We were told not to have expectations for the Race but, apparently, I still had them. They probably went along the line of holding crying babies, singing them to sleep and instilling in them the reality of Christ. Something like that.
When our plans were changed upon our arrival in Puerto Rico and we ended up in a mountainy are of Mayaguez instead of Arecibo I was a little worried. Instead of doing ministry the way it was explained to us before we were going to be taking seven days of rest. What would I tell everyone back home? I was afraid of the questions that would come about what I had been doing for ministry that first week.
Well, maybe those questions will still come but I think that God placed us exactly where we needed to be. Our time of rest was broken up into times of service during the first week but something that has become more prevalent is the reality of this family that we are a part of. This cross-cultural family that God so lovingly allowed us into.
I’ve read about being grafted or adopted into the Kingdom of God before and have frequently been reminded of who my neighbor is and how far my love should really extend to them but, apparently, it never really clicked with me just how far a reach God has. Maybe that’s wrong. I knew about it but I haven’t ever really experienced how large a grasp He has.
Being here in Puerto Rico I have gotten to see a glimpse of what living in a part of an international, intentional and incarnational family of God really looks like. We have been invited into the arms and lives of so many people during the first 11 days that it couldn’t be anything but made real.
For the first seven days we spent time with a pastor, named Ruben, and his wife, Lila, on their compound in Mayaguez, called Jesamir. When Sunday came we went to a church en la Plaza and were invited to eat lunch with a group of people after. That lunch spanned into the night as we sang, danced, laughed and celebrated someone’s 28th birthday. As our time in Mayaguez continued our relationships with those people developed so much that it was hard to leave them and go to our “original” ministry location near Arecibo.
While loading the bus towards our next location we shared with each other that we would prefer to stay in Mayaguez and that the next area had large shoes to fill. I didn’t think that I would be able to love the people in the next area as much as I had loved the people from the Mayaguez. I just couldn’t imagine connecting so much with any other group of people.
We all climbed out of the van in the next city, Vega Baja, and were directed to a large house connected with the church. We trudged up the steps into the house to unload our belongings and await the ministry contact’s arrival. As things turned out our ministry contact was two pastors from two churches. Our group of 20 was split in two. One to a church in Levittown and the other, my group, to Bayamon or Irlanda Heights.
As we split up the next morning we drove to our ministry sight with only, “turn at the Subway” for directions. After getting lost and finally finding our way we found the church and were met by a few of the people from the church, including a pastor that had been there for 18 days. We scraped and painted walls for the next two weeks, getting to know not only each other but people, family, from the church.
We also attended a few services at the CMA church in Vega Baja and developed relationships with the people here too. We have spent the evenings with them, as well as, some of the free days we’ve had.
Last Sunday we went to San Juan with the groups from Irlanda Heights and Vega Baja. We decided to take a ferry from one side to the port of San Juan and while we were waiting for the ferry to arrive our friends from Mayaguez walked into the terminal! They had traveled for two hours to spend a day with us before we left.
I felt a little crazy because all I could do was smile and think that this was what Heaven was going to look like just on a much grander scale. God will be there and so will all of the people that we have met and come to love.
At the beginning of the month I was worried about what I was going to share, I just didn’t think that I could write about waiting around. God had plans though. Plans to show me how to trust His hand and what it looks like to really be a part of the body of Christ. It’s amazing to think how interconnected we are through and because of Christ.
