There is one thing you can count on day in and day out on the World Race: change. Plans change, living situations change… at some point you just learn to roll with it. More often than not, ministry doesn’t look a darn thing like you think it will, and that’s okay.
When teams Adelphi and Lucent headed out to our ministry site, we were under the impression we were working at an orphanage. This wasn’t completely untrue, but when we finally arrived after an overnight ride (with 12 people and all of our gear squished into two small vans) what we saw was nowhere near what we were expecting. There were only two boys living in this house that was in the middle of rice fields. Also in this house was an entire semi-professional soccer team, in the area for a prestigious tournament in a nearby town.
A little confused, we soon found out the scoop on our ministry for the next few weeks. The reason there weren’t many kids living in the home was that they were working on building the third floor. Our host, Reuben, oversees a few different orphanages in Nepal, and once the construction was done, more kids would be moved into this one. Part of our time there would be spent helping mix concrete and build the framework for this addition. The soccer team was another facet of Reuben’s ministry. This team, called Church Boys United, attracts players from Nepal and beyond, and through coaching Reuben is able to share the gospel with these men, most of whom are Buddhist or Hindu. When the team wins tournaments, cash prizes they earn go towards the orphanage
At first we didn’t have a clue what the point of us being there was. We would go to the soccer games, work on the construction, and besides that we figured there wasn’t much to do. But after the first of three games played (Church Boys won the tournament, by the way!) we started interacting with them a little more, building familiarity over time. Through conversation and sharing a small living space, we got to know these guys, most of whom were our age. Eventually some of the conversations moved on from small talk to a deeper subject – talking about our respective cultures, and what we believed in. I got to learn a little bit about Buddhism, and we were able to talk to them about Jesus. There aren’t many Christians in Nepal, and I certainly hope our interactions with the soccer team made them want to find out more.
Ministry may not look like you think it will, but you can always go out and find it. You don’t have to be on the other side of the world to share the light of Christ.
