So I would love to write this blog and give you an update about what our ministry has been looking like here in Nicaragua everyday, but I can’t. You see, I’ve only been to ministry one day while we’ve been here because on Saturday night I developed an intolerance to keeping food inside my stomach. So because of that I have been at the compound in bed since Saturday. I did go see the doctor that we have here on the compound and got medicine and am getting much better, and I hope to return back to ministry on Thursday. However, even though I’ve been in bed God has still taught me more than I could have ever fathomed.
1. Ask for help
So if you know me well at all you probably know that I pride myself in being pretty independent. However, on Saturday I couldn’t even managed to walk down to the kitchen to fill up my own water bottle; so I had to ask some of my squadmates to do that for me. It was a super humbling moment for me to be the person that needed serving.
2. Take help when it’s offered.
I really appreciate when someone offers to help, but I rarely take people up on the offer because once again I am independent and also pretty prideful. So through this experience I have learned that it’s ok to accept offers for help when you need it. I was sleeping on the top bunk above my teammate Jordan, and on Saturday night she saw that I needed to sleep on the bottom bunk so I wasn’t fumbling around trying to climb up and down off the bed all night. This was probably the most helpful thing that someone has done for me through this whole experience because I actually didn’t really sleep that much that night and was up and down all night.
3. Let Go
I had to let go of a lot of expectations that I had coming into the race, and for this month as a whole. I had to let go of the expectation that the race is always a glamorous thing and that missionaries don’t get sick. Hi, yes we do get sick and I had to learn that God will humble us when we get unreal expectations.
4. Be still
With the bed rest that I have had during the experience, I have had a lot of time to sit and reflect. God has taught me so much about, not always having to go, go, go. I am a person that has a tendency to almost always be busy, but these words have been something that I’ve felt like the Lord has really been speaking over my life for about the past year. However, until now its been more about worship and coming to the presence of the Lord with reverence. So, now this is being put into action in my life to spend time with the Lord and reflect on what all He is doing in my life.
5. Take care of yourself
This is probably an obvious, but I learned that if I don’t take care of myself than I can’t serve others. Stay hydrated, eat well, stay well rested, and practice good hygiene. I need to take care of myself as well as I can so that I can get out to the villages and speak to the people here about a God that most of them don’t know.
