117 days of Ministry with Gap F

Friday was our 117^th day of “assigned” ministry on the World Race; it was also our last.

117 days of serving God alongside the most incredible people, 117 days of saying yes, 117 days of watching God show up, 117 days of getting to be used, shaped, and challenged. Ministry looked like so many different things and as we signed off on our last day of ministry on the World Race it got me thinking about all the different ways ministry looked over the last 9 months. So here is my attempt to recall all the different ways we got to serve God on this journey!

• Playing Soccer with Costa Rican Communities
• Evangelism on the streets of Puerto Viejo
• Tearing down mold covered dry wall in Louisiana
• Worship and fellowship with other Samaritan Purse volunteers.
• Praying over the homeowners affected by the hurricanes
• Using machetes to clear the jungle in Costa Rica
• Hours of cleaning our bases at Ywam and Hope Mountain
• Intercession in the form of 12 hour prayers, Wednesday prayer mornings or Thursday afternoon intercession, and prayer walks through La Jas
• Mixing and pouring concrete
• Eating dinner with Kish (base staff in Costa) when she was sick
• Planning nights to celebrate hosts
• Writing encouraging notes for women being exploited
• Creating Sunday school curriculum
• Translating curriculum into Spanish
• Picking up horse manure off a hill
• Raking and some more raking
• Talent shows and movie nights for the community
• Painting murals at the local school
• The many conversations with strangers on our off days when we were out on adventures
• Bringing food to the neighbors
• Leading church at Canon Creek Iglesia in Costa Rica
• Sharing testimonies
• Learning dances and skits
• Putting together kids, youth and womens programs for the community of Tsuiri
• Clearing big logs from the road in the small community way out in the Jungle
• Praying over squad mates, families and friends back home
• Lead youth camps in Costa Rica
• Prepared content for future youth and children camp in the Dominican
• Playing kahoot with hosts daughters for their science lesson
• Showing up at the basketball court to play with the neighbor kids
• Building a house in the Jungle and one on a mountain
• Milking a cow
• Playing with Carlos our cooks grandson
• Having conversations with staff in the kitchen
• Waking up early to help prepare breakfast in Lake Charles, and Costa Rica
• Building relationships and friendships with staff
• Carrying water from the local tienda
• Pressure washed
• Helped carry groceries
• Played a soccer game against the communities women’s soccer team
• Worshiped and worshiped some more on beaches, in the mountains, in the jungle
• Created Tik Toks for Hope DR

If you read through that whole list, you might have noticed ministry was not just what was assigned during those 117 days of ministry hours it was the moments with base staff, or the neighbors. It was the cleaning days and conversations, the time investing in staff and their families. Ministry was not just 117 days, but the last 264 days on the race and the thousands of days before that, because ministry isn’t just what we do on a mission’s trip or Sunday mornings when we help out with the children. Ministry is every single day. Life is ministry and ministry is life. Ministry is not just the moments we get to see people receive Christ as their Lord and savior or be healed. It’s conversations in the kitchen, the helping to carry groceries; it’s the things we might never get to see the fruit of but get to trust that God is and will use to make an impact for his kingdom. Ministry is walking with a yes, willing to step into things that you don’t want to or doing things that you might not have originally pictured as ministry.

But even with that said, spending the last 9 months serving alongside Gap F has been an honor and while ministry will never end, this season of ministry with these people is ending. I am excited to see where living a life of ministry will take each of you, Gap F, and what God will do in and through your yes!