Blog password: florida
This month has looked so different compared to our previous 3 months.
For the past three months in Central America my team was working on a farm: doing manual labor almost daily, living in a home with a family. The family planned our schedule and day-to-day activities and cooked us most of our meals.
This month in Northeast Africa we live in the city and we had to find our own lodging. The best in-budget option we found was a hostel. Hostel-life is so different from home-life in Central America. But we made our hostel into a home by hanging up photos and prayer request cards in our room. We also provided our own food, which could be grocery shopping and cooking for ourselves in the hostel kitchen or buying cheap street food.
The biggest change from Central America was the type of ministry and our open schedule. Not a single day looked the same as another. We managed our own time and filled up our own schedules by choosing a ministry opportunity to participate in based on our skills and passions. Rarely were any of us spending our day the same as someone else.
Instead of manual labor, our ministry was relational. We spent time a lot of time with locals, most of whom are not believers. Some of these connections came from just living our life in the city and being intentional with people we encountered. Many of these connections developed beautifully, even into friendships, where our local friend invited us into their home to eat a meal and spend the day with their family.
Not only did we build relationships with locals but also with long-term missionaries in the region, hoping to support and encourage them. Coming alongside long-term missionaries or local believers looks much different in the city versus in rural areas. Supporting local believers in Central America consisted of helping them with manual labor on their farms to free up more time and resources for them to pour into their communities. Coming alongside long-term missionaries in the city consisted of providing childcare for their families during meetings or church services, doing office work for their small-business, or taking other responsibilities off their plates to ease their load for the month.
I love how this month was a glimpse of what life can look like after the Race. It was 42 days of just living life in the city, choosing what each day looks like, and letting God work through whatever you chose. This month showed me what it can realistically look like to live life as ministry and ministry as life.
