Thursday was a normal day of ministry. In the morning, we went to a rural, poor community and prayed over community members, played with the children, and performed a program for evangelism. In the afternoon, we went to a different rural community to pray, play, build rapport, and put on an evangelism program. The later community is a bit different though because the homes are provisional and house people who were displaced by a hurricane.
Missy Holliger and I playing with the kiddos at the communities
Hanging out with Hector's family at the provisional housing community
I have been struggling on The Race to understand how the Lord wants to use me in ministry. It is very easy to tell that what you put into The Race is what you get out of it. If you wake up every day not putting your heart into that day’s ministry, then you are not able to bless others effectively and be blessed by what the Lord wants to show you.
Well, to be honest, I was a bit nonchalant in my ministry endeavors, but the Lord used a woman to bless me so much more than I deserved. As stated above, we performed an evangelism program at the provisional housing community in the afternoon. At the end of the program, our ministry contact asked the locals if they wanted to be prayed for up at the front. Three women stood up and went to the front. One was a single mother whom I had just prayed over with Sammie Jo Marks, a squadmate. I felt the Lord calling me to walk up with her and continue praying for her. Sammie Jo, Jo Linda Sala, and I prayed over this woman with our ministry contact.
After praying for her, she motioned for us to follow her to her little house. We were confused as to what she wanted because it was getting pretty dark and we were leaving soon, but we following her anyways. She took us into her pitch-dark home and motioned for us to wait a minute. She went into her bedroom and brought out two small candles she had lit. Her home was unorganized, bland, and very humble. It was easy to tell this woman was incredibly poor and barely made ends meet to survive. As we were standing there, she motioned to her walls. On almost all of them, there were paragraphs describing how much the Lord loved her family, and that He is present in their lives. It was so cool to see this woman’s faith literally written out on her home.
She then went into the other room in her home and motioned for us to follow her. She dug through a pile of random things on her table and found what she was looking for – seashell bracelets, a seashell necklace, and a wooden belt. She handed them to us and smiled and hugged us. We were baffled because this woman has nothing, and yet she blessed us so immensely. She even took a poster off her wall that represents Moses’ passing of the Red Sea and wrote on the back “con mucho cariño my friends – Bay-bay.” Wow. I felt so undeserving of this woman’s generosity, and so unconditionally loved.
What made this even more special was that the bracelet and wooden belt she gave me was my first piece of jewelry to possess while on The Race. I purposely didn’t bring any jewelry because I wanted to keep my belongings simple, but I am kicking myself now because I miss wearing it. How cool to have my first piece be given to me; it has so much meaning now. Ah! God is good!
Yeah, I know. This photo is goofy.
