I can’t believe it’s already been one week of ministry here in Ecuador. I’m honestly at a loss on what to write right now. There is a lot that God has been teaching me within just one week. This past week has been filled with many smiles, laughs, and joys, but it’s also come with hardship. Seeing what breaks God’s heart isn’t easy, but seeing how he works amidst the pain is what makes this so worth it.
My team has the opportunity to work with a ministry called Covi. It’s a before and after school program for at risk youth. They come and we help them with homework, teach English, give them a home cooked meal, and play with them. We really have no idea how much these kids truly go through at home so this might be the only time they get to be kids. It’s heartbreaking to think what they must go home to at the end of the day, whether that be in a physically or emotionally abusive home.Yet, in the midst of it all Jesus is so evident at that place, he makes himself known and it’s absolutely beautiful. To think that he is the one thing that can bring so much hope in such a dark place amazes me. It’s such a huge privilege being able to show these children who Jesus is. They have hearts of hope and there is so much comfort in knowing we have a savior that brings restoration to their lives.
Coming into the race there was this small part of me that wondered why me? I thought why do I need to go and do mission work internationally when there is so many people that need Jesus in the states just as much. I believe that to be very true and if you ask any other missionary they would agree with that as well, but God is teaching me the depth behind everyone being called to different ministries. If we were all in the same exact ministry then there would be no room for growth in the kingdom. There is still a good chunk of me that is wondering why God chose this for me at this moment in time, and for a while I was ignoring what he was having for my life. I didn’t want to accept the fact that this is what he wanted for my life right now. It’s not that I didn’t want to go and share Jesus with people, but it’s because at the time he was beginning to put this on my heart I wasn’t even fully following Jesus. I was terrified to go share something that I hadn’t even felt confident in. I still wanted to say yes to see what he had for me and to see if it was even worth it. He met me right where I was at even when I wasn’t choosing the life he had for me. That is real love. So this might not be what I do for the rest of my life, but I know this is exactly where he wants me right now. As lovers of Jesus it’s our duty to see the brokenness in our world and be willing to share the love that has changed our lives that most certainly will change the lives of others.My squad and I might not fully understand at times why we were willing and said yes, but we do know that we are saying yes to Jesus. Jesus is what makes this worth it. We know that he radically changes lives and all of his people need to know his goodness.
Since being here I see this huge cultural divide within our world. God never intended for that to happen. He made us to worship him and be in community with one another. I want to get to know these people’s hearts and to see the parts of Jesus in them. I no longer want to live this lie that there needs to be divides between the different cultures, but I just want to love on the people God made them to be. These people are his people, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and it needs to be known who our Jesus is, and that he is the only one that will ever bring revival and uses language barriers to unite his people.
