Unfortunately, I only have so much space and time to convey my life. So no matter which experiences I pick, it will never truly capture what life is like and what I am doing with my days. I have tried to paint a better picture to some of you over skype but it still falls short.
Life for me right now is a slow adaptation. I practice spanish with the workers on the streets. I go to the library and try to translate a book on Nicaraguan history. I decline a street vendor selling sunglasses. I get lost in a market. I fumble over the words on a menu and eat foods I don’t understand. I learn to use a slingshot. I decline a street vendor selling sunglasses. I practice my oh-so-gringo-futbol skills. I go running in the morning through clouds of gnats. I go to an art gallery and try to understand an explanation on the fabrication of paper. I eat weird fruits the children give to me. I decline a street vendor selling sunglasses. Apparently I fit the stereotype of a man in need of sunglasses.
Throughout the week I attend many of our regular ministries; futbol tournaments, home Bible studies, or visiting the prison. I don’t know exactly what my expectations were before coming here. Probably similar to what you imagine when I mention things like home bible studies or visiting prison: they are these ‘ministry’ events that sort of hang in blank space. Untold are the trips to the market, conversations with old women, or trying for five minutes to understand the spanish word for noisy. The point is that ‘ministry’ is more often the things I have a hard time putting into a newsletter. It would seem weird if my points of ministry were:
- Helping some drunk tourists find a taxi and meet a local family in the process
- Bring water to the workers in the street who are teaching me spanish
- Walk to the library with Cristofer, the grandson of my landlords
- Watch some spanish preacher on TV at my friend Luis’ house
Those kind of bullet points don’t sound like effective ministry, but in many ways they can be more fruitful than the things I put in my newsletter. Ministry does not take place in a vacuum. Because ministry involves reaching out to real people who do everyday random stuff, doing that everyday random stuff often turns into ministry. It doesn’t always fit well into a bullet list, but God is active and invites us to join Him in what He is doing wherever we are.
