And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42, 46-47)
Life Together.
We are not meant to live our lives on our own. We are meant to be in community. We are built, and commanded, to love one another. We are designed to share in all aspects of life together.
As I spoke with my teammate Katie about our goals for the race, she said that her desire in missions is to Build Relationships not Just Things. I whole heartedly agree with that statement. We are not here to make something and leave. We are here to partner with the people who are already doing amazing things and get to know them. We are here to learn about people’s lives and share our lives with them as well.
So far I couldn’t have asked for better hosts to be partnered with. Our hosts in Cote d’Ivoire and now in Ghana have been so amazing to us. I hope and pray that we are blessing our hosts even half as much as they are blessing us by being our hosts. In Cote d’Ivoire our friends always gave us snacks after church, had us over for dinner, took us out to eat on our last night, drove us to church, went to the grocery store with us, made us intricate African dresses, and were all around so encouraging and supportive. In Ghana our hosts prepare our meals, drive us to where we need to be, take us to find wifi (and sit with us while we use it), and make sure all of our needs are met. They are way too good to us. I am so thankful for them and cannot express how desperately I hope to express to them how amazing they are.
But beyond the ways they have blessed us, my favorite part of being connected to the hosts we have had is getting to know who they are. I loved laughing together on our drive home from church in Abidjan while Pastor Matthew, his wife, and three children were pilled into the car with us. Sharing stories of things we’ve done and things we’ve learned. There was never a car ride absent of laughter.
I love getting to know our friends in Sunyani as we go out to their city to share the gospel. I love sitting with whoever prepared our meal and hearing about their day. I love teaching our new friends how to play Uno. I love dancing with the congregation at church. I love laughing with others as we very poorly try to speak Twi.
Sometimes people need help building things. Sometimes people need help lifting the load of their work. Sometimes people need help cooking, cleaning, or watching children. But sometimes, people just need to laugh. Sometimes we need to just take a step back and share our lives with each other. Sharing the laughter and the sorrows. Learning to love deeply and minister to peoples souls.
I often feel like I am not making use of my time if I am not actively accomplishing something that you can see the instant fruit of. But I am learning to love ministering to people by building relationships with them. By sharing our stories, joy, and laughter. By sharing who God is in my life, and hearing what he has done in others. Testimonies are powerful things and can make a powerful impact on people’s lives
So I am going to continue to build relationships. To plant seeds. To share stories. To laugh.
