On our last full we of ministry in Malaybalay, we were
privileged to work with an adult short-term mission team from Minnesota. To be
honest, a lot of our first thoughts were not positive ones. We were already
having to deal with the fact that we have no privacy, now we immediately felt
more like what little personal space we had was being taken away. I wasn’t too
happy about having to move to another top bunk so I could give up my bottom
bunk bed to another person I didn’t know. Where was the love? Shouldn’t I be
excited about having more of God’s sons and daughters come to the same place I
was at the do His will? Luckily for me, I wasn’t the only one struggling with
this. Many of us were frustrated with ourselves for feeling so childish, but thank
the Lord that He has been working in our team and we have such a sense of
openness towards one another that we can bring our struggles to our team
discussions. We acted fast to pray and give this issue up to God and help us get
rid of our selfish desires. As the week went on we were blessed with the
opportunity to get to know the entire Minnesota team by working along side
them. I for one felt like a spoiled young American who demanded to have his way
when I learned how amazing and encouraging these strangers were. One of the
persons in the group was a man named Mack. I was able to spend a good amount of
time with him and get to hear about his past experiences. He was more than
willing to share his knowledge of life, but mainly he emphasized the importance
of relationships.
Working at a restaurant back at home, I spend a lot of time
being fake and acting like I have to respect the customers. For this reason, I
often joke with people who know me well enough, that I hate people and making
small talk. When in fact, I am in firm believe that we were put here to build
relationships and love one another. Its just that many times, I am too selfish
to put forth the effort to do so. Mack shared with us that previously someone
had contacted him from years ago in his past. He told us about how he had been
a basketball coach and that the person who had contacted him was one of his
former players from an old team. His former student wanted to thank him for
Mack’s investment and support in him. What amazed me was how long ago and how
many years had past since the two were together. Mach believed too in the power
of love and relationships. He shared and reminded me that we may never know our
impact on the world or people we come across, so that being said, I feel I have
a long way to go to get to my potential of truly caring for friends and
strangers equally. After such a short experience with such a giant of a man, I
feel blessed and grateful that God uses situations like this to speak to me and
remind me of the simplest of commands. Thanks Mach again for your friendship
and I pray God continues to use you to show the importance of relationships to
many more people. God bless you wherever you are at in the world right now
Mack!
