“For No One” is a song written by Paul McCartney
that originally appeared on the Beatles‘ seventh album, Revolver.
I’ll preface this blog with the fact that I struggle in writing blogs. Not that I have any shortage of deep thoughts, challenging perspectives and [especially not] words… if you know me in person, you know this fact. (sorry?) My struggle (beside prioritizing everything else above blogging, and not being the best ‘project finisher’) is that I feel if I write a blog, it should be something actually worth your time to read. I, personally, am a ‘sprint reader,’ able to only tackle captions, scan brief articles of high interest to what I want to learn, or peruse the pages of a Dr. Seuss book… even then I don’t usually make it cover-to-cover.
Yes I brought this! While others dig into more age-appropriate readings…
I grab a coffee and cuddle in for some inspiration that rhymes… and has pictures.
I hate long reading (partially because I can’t read? Yup, ‘fun’ fact :/ This became even worse after college and studying only numbers etc.). Greatest failure of any of my Guidance Counselors? Enrolling me in AP English. *shaking my head* Awful for this Math/Science/Art fan. I am more recently combating this by doing regular brain workouts on the free “Luminosity” and “Elevate” apps, and am growing in my ability to focus and comprehend things beyond the first sentence. Yay. (2nd fun fact… Under standardized testing or other measurement pressures, none of this makes any difference. My SAT scores were inexplicably great. I prefer to just attribute that, along with passing my CPA exams, to God and some divine providence for my life that required me to ‘appear smart’ in things I actually have limited to no skill in. I like that He’s such a cheater on my behalf 😉 Fake it till ya make it, amirite?).
I also don’t have any shortage of tangents.
In any case, today’s blog and my next blog are basically the products of a ‘mandatory’ blog goal that my team has for this month. Due to team changes (my temporary team-shown below) and luck of the draw, I have actually been assigned to do “unsung heroes’ (U.H.) again this month here in Thailand (previously done in Zambia).
While the men are off doing ‘Manistry month’ briefly shared about here and here,
I get to be on an all-female team: Deborah, Wendy, Me, Carly, Beth, Lacey and Kimberly in front
As you might recall from my description of it during my first go around, UH is more of a month-long, focused support/administration mission for The World Race organization. In short, it’s stepping foot into a new country and using our time to NETWORK, trying to FIND and INTERVIEW ministries needing extra hands or skill sets that The World Race can partner with in future months, to help give them lift to what they’re doing.
Sometimes this is what ‘stepping foot’ looks like as we head out
to start our day researching new contacts in a monsoon-riddled country
The UH team essentially breaks away from the standard model of typical months on the race, so in order to provide some structure as we venture out on our own, we have a ‘format’ for ancillary things we should tackle during the month. As a team we come up with objectives and goals ranging from intangibles, like our spiritual growth, to measurable accomplishments such as blogging. “Color me Accomplished” as I tackle this task of writing two blogs (one about at least one new ministry contact I met/worked with this month, and one about what “UH” itself is like).
I LOVED these. Art AND Audible Book? THAT’S what I’m talking about. 😀
…although…maybe this is where my failures began…?
I say ALL THAT to say: do not feel you have failed me as a friend if you ‘miss’ this one. I will not be offended if these two blogs fall off your ‘otherwise busy-life’ radar. I’d rather try to captivate some of your attention when I really feel like opening myself up to sharing wisdom or have completed my full processing of the uniqueness of my year. These? Written about 90% out of my desire to check off goals and not let my team down and about 10% of emotionally-moving content…. maybe you’ll disagree and love them. I don’t know… you’ve actually made it this far, soooo *shrug* what the heck “read onward, comrades!” I already brain-ninja-ed you into wasting this much of your time, so before you dive back into pretending to do work at your job, head off to the bathroom and get paid to do your business and read about UH.
What I Love About U.H. Ministry:
-I liken it to being a human ERP system: Pairing human resources and need AROUND THE WORLD. Free labor? Yes Please. This would be a fun job to get paid to do.
-The Economics/Accounting major inside me gets giddy like a school girl over the visual supply and demand here. I show up on someone’s door, (or in their inbox), saying something to the effect of “hey, I don’t know if you were praying about this or not, but God sent me here to see if you could use some help. I got a whole present and future entourage of workers ready to come alongside you and be your minions in whatever way you need.” Bring on tha tears.
-I’ve gotten to see God work in SO many areas of need and connect with people holding unique perspectives and ministry ideas. I don’t get bored in my day-to-day as I’m consistently visiting new ministries and experiencing new ways of working for the sweetest Boss ever.
-I help serve while getting my ‘job’ done. I’ve gotten to paint a mural for a new contact, practice some of my Japanese with visiting students, spend two days loving and living with orphans, chat with Buddhist monks…
-I get to network with vast arrays of ministries and build friends, communities and work-like connections… which I have a feeling God is going to use again in my life…
-I didn’t grow up as the child of an overseas missionary. I pictured… well, I don’t think I actually ever pictured something that wasn’t stereotypical, judgmental and unappealing. That concept and world is so ‘foreign’ (no pun intended). The World Race, and especially the UH ministry, allows me to live out that life a little and grasp the possibility that it’s tangible for me to be a first generation missionary somewhere else and that it looks waaaaaaay differently than I imagined. I like attending church, making friends and hanging out with them, going to bible studies with neighbors, (hitting up the dentist?) as I would if I would have just dropped myself off here to do full time ministry overseas.
What I Don’t Like About U.H. Ministry:
-NOT MUCH.
-Many people (who are “J’s” on the Myers Briggs scale) hate the idea of not having a set schedule. I’m an “X” (smack dab in the middle of both “J” and “P”) thus am flexible and can appreciate how we make it look like whatever we want. We pick our off days, we work as early or as late as we want, we call lots of shots and are our own bosses.
-The possibility of having to repack and move frequently as you tackle all the unreached areas of a country to find that ministry that doesn’t have a website or social media manager. Thankfully we were told to focus just on Chiang Mai this month, and we found lodging well within our budget, so we only packed back up once. Similarly, in Zambia, we were able to tent rather cheaply and stayed put for a majority of the month.
-Not that I’m good about this anyway, but it’s hard to take those ‘touching ministry photos’ everyone else is so intentional about sharing. I’m not on the front lines, but I see the value here just the same. Without U.H. efforts, The World Race wouldn’t be as successful in connecting and helping so many ministries.
Any Questions About U.H. Ministry?
-Feel free to ask in the comments section or send me a message. I’m much better with pointed interest
Fundraising Update: I’m up to 24%, Thank you!!
Next Deadline is September 30th! (
I still have 128 squares left to get rid of on my Fun[d] Board (Support Raising tool), so if you’d like to take a square or more and/or spread the word, visit my home page here to see instructions, or leave a comment w your email and I can let you know how 🙂 THANKS!
