What a week! It blew the expectations I didn’t even have.
This past week I headed to Georgia to meet the 42 amazing individuals I will be traveling with this next year. The World Race staff was intentional about everything we did throughout the week. From not giving us a schedule, to providing bucket showers, to every meal, every detail was planned to prepare us for leaving the States. It was a tough week. It was challenging. It was a growing week. It taught me great lessons. It was rewarding.
Over the week, LSquad quickly became friends I trust and have multiple inside jokes with. We shared meals together, which often meant using one spoon for 8 of us. We learned cultural norms, and used them to greet one another. We shared tents and sleeping bags. We sang Disney Toons while cleaning dishes. We carried each other…literally, when running from the ‘plane crash.’ We camped out together, everyone using their skills to create shelter and eat a tasty dinner. We prayed with and for one another. We danced all week. We worked through various instances we might encounter on the Race. We sat through talks and learned together. We shared our stories of how we got to the Race. We laughed, and we laughed…even at 4:30am when the rain started. We packed up our belongings each morning to get used to life on the Race. We exercised each morning, many of us getting moving thanks to the LSquad Zumba master Kathy. We also learned and practiced the Race common phrase of “Hurry up and Wait.” God has worked in incredible ways to bring each individual to this Squad. The greatest part of this…it’s just the beginning. There are countless stories and memories to come. I was weary of how far these relationships could go in a week… Don’t get me wrong I was excited of the potencial and what’s going to come in the next year. But I didn’t think that my Squad would be people I would be such meaningful friends after just a week. I’m stoked to continue getting to know these individuals, they are all going to teach me incredible things.
Those of you who know I’m slightly competitive know I have to share… we WON SQUAD WARS!
At the end of the week, our teams were announced! As the six of us gathered, our creativity buzzed. We had energy to bounce off walls. We found out why we had related so well…we are all the youngest sibling of our families. We also shared our visions and ideas of the upcoming 11 months, of how we are excited to see what God as in store. With these things in common, we decided to call ourselves…. THE HUNGRY YOUNGSTERS! With a motto of “Stay Hungry” we hope to have the daily reminder to be excited for what work God is doing.
This week is only a beginning of doing life with these individuals. On September 5th we will meet up in Atlanta to receive more training on logistics before heading out!
Thanks for being on this journey with me!
XX
