*At the very bottom of this blog I have included a few videos made by me and my teammates. I will caution you that for the video that I made, I have no idea how to put together videos so keep your expectations low and give me grace.*
Ministry isn’t always what we think it is, or even what we want it to be. Ministry isn’t always pretty, even though sometimes it is. Ministry is not about what we want, or what we think will be helpful, but instead, ministry is about the community that we are trying to come along side of. Ministry should be a three-way partnership between God, us, and the people that we are serving.
When we first got to Ukraine, to say that I was shell-shocked would be a very large understatement. Our first two weeks in Uzhhorod my team and I went and volunteered at Camp Explorer, which is an English/Christian camp. We helped to facilitate the English lessons and also we got to led worship. The camp ran from 9:00 till about 6:00, so we would get to camp at about 8:30 everyday and we wouldn’t get home until around 7:00. The English lessons were only about an hour long, so for the rest of the day we socialized with the counselors and the campers during the other activities to help them practice their English, which was intimidating, because of the language barrier (but over time it became super fun and fruitful).
Charla and I taught English to the youngest group of kids, who were between 5-7 years old. Most of the kids, young as they are, knew a little bit of English already, so we basically just spent time reviewing different vocabulary words from the topics that we were teaching on and we spent a whole lot of time coloring and drawing pictures to help the kids remember what the words meant. The counselors who were working with us, were all pretty young (like freshman in high school young) as well and only one of them spoke enough English to really carry on an conversation.
If I’m being honest, I spent the first week of this ministry feeling completely useless. I wasn’t comfortable talking with the counselors, and our campers were really too young and didn’t know enough English to hold a conversation.
I spent so much time at this ministry in my head that I couldn’t see the opportunities around me.
It was super frustrating for me because I couldn’t really understand why I was feeling this way. I wanted to want this ministry. I wanted to be present and to make the most of my time. I was just really struggling with the how of it all.
That is until water day.
Because Ukraine is hot like Florida, and the camp is outside, we got to play some water games to help everyone cool down. There were just silly relay games and water guns and it became such a time of laughter and togetherness not only among the campers, but also for myself, for my team, and for the counselors.
I felt like scales fell off my eyes that day and I just was able to enjoy where I was and what I was getting to do. I got to see the counselors not as intimidating and scary, but as goofy, fun, people.
In the days that followed I was able to get to know the counselors that I was working with and I got to just learn about their dreams and their hearts.
Like Nastia, who is 14 and hopes at becoming an interpreter (not a sign language interpreter but I still that it was pretty cool that we have similar interests- like who would have thought?! Wow Jesus).
Or Nastia, who is also 14 (yes, there were two different Nastias who were both 14), who wanted to be a house wife and cook and clean and have kids (I vibe with this).
Or Ivan (the I is pronounced like an E here which was an adjustment), who is 15 and is a runner and wants to pursue running.
I loved getting to know these cool cats. We got to joke around and just enjoy each other and learn from each other in the last week of camp and I can honestly say that the Lord brought me refreshment through my time with them.
I was so focused on trying to force ‘ministry’ and fitting that into the mold that I had made for it that I lost track of the beautiful simplicities of being with God and being with His people.
I wish I could say that I got to have super deep conversations with these guys, but the truth is that I didn’t. I made ‘camp friendships’ and that’s ok. God is teaching me so many things about what ministry is and how that is going to look on the Race and this was my first step.
Ministry isn’t what I imagined and this month I learned not to let my expectations overshadow the gifts and opportunities that God has placed in front of me.
I didn’t start the Race where I wanted to, in terms of my perspective- not ministry, and now I feel like the Lord has shown me that my perspectives aren’t always in linewith His. It has been humbling, hard, painful, weird, stressful but exciting. I’m thankful for the lessons that I’ve learned in month 1 and I know that the Lord has so many things planned for my time on the Race and I can’t wait to see what next month brings.
Much love,
Morgan
As always, I invite you to make my journey, your journey. Here are three simple ways:
- The most important, PRAY.
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So the first video included here is something that I put together for myself, of clips from different ministry opportunities that my team has had in Ukraine. It is nothing fancy so again, low expectations.
The second video here is a vlog created by one of my teammates that gives a little more detail about what our ministry looked like day to day. I hope you enjoy and feel free to subscribe to her vlogs because she is awesome and she will probably be better about updates than I am.
The third video… I was actually supposed to post this with the last blog BUT I forgot… so here it is! A look at life in Uzhhorod! Again- low expectations…
