Life here in South Africa is sweet. It’s peaceful. It’s restful. It’s made me realize God’s heart for people and the ways that I can build his kingdom. My time here has taught me so much already and I’m already a different person now than when I left the States.
One of the biggest things this trip has taught me so far is how to do ministry anywhere. I’ll be honest, when I left St Louis I thought I’d come to South Africa and see miracles and the impossible and extraordinary and eye opening events. I had all these expectations but let me tell you how this mission trip has changed my idea of what mission and ministry looks like.
I arrived in Cape Town South Africa on July 5th late that Friday night. My team and I walked out of the airport to our taxi. It was dark out and the air smelled different, not bad, but like spices. I took in everything: the people, the cold air, the cars, the atmosphere. I was surprised at how “normal” everything looked. Then we started driving on the left side of the road and everything didn’t seem so “like the States” anymore. I tried to watch the scenery go by, but it was pitch black outside and I was exhausted after traveling for two days straight so I gave in to sleep.
Three hours later, the van pulled into a driveway. It was in the early hours of the morning but we heard excited voices coming out to greet us. I climbed out of the van and stepped into the dirt driveway. We’d arrived in the little town of Heidelberg where the majority of our ministry would take place. My team and I were groggy and exhausted, but our hosts made up for our lack of energy because they were so excited to meet us. Making our way into their house with all of our luggage, we quickly found our rooms, pulled out our sleeping bags and fell asleep.
I couldn’t have expected how beautiful life would be here. Our first several days consisted of getting to know the tiny town, meeting people in the community and doing life with our hosts. It challenged my idea of what ministry is. I’m not gonna lie, it was almost frustrating at first that we were simply joining our hosts in their life. We were cleaning the church for them and serving by doing menial tasks. While I was grateful to help them out, I was waiting for the miraculous and the supernatural events. And then a casual conversation with my team leader about her experience with mission trips gave me a different mindset. What we were doing WAS ministry. Ministry, specifically in a different country, is simply partnering with the ministries already there. Our goal is to partner with them, to encourage them, to ease their workload during the time we are here, to pour into them, to serve them, to also serve the people they serve, and to also pour into the people they pour into.
During my time here, I’ve realized that ministry is a smile, it’s a conversation with the cashier, it’s a prayer for the girl who lives in poverty and has dreams of being a doctor, it’s a fist bump with the little boy who just scored a goal, it’s celebrating and yelling and being those “loud Americans” playing soccer, it’s sitting down in the middle of a soccer field with a girl just to have a small conversation, it’s mopping bathroom floors, it’s doing devotionals with a class of kids, it’s dusting windows, it’s getting up in front of a church congregation to sing, it’s loving on kids who don’t get much love, it’s holding a baby, it’s all of these things and so many more. The World Race has a saying “life is ministry and ministry is life”.
Life is ministry and ministry is life. I’ve learned that ministry is the small things just as much as it’s the big things. Mission trips to your neighbors house are just as important as mission trips to South Africa. Mission means building God’s kingdom and while the big miraculous moments are important so are the small seemingly-less-important ones just as much. Ministry and mission doesn’t always look like miracles. How many times did Jesus just sit and eat with people? The Bible talks about that many times in the New Testament. A major part of Jesus’ ministry was him spending time with them. Miracles and the supernatural are great and so good and I actually have seen the supernatural on this trip, but God is so simply teaching me what ministry in daily life is. I’m so grateful he is teaching me this because I know I can sustain this type of ministry at home. And while I wish I could stay here for many weeks more, I’m excited to go home with this new found knowledge of how life is ministry and ministry is life and how to carry that out in day to day life.
Life here continues to be sweet and peaceful and beautiful. Living life in a community of people who deeply love and earnestly seek the Lord is one of the best experience I’ve ever had. My team, which consists of seven girls, is changing my life. Well, God is changing my life, but he’s working through my teammates big time. Overall, I’m loving it here and learning so much and I’m thankful everyday that he brought me here to Heidelberg, South Africa.
