I love drinking smoothies. One of the main things I was finding myself missing was not being able to go to the store, buy my favorite fruits and concoct some delicious and healthy frozen drinks for me and my family. No, I am not a pro at it like my friend Narissa who is an owner of a smoothie truck, Impact Island Café. But man do I enjoy making them, so much so smoothies totally made the list of my top “guilty pleasures.” A list that I shared with Sam, my teammate, when we were waiting for our bus that was going to take us to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the location of our next ministry.
Little did I know that the very next day, I would be asked by our new ministry host E to open and run the Overflow smoothie shop. The Overflow is a guest house run by long-term Adventures in Missions (AIM) missionaries. They were getting ready to host a revival, “The Awakening,” and they expected a huge crowd to be in attendance. With the event being so large, volunteers to clean, paint, and renovate were needed. Thus, they sent an SOS to the leaders of our squad and after praying about it, 7 of us signed to go and help.
This brings me to our introductory meeting in the beautiful Overflow lobby. E began by listing all the projects that needed to get done before the Awakening. It blew my mind that opening and running a smoothie shop was one the main items on her list. The hostel had a bar, but after much prayer and consideration, she thought replacing it with a smoothie bar would be an exciting way to provide healthy refreshments to her guests. It goes without saying that I volunteered to make it happen. I can’t deny nor confirm if I screamed a little, clapped, squirmed, and smiled all at once. All I can say is that my heart was leaping with joy: I was going to make smoothies as my “ministry work” for the month! It’s the small things I tell you! Who would have thought that would happen on the World Race?!?! Not Me! Not in a million years!
The next few days consisted of deep cleaning, sweeping, mopping, washing fridges, decorating the bar, and more. I also created a smoothie menu and put together a small tasting session during which my teammates and E got to sample the smoothies. After a lot of arduous and tireless work, Dyer and I were proud to say that the Overflow smoothie bar was ready and open for business. Before we knew it, we were making our first smoothie and serving our first customer. Throughout the entire revival, that was our job: making smoothies for the attendees! It was such a joy watching them sipping on and enjoying our yummy fruit/vegetable-based treats. I still can’t believe we got to serve and love on them in that way. It was a blast!
Above pic was taken by Sara Santiago (IG:@kingdom_hippie)
Above pic was taken by Sara Santiago (IG:@kingdom_hippie)
Serving these beautiful, tasty drinks really got me thinking about our walk with Christ. So many times in our spiritual journey, the final product, the pretty colorful drink, is exactly what people get to see. They don’t necessarily realize nor witness all the hard behind-the-scenes work that takes place within us before they are presented with that beautiful beverage. Indeed, I am talking about the hours spent kneeling on the floor to thoroughly wash the bar. I am talking about taking in the grotesque smells that arise as we cleaned under the gecko-infested pipes. I am talking about the sweeping and the mopping of the floor. I am talking about the waiting for the floor to dry and withholding yourself from making an impertinent comment at people when they walk while the floor is still wet. I am talking about re-mopping the floor because people walked on it while the floor was still wet. I am also talking about throwing out old appliances and bringing it new ones. I am talking about decorating the place. I am talking about the endless runs to the local market to buy the ingredients. I am talking about the developing/creating recipes. I am talking about the cutting and the preparing of the fruits. I am talking about paying attention to the measurements when making the smoothies and being ok with improvising when you are running low on ingredients. In other words, I am talking about all the grueling work that takes place in a true believer’s life as they die daily to themselves to represent Christ well.
I am not sure what areas of your life that the Holy Spirit is trying to renovate today, but you better believe that when it is all said and done, people will be in for a delicious and refreshing treat. They will want to come back for more. It will be the perfect opportunity for you to point them back to the best bartender/smoothie maker of all times: God!
Cheers!!!!
You’re awesome for reading – Thanxies so much!
A couple of things:
- If you are in the FL area, specifically Ocala, make sure you do stop by my friend Narissa’s food truck when she does take it out. Follow her on IG at @passion_foward. She is also the co-founder of this amazing ministry called Kingdom Goals. Click here to learn more about it and how you can prayerfully support her.
- If you are in the Siem Reap area and you’re looking for a place to stay, the food is amazing and the staff is extremely kind. It is the perfect place to stay, relax and enjoy the beautiful city of Siem Reap. I can guarantee you that! Check out their website here. Enjoy your stay!
