For the month of January our team was placed in Antigua, Guatemala. Our ministry this month looked a little different than past months on the race. Occasionally on the race, teams will get picked to participate in ministry that is designed to really stretch you and to help teams look at ministry with new eyes. Months like these help teams redefine how we see ministry. Our team was assigned to something called Unsung Heroes and Ask The Lord. Sometimes teams are just assigned to one or another but we were assigned to both. We were participating in this with another all girls team from our squad.
Unsung Hero (n.):
Men and women who are dedicated to serving some of the most impoverished populations in the world, yet rarely receive recognition for their dedication and service. These givers may also live with meager conditions but give consistently from an abundance of God’s love. Their names may not be in history books, their acts unknown to the rest of the world, while unrecognized, they shake a generation and move a culture and ultimately build the Kingdom.
ATL (Ask The Lord) A month where teams do not have an established ministry contact and instead rely on prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit to find ministry opportunities.
So, basically our assignment was to go out into the city of Antigua and find new ministry contacts for future World Racers. We were being asked to pioneer new paths that could connect AIM with partnering ministries. The race is all about reaching the unreached and we were being asked to participate first hand in the furthering this. They wanted us to go out and find ministries that had a need so that we could come alongside them and bring lift. We basically were given free range to make this month what we felt like the Lord was calling us to. We were given the freedom to make our own schedule and to do ministry anyway we wanted to.
Each day, our 2 teams would start the mornings off with worship and prayer. We would ask the Lord to align our hearts with His, help us to rely on His guidance and strength and not our own, and we would ask Him to place people in our path that He wanted us to speak to that day. While our main assignment was to find ministry contacts, we also utilized this time to just notice people that may otherwise go unnoticed. We made connections with many of the vendors and would visit them multiple times a week to just have a chat with them. Because Antigua is such a touristy town, many of these locals are rarely seen for more than someone to buy souvenirs from. We made many friends!
Sometimes ministry looked like hiking up to the top of Cerro de la Cruz to pray and worship over the city. Other days, ministry looked like befriending a local artist and bringing your own art supplies so you can bond with him over something he loves as he gives you new tips. Even though you don’t speak spanish and he doesn’t speak english. And still other days of ministry looked like getting connected with a ministry and going to help dig a septic tank for 6 hours for a forgotten people group who live in the landfills of Guatemala. And still other days looked like painting a mural for the base that we stayed at throughout the month.
Between our 2 teams we were able to make about 8 solid ministry contacts and several leads for future teams to follow up with. It was a really great month learning more about what ministry can look like. It grew all of our teams a lot and helped us learn more about who God is and gave us a new perspective on how He can work through us and others. I realized that He is going to work regardless if I say yes or not but He is always extending that invitation to me to participate in His amazing plan. Sometimes, He will ask you to do something crazy that really pushes you outside your comfort zone while at other times He just wants you to just show up and do nothing. The Lord is not bound by our own ideas of who He is or by what we THINK He can do. This is good news because it takes the pressure off of ourselves that we have to be in a certain place of life or require some special training to be used by Him. Because of Christ we are able to live in freedom that God is sovereign and He is working all things for all of our good and to bring glory to His name.
Much love fam,
Jordan
