Africa has been hard for me. Yes, physically, it has been challenging, but more than that, it has been difficult in terms of ministry. All I wanted to do in Africa was hold orphans and love them. After all, that is what the Bible says: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27).

And my International Relations/Liberal Arts educated brain desires to effect tangible change-feed the poor, love and educate the orphans, make a difference beyond spiritual things.

What I have learned this month is most problems stem from spiritual ones. When praying for sick people at the hospital, some are under spiritual attack and therefore require more than physical medicine to be healed. As my one friend said, "Everything in Africa is spiritual." When asking for the presence of the Holy Spirit to dwell at the crusade, crazy things happened.

The spiritual things are important. They matter. Growing up in a secular world, in secular schools from Kindergarten through college, I was taught to look at the science, the facts, and not trained to be aware of the spiritual realm. It is only this year, as I have left go of my academics and my need to be right, that I am finding more and more how truly important the spiritual is.

And in that, I am finding peace in our ministries in Africa. While it is not the mercy ministries I am accustomed to (feeding the poor, helping widows, loving orphans), it is still important. Because all health, all wholeness, all success stems from being spiritually healthy and in tune with the Lord. God desires us to be healthy and whole and blessed, but we must first come into alignment with him.

God chose to create us, to love us, and to send His only son as the only way to be reconciled to him. He desires a relationship with us. This is good news and needs to be shared with the nations! I needed to get over my preconceived notions of what African ministry should look like, and instead embrace what it does look like--praying, sharing, loving. Walking door to door because the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Going to hospitals to pray for the sick, not only for their physical healing but for the spiritual healing that comes when they accept Christ. Nearly every day we did ministry, at least one person would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The angels were partying in heaven-why wasn't I?

See Part 2: Adopted