I like to think of Unsung Hero months as a Wildcard month—it transforms into whatever you want it to be. The designated Unsung Hero (UH) team enters a country, and our leadership team says, “GO!” For our team, after a few moments of everyone staring at each other in shock of time, food, currency, transportation, culture, spirit, religion and new teams, we started to take positive steps forward.
Our team leader, Katie, appointed Brandi to lead our team in our UH “duties.” Now according to Adventures in Missions (the organization that runs The World Race), doing a UH month means that your team finds its own lodging and finds new contacts within a country for future World Race (WR) teams to aid in the future.
Earlier on in the beginning stages of the race, this month was called Ask the Lord month. It existed as more of a faith-growing month without any contact or direction. Adventures in Missions (AIM) decided to give the month a little more focus with “Unsung Hero” to continue to ask the Lord what to do while looking for future contacts. The name emerged from the idea to find the people existing all over the world who serve the Lord wholeheartedly yet go most of their lives unnoticed, or “unsung” if you will. AIM wants to find these “heroes” and give them the opportunity to host a WR teams in the future to assist in whatever ways they may need.
In practicality what this month looks like from a racer’s perspective is hours of online research, lots of emailing, extreme team communication, attending local churches, walking the streets to meet people and mostly prayer. A UH team is nothing without prayer. We dedicate our every day to what the Lord wants to do and whom He wants us to meet or contact. Without His direction, we’re just seven girls with no direction, location or provision.
Only two girls on our team have yet to do a UH month thus far on the race, but as a wildcard, UH months alter and change according to the team, location, leadership and every other factor. The best thing you can do stepping into another UH month is to communicate with your team the things that worked and the things that didn’t from your last team, and let everything else go. It involves a lot of trust, communication, sacrificial love and dedication.
From the start, each member on our team CHOSE IN. I cannot begin to express the importance of choosing your team above your insecurities or distractions. When you lay down your need to be right, your distrust of others’ actions, your tendency to watch movies or read all day, your preference to not talk at meetings, your need to feel appreciated, your entitlement of space and preference and more, your team will truly flourish. Your team can have an impact when you choose them. We call out the hard things and have the hard conversations. We push each other towards God, thus pushing each other towards greatness.
Team P31 is living at a YWAM (Christian organization since 1960 called “youth with a mission”) base in Penang, Malaysia, which is often referred to as “the food capital of Asia” with good reason. We don’t have a kitchen, and have to eat out for every meal. The food is both delicious and within our $5/day food budget. Instead of viewing it as tiring to go out for every meal, we’ve decided to form relationships with people we encounter during meals.
We go to the same restaurant almost every morning for breakfast, and our waiter, and now friend, Roger hangs out with us. He loves to joke with us and prank us. We tell him “hello” and “goodbye” every morning, and he’s taken pictures with us and shown them to all his coworkers. We know a few of the other employees at the restaurant as well, and one has even invited us over to her house to meet her mom.
I think one of the best things you can do during a UH month is just ask, “Hello, what’s your name” to everyone you meet. A simple, personal interest question can bless someone greatly and generally opens up conversations.
In Malaysia, it’s illegal to evangelize to Muslims. So what are we even doing here? Well we love people just like Jesus calls us to. We make friends and have conversations about “religion.” We do Internet research to find new contacts online. We meet people, and check out their ministry sites. We help them in little ways here and there that we can.
A couple of us attended an International Christian School open house day, which opened up a lot of doors, and showed us God’s providence even here. Another group met a Christian artist, and have been helping out with her studio and shows. We volunteer at orphanages, schools and anywhere willing to let us help. It seems like every time we walk out our door, the Lord provides a ministry opportunity for us. We’ve met Christians in random places throughout the city, and others who want to share their faith with us. Each person knows undoubtedly that God appointed our time here in Penang for His Kingdom.
It’s been stretching in a lot of ways, and I know each person on my team carries a vital role and special impact. Brandi and Katie have fully stepped into leadership roles that they never thought possible, but I can confidently say that we trust them to lead this team well.
Our biggest ministry this month has been one another. When AIM trains you, you often hear the phrase “choose in.” World Racers say it fairly often, and I think we try to mean it, but this team actually acts out what it looks like to choose into your team. We genuinely want to know every other person on the team, and we choose to love each one.
Love is not a feeling; it’s a choice.
Choose it.
