This is a song by a band called Keane that I listened to for a while when they came out in the early 2000’s. The song came into my head while I was just reflecting on community this past week. For the last 10 months, my community has changed so often, it’s been hard to keep track of sometimes. I have learned to go with the flow way more and have been stretched out of my comfort zone countless times.
Community is hard, and it is constantly changing whether we are aware of it or not.
I have been a part of a squad that at training camp was 58 members strong with 2 known squad leaders, 1 mentor, and 2 coaches.
When we launched in January we were down to 52 squad members with 3 squad leaders joining us on the field.
In India my team did ministry by ourselves but lived with another team when we weren’t in the villages. We also had Tami, one of our squad leaders with us for a week. After India, we said goodbye to a squadmate and became a squad of 51.
In Nepal we had our all squad month (everyone, living together, under the same roof, doing ministry and life together. We also gained dani; who inspired us to tell our stories and blog so people around the world could see Jesus through our writings and experiences. My team had the priviledge of having Amanda, another squad leader in Nepal for a few days.
In Vietnam my team was by ourselves and it was a rough team month, coming off of an all squad month was hard and we weren’t ready for it. Every team seemed to had hit that “month 3 wall,”and struggled a bit, but by the time Cambodia hit, my team was in a much healthier spot and ready to spend our final month together.
Our team started off in Cambodia with our final squad leader, Lo(la) for a week. At the end of Cambodia we said goodbye to dani and goodbye to our first teams. My team really ended well and we mourned the fact that we would be split up for the rest of the Race.
We started Thailand, our final Asian country with a bang, being very busy with our new team! The last week of ministry Amanda and Jacob (one of the 4 raised up squad leaders) joined us. At the end of Thailand we said goodbye to our squad leaders and were now under the leadership of 4 raised up squad leaders.
In Albania, a new continent, we bonded really well with our host Donna and had Jacob with us all month so were essentially a team of 8. In week 2 of Albania, we said goodbye to Katie as she returned home to the States. It was a rough transition for our team.
In Macedonia, we had 2 exposure girls join our team, so we went from being a team of 5 back up to 7 for a month. They both brought excitement and new perspectives into our team which was cool! We said goodbye to them and headed into our last European month as “5 strong.”
In Bulgaria, we lived and did ministry with another team, so that was fun. Community was loud, fun, and hard, but we learned how to fight for each other more and more! At the end of Bulgaria, we had our final team change and got ready for AFRICA!
Zimbabwe came, and was the highlight of the Race so far. My new team was just amazing, so chill and we all got a long so well. We also all fell so in love with Zim, it has been everyone’s favorite month on the Race so far! Our hosts, Al, Shelley, and Caleb took us in as family so our team of 6 became a team of 9 in Zim.
We left Zim in tears and taking a bunch of memories with us. Swaziland started off crazy with all of the squadmates who didn’t have parents come to PVT stay in a house together and do ministry. It was crazy and kind of weird being around that many people. The PVT-ers ended and came back to their teams. We have 2 teams living in a house, another team living about 25 minutes away from us (but still doing ministry with us), 2 squad leaders with us (Eric and Krystal), and the rest of the squad is in another town an hour and a half away. Swazi has been a 1/2 squad month. It’s been very challenging, but we are embracing the hardness that does come with community. This month, we have ALSO gained a new team member. Paige is now a part of Ivy so we are now a team of 7! It’s been an adjustment, but so far, so good!
We leave for South Africa in a little over a week’s time. The final leg of the Race. I can’t believe it. We will probably just get adjusted to South Africa when we will be uprooted for Final Debrief and then fly home to the States to all begin the next chapter in our lives.
We are ALL called to live in community. We were not created to be alone. Community will always be a part of life. It is hard and amazingly beautiful all at the same time. I hope everyone learns to embrace community and learn so many lessons from it!
PS if you want to hear the song I referenced, here it is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx4Hjq6KwO0
