” in Da Nang. We went to a very cute little town. We were walking around taking it all in when we saw a lady fall as we walked by a store. I turned and ran up to her to realize she was having a seizure. I ran in the store telling them that she had fallen and was having seizure. They just looked at me and told me she was sick. They didn’t even stand up. I went back to her and we just sat there and prayed for her as people continued to go about their day. Eventually, the people in the store came out and started to help us help her. I know deep in my heart because of our willingness to stop the Lord put it on their hearts to get up and assist us. Be interruptible.
What I learned this past month is that each day, each minute, each second is ministry. Wether your talking to the homeless guy on “travel day” or praying for the woman in the street on “adventure day” the Lord is continually working. He doesn’t just work during “ministry hours.” He doesn’t just work Monday-Friday from 8am to 5pm. He doesn’t work just on Sundays. He doesn’t work just on Wednesday nights. He doesn’t work just during quiet time. He is continually working every second of each day. He doesn’t confine himself and neither should we. We must always be listening for Him. We MUST always be interruptible.
Life is ministry, ministry is life.
