Me and my team have officially completed 2 weeks of ministry. This has been so rewarding and stretching. God has been teaching me so much about humility and His heart for other people. Below will be a description of what a week in the life of me and my team looks like.
Monday:
Mondays me and my team go to a coffee shop in Antigua and have hours of prayer and worship with our ministry hosts. They are incredibly passionate about prayer and learning how to sit in God’s presence and worship Him. This time has been so rewarding and amazing to be in communion with God for hours at a time. We read a chapter or 2 of the bible and in-between verses pray and sing together. After this time we hang out and spend time with our ministry hosts. A lot of this time is simply having relationships with our ministry hosts and encouraging them but also letting them disciple us and help us grow in our faith.
Tuesday:
Tuesdays we work with another ministry so in the mornings we go to a village called Parrojas and do house visits. This has been a little hard because in America, this is not normal at all and would be considered very strange. We go and knock on doors that we are feeling called to. People will open their doors to us and invite us in. We then talk to them and sit with them for sometimes hours at a time. It has been so cool how God is working and the opportunities we have to hear people’s stories and encourage them with scripture but also share our own personal testimonies. In the afternoons we teach English to a group of kids which has also been so sweet. We do activities with them and then share a Bible story and have a craft and snack for them.
Wednesday:
On Wednesdays we also work with the ministry from Monday. We go on a mountain called Prayer Mountain and do manual labor. Our ministry host has been working to turn this mountain into a place where people can come and pray and worship God without distractions. He is building cabins and making the area so nice. We help clean up the mountain and do any other task that needs to be done. Sometimes it is hard to see the point in the tasks we are doing but when I look at it from God’s perspective and His heart in it, I have a whole new perspective. This also bonds our team so much and allows a lot of time for talking and just learning to work together.
Thursday:
Every Thursday we have something called and Activation Day. Our whole squad stays at base and we have worship and then a teaching from someone on staff. In the afternoons we go and put into practice what we just learned. Most times this looks like evangelism in the villages but other times it means praying for each other and spending time with Jesus. This has been incredibly stretching as evangelism is not my favorite thing, however, God has been teaching me soooo much about obedience and how His strength and His power will guide me and lead me if i’m willing to listen.
Friday:
Fridays we go to a village and help a woman make food for a feeding program we do in the afternoon. It has been so incredible to watch this lady open up to us. We have been able to joke around with her and just learn more and more about her life and her story. The feeding program has also been so incredible, seeing kids from the village come and get their meals from us. This day is one of my favorites because it is filled with so much laughter and fun. Lots of times there are big breaks between when kids come for food which allows for so much conversation and laughter together with me and my team and also our ministry hosts.
Saturday and Sunday:
We have every weekend off which I am so incredibly grateful for. It is so fun to be able to explore but to also simply rest and recharge for a new week. This Sunday me and some of my squad mates went to a church in Antigua. They had an English speaking service and it was so refreshing to be able to go to an actual church again and worship with other believers from Antigua. The people were so friendly and the message was so powerful.
Overall, every week is so packed but also so rewarding. I have learned so much about God’s heart and also about refinement and humility. God has been my constant help and rest in the midst of everything. The only way I am able to have energy for the week is through his grace and dwelling in his presence every single day. I have already learned so much and it is so incredible to think about everything I have yet to learn.
