Our ministry for month 2 and all other months, as a matter of fact, was and is to love others. Showing love to those who haven’t heard the name of Jesus and to show them the light He is through our actions and the way we love them.
Since month 1 we have become some of the most flexible people. Having concrete plans is a thing of the past and doing things on a whim are a thing of the present.
Februarys ministry was to show Jesus to the French people who worked at Ecuasol, (an afterschool program for under privileged kids). A lot of our ministry was loving on the kids, the cooks that worked very hard at making great meals for the kids and helping the kids with their homework. Some days the work was less and a few of us would go prayer walking around the neighborhood.
One day, my teammate, Jessica and I were prayer walking and weren’t feeling too comfortable with the direction we were walking, so we turned around and started walking the other direction. We passed an elderly man who with a slight wave, quietly said “Buenos tardes”. We responded and carried on. Then Jessica and I looked at each other and felt like we should go back and talk to him.
Over the next week we went back to see this man multiple times, each time hearing more and more of the stories he’s been longing to tell anyone willing to listen.
He is 86 years young and has been married for 70 years. His hands are worn and look as tough as leather and he is blind in his right eye.
He wants to tell his stories, but has no one there to listen. Segundo Flores is his name and I’m going to tell you a bit about his story.
He grew up going to school, but had to quit early because his parents didn’t have enough money to support their family. He started working in the sugar fields which is where he lost the sight in his right eye. He was running through the field and fell (or at least that’s what we gathered from his eccentric hand gestures and his hard to understand Spanish).
He married Olga at the age of 26 and she was 15. They lived happily in Quito, Ecuador raising their 14 children.
Then 7 years ago Segundo started losing his memory. He doesn’t know any of his children. He doesn’t really know where he’s at and his wife just tells everyone “He’s crazy, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
We sat around and listened to him tell stories from his childhood, from going fishing with his dad to going bear hunting in the mountains. We enjoyed getting to see him happy because someone was finally listening to him.
Segundo hasn’t been the only person God has put in our path.
Although we come into many situations with certain expectations does not mean that God has that plan for us. We are learning to see the small things and to always be paying attention because sometimes the ministry set our for us is not the ministry God has called us to.
Thanking God today and everyday for the people He has put in our path along the way, the lessons He teaches us through getting to love on His people and always showing us what true love really is.
