Cheesy title, I know. Our second big debrief was a blur of tears, laughter, dance parties, and ridiculous amounts of hugging. We arrived at the “Happy Hostel� and were greeted by our new Squad Leaders, John Hearn & Amiee Wood. I am so proud of both of them and know they will lead our squad so well. We’ll miss you, Nollis!
A big part of this debrief was getting our new teams. On our first night there, team Rapha got together for one last farewell dinner together—I will never forget our first 4 months and am thankful for all the ways they encouraged, pushed, and helped me to grow. I love you, KK, Elaina & Roberto! (and the Gibsons, too).
The following morning, we were given a piece of paper, told to open it while alone and in a quiet place (I chose the park), and were given an hour to process through what the paper would tell us. My paper told me that my new teammates were Steve Benson, Melanee Zorrilla, Suzi Ibanez, John Rebba, and Robin Maldonado. No one from my old team, but I was so excited for how the Lord would grow us together in the coming months.
The rest of debrief was full of one-on-ones, shawarmas, ice cream, trips to H&M, sweet times of worship with the squad, great teaching from Mike Paschal and Sean Smith, and random morning workouts in the park. We got to watch the Royal Wedding on the hostel TV, eat random things from the grocery store, and overall got to know our new teams better. Our coaches came out to see us and I had a great chat with Karen about spiritual gifts and homesickness over yet another shawarma.
It was hard to leave the “Western World� again, but after a long journey that spanned a few days, our Bucharest-Doha-Johannesburg-Manzini-Fontotje adventure was complete.
IT’S TIME FOR AFRICA….
