Mission is about serving a church, but it’s about serving each other as well. Every mission week the team is given a day off, to refresh and relax and get ready for the rest of the week, and ours fell early on this year. Today was our day off, and we got to see a little more of each other and a little more of our God at work among us.
A slow start was had by most, with walks along the coast and lazy coffee 
conversations. These quiet, ordinary moments give us a chance to thank God for all He is doing and has done to get us to where we are, and it gives us fuel to keep going – not just for the week, but for life. I got to hear about one team member’s love of singing and dancing to connect with God, and another team member’s experiences in moving churches for college, where he sees similarities in God’s people more than differences. These are conversations that cannot be had in hasty moments. I’m so thankful for coffee conversations.
We joined together later in the day for Finska (I didn’t know what it was either…) and some time at the beach. Laughter is a beautiful thing. There’s something amazing about God’s people being brought together to serve, and to enjoy God and one another, and laughter is something of an overflow of that joy we’ve been given. It’s a show of unity.
The laughter continued in a few rounds of barefoot bowls, but even more than that, we were able to share what we’re doing in Forster with one of the men at the club, and he commented that we were one of the best groups he’s had in a long time and it was “great to have you guys, mate.” The team members had small conversations with him, so we’d love it if you’d pray for him. His name is Keith and I’m sure he’d play some bowls with you if you were in town – he’d also be a lot better than you at it, too.
Our day finished with pizza and ice cream, and honestly, there isn’t a lot more to say. Sometimes a day doesn’t have to be full of rushing about in busyness. Sometimes we need to enjoy our God and enjoy His people, and then we can rush into the rest of the week with that joy to sustain us. Would you pray that today’s rest is fuel for what’s to follow as the team dive into scripture assemblies, men’s and women’s events and some other training events too?
This isn’t a holiday… this is a mission.
But today was sort of a holiday, and that’s okay.
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