It’s official. I have been on the race for a week and wow, life’s pretty freaking awesome. When I told people I was taking a gap year and going on a nine month mission trip they usually asked what sort of things I would be doing. My answer mostly consisted of teaching English, working in orphanages, doing manual labor, growing churches, etc. What I never included in my spiel was “Oh I’ll be cooking for my squad of 60 people”. And guess what, that’s exactly what I’m doing and I could not love it more!
The reason I am so excited for this ministry is not because I absolutely love cooking, (I do but there’s more) it’s because we get to serve our squad and love them really well so that they can go out everyday with nourishment and the enthusiasm to do God’s work. We get to spend our first month living like a local, building relationships in the markets and pursuing our teammates and unifying our team to thrive doing the Lord’s work here.
I love seeing that ministry can look very different than what you may expect, and this was definitely not what I expected coming here. We may not be holding little children all day but we see so much more. Sam, our tuk tuk man, drives us around everyday and we get to know him by also supporting his business! Ah Tha is the name of my new friend at the vegetable stand where we have conversations everyday even though we are equally confused about each others language. Also, Khang, our neighbor is a 10 year old boy who I have made an appointment with everyday at 5:30 to play soccer with. This is how I see cooking ministry and how much more it can be than just chopping vegetables all day.
I see the fruit of our work in our squamates by literally giving them fuel in their stomachs that gives them the strength for their ministry. This may not be the missionary life I ‘expected’, but God is so unpredictable and there is definitely not one way ministry should look like. I feel very humbled to be given this experience especially so early in my Race. Cooking is be ministry and I am loving it.
Thanks for reading, I appreciate everyone so so much for all the support it truly means the world! Feel free to email me anytime at [email protected] if you have any questions or just want to talk about life!
p.s A cooking show is coming soon, don’t worry!!
