Many people come on the World Race fully expecting to play an irreplaceable, undeniable role in changing the world. We spend our first night sleeping in an airport and dream about how we will spend the next year of our lives leading hoards of people to Christ with our evangelistic strategies and flawless sermons. We imagine that every day will be overflowing with smiling orphans who discover their Heavenly Father through the love we show them and that every moment will be full of spiritual conversations that end with the winning of another soul for the Kingdom of Heaven. We think: Surely this is how to leave a legacy in 11 countries in 11 months.
And then we meet our ministry hosts and they ask us to spend an entire month painting and sanding and painting and gardening and painting some more. This was Bolivia for me.
So, I spent the first week of ministry isolating myself from my team with headphones on and a sour look on my face. (Things NOT to do on the World Race include…) It was silly and I was miserable and yet, this is where the Lord met me. In fact, this is where He gave me one of the most profound revelations of my entire Race.
“He pursues us past all our talent and hard work into the secret places of our hearts where sin and inadequacy and brokenness hide, and He rejoices to claim us there as His own. Even there, where we least expect to find Him.” (Strong Women, Soft Hearts)
One day I was sanding a fence and weeding around the posts after most of the children from the preschool had already left. A few of the older girls were still hanging around and one of them came up behind me to ask what I was doing. I reluctantly took out my headphones I answer her question, fully intending to get back to my sour sulking as quickly as possible. Suddenly a smile spread across her face as she pointed down at my feet that were now covered with a layer of sweat-drenched yellow dust. She started to giggle and very soon I couldn’t help myself- I started laughing too!
As I continued to pull at some particularly stubborn weeds, this precopus girl squatted down at my side and started weeding next to me. The Lord used this moment to teach me a very important lesson- the tangible differences we make on the places we go this year are important (like painted fences and weeded gardens), and He can use my obedience in these things to make leave the most beautiful legacy. Sometimes the most significant impacts we make on these countries will be entirely intangible – like showing a preschooler what it means to serve diligently even when I am doubting the value of what I’m doing in the moment. I want to leave that kind of legacy.
One of the sweet niños enjoying the new library nook in front of our freshly painted alphabet tree! Sometimes leaving a legacy means creating a space for ministry to continue thriving even after we’re gone.
Another one of my favorite moments of this month- when sweet Kalel saw me hauling wheelbarrows full of weeds and decided that he didn’t want to miss out on the fun of making his preschool a more beautiful place!
