My team has officially arrived safely in Thailand for Month 7 of the World Race! Where has time gone?!? Our team, Ruach Chayil, as well as two other teams from our squad, AuROARa and Tango Charlie Juliet, have made it to our debrief site in Bangkok, Thailand. The rest of the teams on K-Squad, as well as our coaches Dan and Ruanne (coming all the way from America!) will be arriving tomorrow.
Last month our squad was split so half of our teams were in Myanmar (Burma) and the other half were in Laos. The Laos teams are the ones that will be arriving tomorrow.
Spoiler Alert: I am very behind on blogs and a little bit behind on videos. I keep saying that I will post more soon (and I do intend to!), but I will let you in on a little bit of why I haven’t blogged in country for quite a while. I have been blaming it on writer’s block, which would indeed be true, but it is also because I have been processing through quite a few things in the last few months, including team changes, my first birthday and Christmas away from home, and reaching the halfway mark of the World Race.
Team Changes:
In the beginning of Month 5, we had a debrief where we said goodbye to our old teams and had team changes. This was a GOOD thing. It didn’t mean that my last team, One Pulse, wasn’t working out and therefore needed to be switched. In fact, we all became a lot closer by the end of our last month together in India, and we encouraged each other in the growth we seen in one another since Month 1.
But at the end of Month 5, something big happens. Our alumni squad leaders, Jami and Courtney, would be leaving our squad and going back home to America. So that means that in the beginning of Month 5, they raise up 2-3 new squad leaders from our squad who can follow in their footsteps and take over for them in leading our squad. Because of this, teams would have to change.
Our leadership prayed over the new team formations and the raised up squad leaders for weeks before making their decisions. They had also been alternating staying with different teams for a few days or a week at a time to see who they saw as ready to step into a new leadership role, as a squad leader or team leader, as well as observing the team dynamics and who was friends with who during all-squad month.
Out of my first team, One Pulse, Morgan Stewart had been our team leader from Month 1 to Month 4. She was asked by leadership to step down from team leadership for these next few months, not because she was a bad leader, but rather to give another person a chance to step up into a leadership position on the squad. Bri Childs was asked to be a team leader for these next few months on the Race! We were all very excited for her, none more than Morgan, who got to stay on a team with her. She is now the team leader of Team AuROARa. Teagan MacKnight was asked to be one of our raised-up squad leaders! She, Darcy, and Joni were asked to take Jami and Courtney’s place in leading the squad by planning debriefs, doing some logistic work, and each of them would stay with a different team each month, checking in on the team and being a part of the team and doing ministry with them for that month. Steph Lang was asked to be the Unsung Heroes Coordinator since Teagan would no longer be able to do this job as well as be a squad leader. Her team actually got to do an Ask the Lord month (where you have no ministry host, but you ask the Lord to show your team a man of peace whose ministry you can partner with for the month) this past month in Laos, and Teagan got to join her team there for the month! Amy Larson is my only teammate from One Pulse who ended up on the same team with me after team changes, joining me on our new team, Ruach Chayil (which means Spirit of valor in Hebrew)! She was the Treasurer on our old team, and she was given the opportunity to continue to be a Treasurer on our new team. As for me, I used to be the Worship Coordinator on our old team, but since Irene and I had both been the Worship Coordinators for our old team, we prayed about it, and I felt like God wanted her to take this role for our new team. God told me that He wanted me to step into a new season of leadership on my new team, but He wants to teach me what being a leader really means, and sometimes that doesn’t come with a role or a title. And I am perfectly content with Him teaching me that during this season of my Race. Please be in prayer for all of these big changes for my old teammates, that God would use them well where He has them in their new roles!
Without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to my new team, Team Ruach Chayil! Elizabeth Chapman, Irene Miniard, and Mallorie Ramsey all used to be on Darcy’s team, so we got to know each other well since we had ministry together for the first 2 months of the World Race, and then we had ministry together for all-squad month in Nepal. Elizabeth Chapman is our team leader. Liz is very sweet and caring and has a passion for teaching others about the Bible. She is best friends with Bri from my old team, and I am very excited for them both to step into this new season of leadership. Irene Miniard is super sweet and always puts others before herself. Irene is a great cook and has baked most of our birthday cakes so far! Irene, Amy, and I are on the worship team together, and Irene has a has passion for playing the piano for the Lord. Mallorie Ramsey is very caring and loving, and is very intentional with the deep friendships she has. She loves to dance, but doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, so if you get to see her dance, you are a very lucky person indeed. She is a great listener and is always there for a friend in need. Katherine Pittman used to be on Bre Steele’s team. Since I was good friends with two of her old teammates, Bre and Allison, their team used to frequently “adopt” me to go out to meals together during debriefs and LDW’s. Katherine has a very warm and bubbly personality that can light up your day. She also loves to dance and isn’t afraid to start dancing in the middle of the street if that’s where the music is. She also loves Disney movies just as much as I do, so we love singing along to all the songs together. And of course, then there’s Amy Larson, who’s been with me since Month 1. We’ve been friends since the last few days of Training Camp, and I can honestly say that even though I’d consider everyone from One Pulse my best friend, Amy was my best best friend from my old team. She’s been there for me in the ups and downs, and we always seem to get each other in a way others can’t. I’m not going to lie, sometimes we can get on each other’s nerves or we intentionally call the other out on their bad attitude about something instead of sympathizing with them in their self-pity (both of us have had these days), but it’s always out of love that we do these things, endure these things, or call each other to a higher standard, because we are sisters in Christ, and more importantly, sometimes we just feel like sisters. Both of us have 2 sisters at home that we love and miss dearly, but I can honestly say that I have a sister on the World Race in Amy.
Please check out my newest vlog when you get a chance, My Chicken Tasted Like Fruit Loops, about a day in the life in Cambodia. Wifi wasn’t as great in Myanmar, so while I got a lot of footage of our ministry there, I haven’t been able to catch up with all my videos from Cambodia to show you guys yet. Coming up next will be my Month 6 Question & Answer blog and my Christmas in Cambodia vlog! If my writer’s block goes away, I still want to share with you guys about my friend that I met in Cambodia who worked at the bars as a prostitute. She has a sad story, but also one mixed with hope that she will have the opportunity to leave the sex trafficking industry soon. Please keep her in your prayers, both for her to find freedom from the industry she’s in and to find freedom in Christ. Thank you!
Also, hopefully more updates about Myanmar to come soon! We just left a few days ago, so I am still processing leaving this ministry that I grew to love, but I have an idea for a new blog coming up soon!
