This month, by far, has been the busiest we’ve had on the race. Joseph, our contact, has been amazing as far as plugging us into every kind of ministry possible. On the first day of ministry, he asked us what are passions are.
Aubrey, who said her passion was prayer, was sent to a hospital to pray for children. The next day, one of the girls she had prayed for was released…she was healed.
Robin, who said one of her passions was people who were disabled, thrived at the hospital for the disabled we visited. While it was easy for everyone else to be uncomfortable at the situation we were in, she laughed, hugged and told jokes and loved it. She also had some of the coolest things to say at our daily prayer meetings, which I think people really admired. At least I did. She got up with such confidence…it was awesome.
Matt, who said his passion was youth, spoke to hundreds…literally hundreds…of teenagers about his testimony; how God called him to more than the life he had been living. And he, too, thrived at everything he did and every word he spoke, I am sure reached many people. I saw him motivate young churchgoers to actually get together and do something. Now, there are teams of young people who will begin to lead prayer, sports, dance and drama and worship ministries in their church and community because of his enthusiasm.
Jodi, who said her passion was children’s ministry, was able to teach dozens of children about their identity in Christ, telling them that they were special. I got teary eyed when, after a week, a little girl in the class we (I say “we,” but really I mean Jodi) taught, got up in class and recited Psalms 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” And I knew she really believed in it.
Colin, whose passion is worship, led worship for us not only on Sundays but at random times throughout the day. We got to see him lead songs in both English and Swahili and grow confident in his gifting…even doing a dance move here and there during worship.
And then there was me. I said my passion was writing so I was in charge of the weekly bulletin and crying at every little thing and flat out feeling weird the entire month.
I realize now that it was partly because I was saddened at leaving our last ministry site and the work we were doing there with the contacts we had. But the other part of it was that my ministry this month was just to be broken.
God definitely continued what he started doing at training camp. Read the story here.
It’s been the most difficult month for me emotionally, and there really is no conclusion to it, which I think most of my blogs in the past have required, but I am confident it’s from God and am so grateful to my teammates for understanding that we‘re all in this process together.
And although I was in tears most of the time, I just wanted to let them know that I have been so blessed to have been able to witness each one of them in his/her own element and to see the growth they have had.
I love you Jodi, Matt, Colin, Robin and Aubrey!
