The World Race looks extremely different based on what countries you go to and even where you are in those countries. Emotions also run high on the race which seems natural being far away from home and in unfamiliar situations. It has been a whirl wind of emotions for many on my team this month for a few reasons but two of them are based on our living situation and what we have been doing for ministry. Our team was surprised when we saw how we would be living and what we would be doing for ministry. We quickly had to learn how to find comfort in the uncomfortable.
We knew before arriving that we would be living in a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom. Sounds decent for being on the field right? It turns out that the apartment was only 200 square feet, if that and that there was no furniture of any kind the apartment. The only stuff there when we arrived was a gas stove top with a propane tank and a refrigerator that was maybe half the size of an average one in the states. We didn’t think much of it as we set down our bags and walked out as our ministry host was going to take us down to meet the Costa Rican pastor who lived next door. That night we set up our tents around the apartment with our sleeping pads blown up to sleep on. We needed the tents because the windows were just metal bars which were open to nature, and by nature I mean the three cockroaches I had to kill on the first night that were the size of my thumb. Over the next few days we had a few issues as the toilet refused to flush, the shower refused to drain, and the kitchen sink decided to leak. For some on the team the first few days were extremely difficult and thoughts ran through minds of “how can I live like this for a month”.
Having to live in this scenario was tough but then we got to ministry and things only got tougher. We had the expectation we would be helping build an airplane runway because our ministry host does aviation ministry. We did not know that it was in the very beginning stages and when it said we would be “helping build a runway” it actually meant “You will be hauling stumps and branches every morning”. I was used to outdoor work as I grew up in the country and had spent time working for a landscape company. For others however, this was new, difficult, and frustrating. It even has become difficult for me because the work is continuous and repetitive. So for four days a week we are picked up at 7 a.m. and driven out to this piece of land where we do brush removal until noon. This isn’t exactly what many of us had in mind for ministry on the race but it is still ministry.
Through the struggles, team Unshakable has remained unshaken. We have grown as a team in a few short weeks more then I could have ever expected and this situation has allowed a group of strong, independent people to rely on each other. More importantly it has required us to rely on the Lord. We don’t have what naturally makes us comfortable and its been such a blessing because we have had to find all our comfort in Christ Jesus. Our team leader Mikayla was on the phone with our squad mentor Allison and Allison presented a question, “If ever single month was like this one, where ministry was hard and living conditions are less then ideal, is God still worth it?” Yes he is, a million times over he is. Through it all we are learning to live comfortably in Christ even when everything else is uncomfortable.
