What do I do?

A very dear friend mentioned to me recently that they would like to read more about what my ministry is here. This reminder actually came at a very good time, as I've been pondering this topic lately myself. What exactly IS my ministry here? I find myself with quite a bit of free time, and I've done quite a bit of sight-seeing. If that was all I did, then I should refund all of my support money and return home because this is not supposed to be just a vacation for me, and I certainly don't want it to be.

So. My ministry. Well, it's pretty much exactly that: ministering wherever I can and to whomever I can. From what I'm told, my most important ministry here is watching Noah in the afternoons. It doesn't sound like much and it's only about 2.5 hours every day, but it's a huge blessing to Nick and Krista. It gives them peace of mind so that they can concentrate on language class. I wrote a post specifically about Noah some time ago; it's past time to write another one. So a post about Noah will be shortly forthcoming, I promise.

In the mornings, I go with my roommates to the school. Last week, I helped Tammy get caught up on her grading, but that was the first time I've done that. About three weeks ago, I subbed for Laurie in her 1st-2nd grade class, but that was the only time I've done that. :-) For the most part, I'm working on organizing the school libraries. Looking at it, one would never think that there was a need for that. However, upon closer inspection I discovered this to be the case. Don't get me wrong; it was very well organized. Several books were just categorized too generally. For example, the elementary library had 50-75 books categorized under Biology. Perhaps 40% of these were mammals, 20% were fish, 20% were birds, 20% were insects. These all have their own category under the Dewey Decimal System. In fact, the system gets even more specific than that. Therefore, it has taken me A LOT longer to organize the elementary library than I thought it would.

Weekends are spent with Jon and Marilyn Rust (my cousins) at their home in Samora. On Sunday, I play the piano for their church. On Saturday, I help out with whatever I can. One week, Marilyn needed some help with a wallpaper border. Often, we just spend quality time together. This too, though, is ministering. Jon and Marilyn are empty-nesters and miss their children. I'm in a foreign country away from my parents. So spending family time together, simply doing the dishes or bowling on the Wii, is a way for me to be a blessing to them and vica versa.

Lastly, there is a single lady missionary here named Miriam. She has many, many ministries and has had her hand in helping start many churches. One of the things she does is teach English from her home in the form of an English Club. It's free unlike so many other English classes, which makes it appealing to parents. And it's a way for her to make contacts and build relationships and introduce Christ. When I first arrived, Miriam asked if I would be willing to help her with this and I said yes. Due to one reason after another, the first day of this particular club will be next Wednesday night. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen, though I'm not sure how much help I'll be since I don't know nearly enough Portugese.

So there you have it: my ministry here. Nothing very exciting. But it's enough to keep me busy for the most part. Like I said, I do sometimes have quite a bit of free time, but sometimes I have no free time at all!