The race isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, sometimes it’s doing “ministry” for 2 hours out of the 14 hours that you’re awake.
Let me tell you a little story, in April of 2015 I realized that I wanted to do something I thought was amazing with my life called the World Race. So I went through the rigorous application process (just kidding, it’s just they make you spill your guts during that process) and was accepted. Then 7 months later I boarded the plane and said goodbye to America for 11 months. And let me tell you, I was so excited. I was finally going to be making a huge difference in the lives of everyone I met! Yay! I was going to be doing intense ministry and bringing everyone I came in contact with to Christ. Boy, was I wrong.
Over the last 5 months, I have truly learned (and I’m sure I’m still learning) what so-called ministry is. Little did I know way back in April that the race wasn’t going to be the way I thought it was going to be. Not saying that I haven’t been having the time of my life, I really have and wouldn’t trade anything I’ve gone through to not be here.
So back to ministry, where to even begin?! In the dictionary, ministry is defined as the act of serving or one that serves as a means. On the World Race, ministry is defined as the act of being together and being like Jesus. Over the last 5 months ministry has looked a little like this:
Painting (literally have done this all 5 months)
Evangelism
Visiting preschools/schools, sometimes to teach a bible story and other times just to show our faces
Hiking up to the top of a mountain and eating lunch with one of our hosts
Planting or picking fruit
Teaching English (usually on the fly)
Playing cards with our hosts kids
Having a dance party on the roof
Teaching people about clean water
Praying over people and building a relationship with them
Singing songs and teaching songs to children
Picking up trash behind the church
Walking around communities just chatting with our hosts and the people we come in contact with
Prayer walks
…And the list goes on…
But what about those days when we do about 2-3 hours of ministry? Those are the days when ministry is created and can look like who knows what. Often I have to remind myself that ministry is constant. Take this past month for example, we would often do ministry for about 2 hours a day and the rest of the time we had to figure out what to do. Sometimes we would hang out with our host and other times we would nap (naps on the race are always glorious, even if there’s a rooster crowing the whole time you’re sleeping) and then other times we would end up playing cards, napping, or reading. But what I didn’t even think about until the end of the month when it was mentioned by one of my teammates, is that during this particular month our ministry was simply being visitors for our hosts. The women in the community group (a group of Zulu women that Zimele is working with) had to come together and work together to schedule and do our scheduled ministry. Ministry can really be anything.
Something I have definitely been learning while on the race is to get up and go. Go out and honestly, the Lord will meet you and bring you to the people he wants you to talk to. Often I choose structured “ministry” and when that is over I choose to stay in my comfort zone and not go out and go be Jesus to people. Honestly, I’m a slacker in this area and it’s one thing I don’t like about myself. So this coming month, no matter what it ends up looking like, I pledge to get my act together for Jesus and go and be Jesus to every single person I come in contact with whether it’s scheduled interactions or not.
Thank you always to those who have supported me and continue to support me in your prayers. At the beginning of last month we had team changes and now I am on a team with 5 new people, but I love them tons. We are headed to Botswana tomorrow night, then next month we head to Mozambique, then to Asia!! In two weeks we will officially be half way through the race! So please continue praying for me and my squad to stay strong through the rest of the race! Thank you again and I love you all!
