We were sorted into our teams yesterday!
I was sorted into a team with Naomi Allen, Brittany Baker, Ashley Hatchell, Suzy Hachey, and Kelly King. Awesome.
We were then given instructions to leave camp grounds(go out), pray, make a memory, have dinner, come up with a team name and be back before 7(we had 4 hours).
Alright. Well we prayed and then went to Starbucks. As we were getting our drinks and walking out the door, we found Ashley sitting next to a woman just chatting it up(We later found out that she felt God prompting her to just sit down and then the woman sat down and began asking Ashley a question). The rest of us decided not to interrupt and just continue on outside. Well, I had barely sat down when I was called back inside because the woman Ashley was speaking to was from Sudan, I've been to Sudan, so we could connect. So, I went inside and we shared some memories of Sudan- this woman was from the North and I was in Southern Sudan so while we still could connect on some level, there wasn't a whole lot.
Well, after a little while I had used the word feedback in response to one of her questions- the topic of feedback came up a lot these last couple of days; had a session on it even. As soon as the word left my mouth, the woman jumped in and said,
"Feedback is a good thing. I am an electrical engineer, and in engineering, feedback brings stability and performance."
Let's just say, this floored Ashley and myself.
So, the second I returned to the rest of the team, I told them the story. When they asked what her name was, I told them Raja(say ajar but put the R in front). We all expressed that it would be an awesome team name. But we wanted to know the meaning, so Ashley ran back inside to ask her. She came back out with "a waiting kind of hope"(in Arabic). After discussing further what we felt that meant, we came to "a patient hope."
Later it found that in Hindi the name means "King" and in Sanskrit it means "Harmony, Beauty, and Feeling." Even more awesome.
So, for purposes of time and clarity our team name is A Patient Hope. But for the hearts of myself and my team, we are team Raja.
Oh, I forgot to add, Raja expressed to us right before we left Starbucks(and after the rest of our team met her), she was impressed that we being Christians were willing to stay and talk to her and get to know her in the way we did even though she was Muslim.
