Arriving here in AfricaI threw out all expectations of what I thought was going to happen or what I wanted to happen and asked God for openness. I wanted openness to whatever was going to happen. Whether that was being thrown into a classroom with 56 students to teach them, being surrounded by children who all wanted love, making a little girl laughs just by tickling her or driving in a 4 passenger car packed with 8 people. Openness to being on African time, or playing volleyball with teenagers in the rain. I wanted an openness so that God would use me in anyway that he wanted to.
Asking for that openness God showed me that loving anyone who I met or encountered would allow for openness to ministry to the needs of these people. Meeting people where they were and showing them love the way God shows us his love. This looked different in each person I met. It could look like giving your shoes to a girl named Jennifer who needs them more than I did, or just holding hands with a little girl with down-syndrome named Toffi and telling her how much I love her and how much God loves her. It looks different in every situation and every person you met, because each person needs love in different ways. The importance is to just show them love like they have never seen it before.
"A new command I give you, so you must love one another."- John 13:34
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers love one anotherdeeply, from the heart."- 1Peter 1:22
