No Expectations

No Expectations 

One thing we like to emphasize to our team when we are heading out on a trip is the only expectation is that there are no expectations!

We find that when we try to assume our own time table and agenda for a day, we often get so caught up in achieving those goals that we miss miracles that are happening right in front of us!

We want to share a couple of stories that, had we been so focused on achieving our own expectations, we would have missed the opportunity to not only bless others, but in turn to be blessed by what God is already doing!

Story 1:

In Alaska, part of the team stays at “home base” while the others go out into the villages. Typically, the ones who are out in the villages are going door to door meeting people and vaccinating dogs. On this particular trip, Bri and some other team members had been out in the village for several hours, without much “luck” vaccinating any dogs. We had also been offering to pray with people, which had been declined over and over again. Finally, we came to a house that wanted their small dog vaccinated for rabies. The thing with Alaska, it gets really cold and vaccines freeze. That is exactly what happened, the vaccines were partially frozen, and BOOM, vaccine explosion. This isn’t usually a big deal, we just grab another one and move on. This particular vaccine had exploded right in Bri’s face, and in her eyes.

This isn’t the worst thing that can happen, but still, Bril wanted to rinse her eyes out. Luckily, there was a small village general store close by where we bought a bottle of water and Bri was able to rinse her eyes. The team was about to leave, but God was nudging gently. So they went back inside. The store had just received a shipment that day. With supplies restocked, the store was pretty full. Bri and the team waited in line again, and then asked the cashier if they could pray with her. She began to tear up and requested prayer for both her and her family. So we prayed together right in the checkout line. Once we finished praying and opened our eyes, every single person in that store had come and circled around. We were able to pray with so many people with no other goal than simply sharing God’s love. It would have been easy to get the water then focus on finding more dogs to vaccinate and more doors to knock on. We are reminded of the verse “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:88-9 

God will place people and opportunities in your path every single day. We pray daily to be sensitive to this, and when God places something or someone on our hearts, there is a reason. 

Story 2:  In Navajo, one year, Dr. Ginger’s team had a full day of catching sheep.  There were many people to visit, and they had tried very carefully to map their day out as efficiently as possible. There was one last farm that they really wanted to get that day, but the phone number kept going to voicemail.  As the day wrapped up, Dr. Ginger drove the team to where she thought that house might be.  As we pulled in, we realized it wasn’t who we thought, but it was a Navajo woman who had sheep and goats that needed care. As we took care of her animals, and sat down to talk with her, she shared that her son had recently died from a tragic accident and she was really struggling. She had asked God for help with her farm, and had wanted to get her animals seen, but she was leaving town that morning to deal with some of the legal details associated with her son’s passing. We spent a lot of time praying with her, helping her with some things around the property, and we had two Navajo girls with us that were really able to minister to her in Navajo. If we had turned around because we were at the wrong house (we were just one house off), we would have missed out on the opportunity that God had presented us. It was the only day that woman was at home, and she had only been home for just a couple of hours. The next morning, as soon as the team woke up, Dr. Ginger had a message on her phone from the lady she had been trying to reach the previous day, and that she was available for them to visit first thing that morning! In Romans 8:28 it reminds us that all things work together for good to them that love God. God’s timing is perfect, and what a blessing to be a part of these divine schedule changes. 

This trip is what we call a ‘pilot trip’, as we have an idea of what kind of work we might do, but we won’t really know until we get there. We purposely planned a small team to encourage the people in the community to jump in and help. This is important for two reasons. First, it keeps the team humble, we will need the help, and will definitely be asking for it. Second, it gives an opportunity for the local people to be a vital and needed part of the work. 

Please pray for the team to be flexible, that we will be cognizant of how God is nudging us to serve, and that we will build strong relationships that will grow in the coming years. God is already hard at work in Nicaragua, we are just blessed to be a small part of it!