Have you ever felt like who you are is not enough to make an impact on the world? Maybe you are a car salesman, a receptionist, a bartender, a retail manager or a lawn mower…. Me? I am a barista. There isn’t really anything super special about me… about my abilities. I am not super smart, I am not wealthy, I am not a doctor or a children’s ministry director BUT I am a missionary.
Over the past few months God has been teaching me that He can use anything He wants to bring His name glory. In both Haiti and Panama God utilized my two years of American Sign Language study to involve me in a community that I otherwise would not have known. Little Moises wouldn’t have impacted my life if I hadn’t known ASL. The craziest thing about those two months is that there is no reason either of those communities should have known ASL… it was all God. It was in those months that God decided to pull me out of my normal way of thinking and teach me that who I am and what I already know is enough for Him to use me in big ways. Apparently those two months weren’t the end.
The Red Band Barista Academy. Kinda strange name but hey, I like it. This barista academy is actually a ministry where young adults can become certified baristas with specialized business training and on hand experience so they can get jobs! This program focuses on getting young adults out of the townships and into the city to find job opportunity that only a few years ago would not have been possible.
Bear with me because this may take a little explaining. In SA racial separation is just recently coming to a close. Within the last few decades the black community has been moving into the cities and out of the townships where the government had previously placed them. This has caused a lot of division and tension within the country at large. Because most of the job opportunities remain in larger cities and a large percent of the population remains in the townships, jobs are hard to find. That is why Red Band Barista Academy is so amazing.
The main focus is to create a space where people can learn what it looks like to be a good employee, get hands on experience in a specialized field and it even creates a platform for building relationships with potential employers. It still amazes me that I had the opportunity to participate in this ministry.
Story time… If you read my last blog post on SA you will have read that we got to help out at an event called the Valley Market. One of the venders at this event is a coffee shop/some guys that I don’t really understand how it all works but basically there are two espresso bars and a lot of guys in their twenties behind them making coffee! SO, my team shows up at this event ready to help out with watching the kids and selling soda, apparently that wasn’t God’s plan for me that day.
Just before the event began I felt the tug of the Spirit to ask if I could help out behind the bar and so I did just that. I approached the guys behind the bar and basically asked if I could help stack cups and hang out. Graciously they let the strange American girl hang out with them for a few hours. 🙂 So I stacked cups, had some good conversations and eventually got pushed behind the espresso machine to embarrass myself trying latte art. For all you baristas back home… they take their coffee and latte art seriously in SA. Like so seriously… every cappuccino is made perfectly, they constantly tinker with the grind of the bean to make sure it’s the best it can be and they ALL know ALL things latte art. It’s kind of embarrassing to be a Starbucks employee at this point!
Later on in the day a man comes over to the bar and starts messing with me, he was the big man in charge for the afternoon, Shaun. So after a few conversations with Shaun, he gets behind the bar and starts teaching me all about coffee. It was seriously so incredible. He was patient, kind and so knowledgeable. We really had a lot of fun and that is where I learned about Red Band Barista Academy. Shaun is the barista trainer and he invited me to come do a coffee tasting with his class later that week.
Tuesday morning, Alyssa and I went to Father’s House to hang out with Shaun and the class. We arrived to plates of delicious looking food and incredible smelling coffee. The class consisted of eight students and us. It was so much fun, we got made fun of, picked on a little bit and we enjoyed every second. Throughout the morning Alyssa and I started building relationships with the students. We enjoyed them so much that we decided to come back to do an aroma test later that week.
Taste testing consists of standing around and drinking coffee and eating different types of food that interact with your taste buds differently. It shows how your tongue identifies sour, sweet, bitter, etc… Aroma testing is when vials of oil are set out before you and you smell them to identify what it contains. For example, one vial is caramel and another is grass. You would be surprised at how difficult it is to tell the difference between smoke and cooked meat on smell alone.
So after these couple of days getting to know the class, Alyssa and I decided that we wanted to attend their graduation! Being the creative lady she is, Alyssa designed these beautiful cards for each of the graduates, we bought them each a colorful coffee mug and filled it with instant coffee (dirt) and flowers and attached bags of chocolates and cookies. They were actually really cute.
(I will insert a photo here! promise.)
We went to the graduation and presented the gifts to the graduates, celebrated with coffee and desserts and had a really special time. While there it was pointed out to me that for these kids, graduating from the barista academy was the biggest accomplishment of their lives so far… WOW! How incredibly special is it that we had the opportunity to get to know these amazing students, build relationships with them and be there for this achievement!
Being a part of this ministry did a few things for me. First, it proved that as a barista, I can further the Kingdom… as your local Starbucks barista, that’s incredible. Second, it proved that God can use the things I love, like coffee, and can love others through them. I never could have imagined that some of the greatest moments in ministry on the race would be because of the strange passions I have. Like I said, I am not a doctor, I can’t save a life. I’m not a musician, I can’t lead you in worship. I am not great at youth ministry, I love kids but it’s not my strongest suit. But I love coffee, I love being a barista and I love being a missionary. This was another way God proved that I don’t need any special qualifications or abilities to do His work. He takes me just as I am and it is enough. I am enough.
If you are sitting at home wondering how in the world God can use you, start looking at the hobbies, passions and jobs you have already. What are some creative ways you can use them to bring joy to another person?
If you are a future world racer, or thinking about doing the race, know that there is no such thing as a perfect missionary. There are no special things you need to be able to do, there isn’t anything you need to change and there is no such thing as a perfect world racer. Life on the race is just that, LIFE, it just looks a little different than it does at home. If you kinda know how to play the guitar, GREAT, bring one with you and watch God utilize that talent. If you are a salesman, watch God take your ability to be passionate about a particular field and make you a preacher in a jail, a church or village. Seriously God can and will use you as you are.
God wants to show you that He created you to be you on purpose. As someone told me at Love Story, God didn’t create you and say, “crap now I have to figure out what I am going to do with that one…” NO! He saw a need in the world and created you to FILL that need through Him with your gifts, talents and passions. Don’t be afraid to walk outside of your comfort zone. Its out there that you find the mysterious, wondrous, loving God that we serve.
Again, sorry about the photos… ill send out an update when they upload! 🙂 Thanks for all your love 🙂
