A Servant Heart
If there is anything I can say whole heartedly it is this - Cross cultural work/ministry shows you a whole new side of yourself. The three most important qualities for successful cross cultural ministry/business according to my Interculturall Communication class are the following: 1) Ability to fail 2) Flexibilitly and 3) A good sense of humour. Tonight at church I went through all three. Showed up for the worship team practice and had quite the experience. It seems like everything that could go wrong did. The keyboard player needed the song book with the chords in it which was locked upstairs. Since the church secretary is the worship leader and she had to be elsewhere no one had keys so we had to practice sans keyboard. I didn´t know all the words in Portuguese so I had to look at the Power point. But of course those songs are on the Pastor´s laptop and he wasn´t there yet. Then there was a lack of clear leadership so everyone was making suggestions on intros etc. etc. Gong show!! By the end of the practice the last thing I felt like doing was worshiping. Poor Rahel got an earful when she arrived. Thankfully when it was actually time to sing I managed to suck it up and the parts I didn´t know in Portuguese I just sang in English. Since there were 5 vocalists I don´t think it mattered and the pastor didn´t care. I wonder if I´ll ever adjust to their unstructured and last minute way of doing things.
Also, with this 40 day campaign of prayer and fasting that started on the 11th there will be even MORE church events for me to attend. I am having a bit of an attitude problem at the moment since I´m beginning to feel like I should just pitch a tent on the church grounds I´m there so much. On Wed. night I was able to go to Andre´s small group and that was a nice breather because its not related to either Morumbi or Vila Andrade. Please pray that I can have a servant heart and attitude while also establishing healthy boundaries. I don´t want to run myself into the ground by over doing it but I know that serving also requires sacrifice. Pray that I´ll have the wisdom to stand up for myself when I am tired and know when to make sacrifices when they are needed. I want to have a servant heart but sometimes its not easy. The feeling of having no say as to my own schedule is especially frustrating. And just to add a little perspective the reason the church has so many activities is because if the kids aren´t there they´ll be out on the street getting into trouble or going out to balladas (dance parties) where all kinds of not so great things go down (Andre was kind enough to point that out to me). Doing ministry here is in their words `nada facil` (not at all easy). The needs are so great and so plentiful I can see how and why pastors and missionaries often spend all their time in their ministry with little time for their families. Again wisodm and balance are needed. Prayers for energy, joy and that discerning servant heart are probably my top requests right now. Thank-you for your continued prayers. Beijos!
Also, with this 40 day campaign of prayer and fasting that started on the 11th there will be even MORE church events for me to attend. I am having a bit of an attitude problem at the moment since I´m beginning to feel like I should just pitch a tent on the church grounds I´m there so much. On Wed. night I was able to go to Andre´s small group and that was a nice breather because its not related to either Morumbi or Vila Andrade. Please pray that I can have a servant heart and attitude while also establishing healthy boundaries. I don´t want to run myself into the ground by over doing it but I know that serving also requires sacrifice. Pray that I´ll have the wisdom to stand up for myself when I am tired and know when to make sacrifices when they are needed. I want to have a servant heart but sometimes its not easy. The feeling of having no say as to my own schedule is especially frustrating. And just to add a little perspective the reason the church has so many activities is because if the kids aren´t there they´ll be out on the street getting into trouble or going out to balladas (dance parties) where all kinds of not so great things go down (Andre was kind enough to point that out to me). Doing ministry here is in their words `nada facil` (not at all easy). The needs are so great and so plentiful I can see how and why pastors and missionaries often spend all their time in their ministry with little time for their families. Again wisodm and balance are needed. Prayers for energy, joy and that discerning servant heart are probably my top requests right now. Thank-you for your continued prayers. Beijos!
Comments