Every now and
then I’m asked the question, “So what is a typical day on the World Race
like?” I tend to just smile when
this question is asked because there is no real answer to this question.
I guess the only
way to really answer that question is to just tell you that our typical day is
completely and totally atypical.
Either that or I could just tell you what today was like…
I woke up this
morning at about…5:47 AM to the rooster that crows every morning at 5:47
AM. Luckily I’m learning that I
can actually go back to sleep with the help of earplugs and an eye mask. I officially woke up around 7:45 to a
few members of our team cooking breakfast for the 16 of us living in a 3
bedroom 1 bathroom apartment (that includes 2 married couples). I say I woke up to them cooking
breakfast because I’m actually kind of sleeping in the kitchen. With the heat and humidity as high as
it is here combined with living in a solid concrete house, you sleep wherever
there’s a breeze.
After breakfast
we started working on our mission for the day, which consisted of pruning
flowers, writing verses, and baking cookies for our trip to the “red light
district” of Puerto Barrios. We
spent most of the morning and early afternoon on this project and barely even
took a break for lunch. At this
point in time it hasn’t really hit us as to what we were about to do.
Our mission for
the night was to head into one of the darkest and most dangerous areas of town
(one our contact was even a little nervous about), and pass out flowers and
cookies. When we sat down to pray,
the realization hit us that this wasn’t your typical “God Bless You” mission.
We talked about
the logistics of the night and found out that it was inappropriate for the guys
to talk with the girls on the street so we would mainly play a support role. I was a little disappointed on finding
this out, but when I saw the immediate timidity in some of the girls my focus
changed. We prayed for a while as
a group and individuals to prepare but we were all still a little anxious for
what was to come.
As we pulled into
“Prostitute Avenue” about an hour before sunset, we decided to walk the street
before it got too dark. Before the
sun even set there were a couple of places that just turned my stomach. For me, there was an inward battle
between the compassion I had for these women and the hatred for what has been
done to them. As a team, we were
still a little timid at first, but that didn’t last for long.
At first it was
hard for me to sit back and watch, but as I prayed for the girls and just
watched our girls love them, I saw a great picture of the Body of Christ. There weren’t really any “salvation”
stories tonight, but there were tears and realizations made and there was no
fear for the girls of my team (parents be proud) as they were a light to a lost
and dark place. Seeds were planted
and I long for that harvest.
So what is a
typical day like on the race? As I
sit in a fast food fried chicken restaurant, debriefing with my team, I guess all
I can say is, I’ll let you know when there is one. Until then, keep praying. Pray that our living in community never leads to
dissention. Pray that we are bold
with our conversations. Above all,
pray that we love.
*apologies for the lack of pictures, I’ll
fix it soon.
