Big Love

The World Race does a great job at teaching you to jump in quickly. 

We get to a new country, a new ministry site, with a whole new group of people. Here we are given a choice to dive in and make friends, or we can choose to step back in fear of saying goodbye. This is a choice we face every month. Though saying goodbye is often so hard, the months that we dive into head first are always the most fruitful. 

While we were in Ecuador the Lord gave me the most beautiful opportunity to press in and make a friend as I was working in the local Quito international school. Here everyone on my team got assigned to a teacher at the school, that we were able to assist in teaching English to middle and high school students. 

I got assigned to the most incredible teacher, named Nathy. We were spending the first and third weeks of our time in Ecuador here at the school. As we went to the school, honestly expecting our ministry to be the children, the Lord very quickly showed me that my ministry was actually Nathy. So here, the Lord showed me that it was time to press in deeply and quickly. 

The first day in the classroom was spent doing many zoom classes, introducing myself to about 5 different groups of kids, and trying to figure out my place at the school. This day we all came in with so many expectations to share the love of Jesus with the students, while trying to maintain boundaries of sharing the gospel in a public school setting. Honestly, my sights were so set on the kids this first day, and I hardly got to spend any time with them, so I left the day feeling a bit of discouragement. 

As we came home from the first day of ministry, I had to sit with the Lord and really ask the purpose of our ministry at the school. With covid outbreaks happening like crazy, and a lack of students able to attend school, the Lord made it very clear that my idea of ministry needed to shift. The Lord made this shift very evident. I needed to shift my perspective from student, to teacher. 

Day two was the start of a beautiful friendship, and the chance to love deeply. As I arrived for day two of school, I still taught English just as the day before, and graded papers as well. But today, with this change in perspective, a beautiful conversation opened up that sparked so much friendship and joy. We began to talk about the Lord, how the Holy Spirit moves through us even when we are just living our lives, family, testimonies and so much more. It was so stunning to see the Lord moving through our conversations, and opening doors for such a rich friendship. 

As we began to know each others hearts, the opportunity for me to openly share the gospel with the students began to come up over and over again. Simply opening up and being vulnerable with Nathy opened the door for me to not only encourage her, but also share the love of Christ with all of my students. The Lord took that discouragement on day one and completely transformed it. It was his heart to minister to the students at the school, but because he is so kind he didn’t let me miss out on an opportunity to build a beautiful relationship! 

This is a lesson that doesn’t just apply to life on the race. Everyday, wherever we are we have the opportunity to dive into each relationship with our whole heart. We can do this at the local coffee shop, at the grocery store, or in overseas. The more we make this an intentional practice, the more comfortable it becomes, and the more you begin to realize that all people truly want it to bee seen and loved. Simply taking time to acknowledge and actually hear people truly is one of the best ways to share Abba’s heart. So today, I want to encourage you to take a step out of your normal routine, step out of what you think your day is suppose to look like , and ask the Lord who needs your time. This is a simple way to actually walk out the gospel in our lives. 

Love you lots, 

                       KEN