It feels like yesterday and forever ago at the same time. As I read through my journal I tried to chew on all that God had done, I tried to process all the scribbles I eagerly wrote down as our leaders spoke. In all honesty I didn't even need to take notes- it all comes back so clearly.
I packed and re-packed, and packed again, I drove to meet Rachel my squad mate. We made our trek to Tennessee, sharing stories of what Jesus has done in our lives and talking about how excited we were for the week ahead, and how we had no clue what we were actually in store for.
As we pulled up there was a nervous excitement. okay maybe I felt like I was going to throw up, but in a good way…
Some squad mates had arrived and were already getting to know each other, tents fully assembled, decked out in orange, so I quickly followed. It's funny looking back and reading all of our blogs, we were feeling the exact same things.
The fist couple days kind of blur, lots of sessions filled with dense information, new food, and new friends.
Each day brought new adventure, a new country- food wise. We adapted to their customs and ate their food how they eat it. Some days this consisted of sitting on the ground, covering our head, eating with our hands or serving the men first. We ate smaller portions than normal and were thankful for what we got. Much of the conversation would end on where or what we would eat on the way home.
We also had really good exercises to prepare us for World Race situation. Half of us "lost our packs at the airport" and had to share for a little over a night- talk about getting creative. We experienced a food market complete with beggars, pick pockets, and bold "locals". We had to cross a border, fill out visas, complete with a sick person on our team and other fun challenges.
The greatest challenge of all was getting through our junk. Yep! The hard part wasn't sleeping in the cold while your partner has your sleeping bag, or trying to find the right atm to exchange your money, or buying food for 50 people, it was processing all the stuff we bury.
You know all that not so nice stuff, we push it down and pretend like it doesn't exist. Well that's not how they do it on the race. They pulled it out of us, praying with and for us, then we talked it out.
Talk about FREEDOM.
After those first couple days we got down to the stuff we were all waiting for… TEAMS. For those of you unfamiliar there are 5 squads leaving in January consisting of about 50 people, each squad has a different route. My squad has 48 awesome people and we are divided into teams of about 7. We will travel with our squad but do monthly ministry with our teams. We did lots of classic team building activities and our leaders observed us like we were animals in the wild. We had one-on-ones after each activity and processed that team.
Then we finally got to find out!! The room was buzzing with excitement as the leaders who were chosen walked in paper in hand. I immediately say Tyler- who was in my final team building activity group ( we all LOVED that group) As each team was read off.. I was still not called. The excitement was building. Finally Tyler read his list and it was our exact last group!!! SO Stoaked!
Tyler ( Bottom left) is our fearless leader, there is no doubt why he was chosen, in such a short time I have seen a glimpse of what a leader he will be for us this year and I know God is going to use him in crazy ways. Kristen (top left), another team mate is the youngest 33 year old I know. One of my favorite things I learned from her is “ Being mature is knowing when to be mature” I know Kristen is going to bring so much wisdom while also making sure we are laughing and dancing enough! Nate (Bottom right), maybe one of the funniest guys, while also ridiculously intelligent. I was so lucky to get to hear Nate’s story and wow has God done a work in him. I admire him in many ways and can’t wait to serve alongside him this year. Misti ( top right), at first you think she is a little quiet, but I quickly learned that makes her words worth so much more. Misti is strong and has a pure love for the Lord, she is an encourager and will do HUGE things this year. Hagen( bottom middle) is honest and real, such a great compliment to the other two guys on our team, he is also husband to Kagan. I feel like our team gets extra because we got a married couple who also rock so much as individuals. Kagan (top second from left) is awesome, she has a heart of gold and has been such an example of a woman of God, she’s a coach in the real world and I can’t wait to see that come out on the race.
It is no question that God put our team together, that he had planned it long ago. We are all so different but have gifts that compliment. I am so pumped to say I get to spend 11 months doing ministry and loving these people well. Our Team name is Tabula Rasa which means clean slate. We have been given a clean slate with the cross and are bringing that good news to the nations!
So that’s pretty much it. Just kidding I could say so much more, but would rather you read my team’s blogs too. If you haven’t subscribed to my blog, please do and please subscribe to my teams- that way you will get such a clear picture of what God is doing through us.
Keep us in your prayers and as always thanks for coming along for the ride.
