This blog is for my teammates, the ones who left and the ones who are still here doing this crazy race with me. In the past month, I have lost two of my teammates. We went from a team of six to a team of four in less than two weeks. I’m just going to be straight forward and real… it freaking sucked. I have lived in constant community with these beautiful ladies for the past five months and to have two of them unexpectedly leave was heartbreaking. So in honor of the Ferv Ladies, I am going to tell the story of our team. So all of you get ready because I’m about to spill the tea.
Let’s take it back to training camp in July 2018 not so long ago. All of us showed up excited and nervous. Me personally, I was terrified. The stakes were high as we were about to all meet the people we would be doing life with for the next nine months. Even worse we would be finding out who we would be placed on a team with. Let me just take a moment to stress to all of you how scary it is to meet the people that you will do constant life with for nine months. That includes ministry and all the team times that we all know and love… and no matter who they are, or how hard they are to love you have to make it work. In race terms, your team is your family and the rest of the squad are your friends.
I said at the start of this blog that I would be honest. The truth is when I got the little piece of paper that had my name along with the five other names of my teammates my heart sank. I recognized most of the names but that didn’t mean I was excited about it. Just from the unnatural amount of Instagram stalking I had done, I knew instantly that we would not all get along. Each of us are completely different people. The next ten days of camp were filled with sessions, scenarios, and horribly awkward team times.
Fast forward to September, all of us meet up in Atlanta GA for launch. Before we knew it we were on a plane headed to Africa. When those airplane doors shut we all knew it was too late to make a run for it. This would be our life. Three days later or somewhere in that time frame we arrived at the AIM Compound in Nsoko, Swaziland. Dazed and confused without electricity and miles within any wifi access. Did this mean we actually would have to talk to each other?
We soon learned that we would be the only team that had the wonderful opportunity to walk to ministry. Meaning we would be walking a total of two hours every day to and from our care point. I can’t even begin to describe the awkward silence in the first month. Our days were filled with awkward, and hours of sitting on the cement blocks in the field yelling at one another. We came up with the idea that we were the leftovers the ones they didn’t know what to do with so we all ended up on a team together. It made sense at the time each of us was such different people and it made absolutely no sense that they would put us on a team together.
Over the next three months through the arguing, awkward feedback, and long walks we started to get to know and appreciate each other. Before we knew it we were headed to Nepal. We arrived at the beginning of December excited for a new country and new ministry opportunities. The living situation was interesting. We were staying in an apartment with two other teams each of us sharing a room with our entire team. One room no common space, kitchen or outdoor space. Just one room we spent quiet times in this room, meals, sleeping, sickness, and any other activity you can think of. Putting it this way we got to know each other REALLY well. Before we knew it we chose into each other more and more.
Nepal although it was probably the hardest month of the race so far it was also beautiful. My team went from being just a group of girls I was stuck with to becoming my family. We experienced a beautiful country together from monkey temples to trekking the Himalayas. I started to have such a deep appreciation for each one of them. That month flew by and then we arrived in India. The country that all of us were looking forward to the most. When we arrived in India we all were a little surprised because it was nothing that any of us expected it to be. In fact, it was so much more.
Although we were all so excited about this country this is where things for the Ferv Ladies fell apart. We already knew that Jordan was planning a trip back to the states for a short ten days to attend a friends wedding. When she left it was crazy weird not having all of us together. But before we knew it she was back and things almost went back to normal that is until Annalise hit all of us with a curveball. She called a team meeting and told us she had been struggling with a lot of things and felt like the Lord was calling her home. Each of us was shocked, to say the least. None of us ever expected to lose a squadmate let alone a teammate. She was planning to leave at the end of India but plans changed quickly and she flew home about a week later. That day was filled with a lot of tears.
At the same time that all of this was happening Sarah West had come down with flu-like symptoms and hadn’t been able to go to ministry for the past three weeks. She was also too weak to even walk to meals. A little over a week after Annalise left Sarah booked a flight home. The doctors still didn’t know what was wrong with her and they felt that she needed to be in a cleaner and stress-free environment in order to really heal. After Sarah left we all were in shock. Did this really just happen? Two teammates in two weeks, it seemed so unreal that there was only four of us left. We know that Abba has a plan for both Annalise and Sarah in this season and we still continue to love and pray for them all the way from India they will always be apart of the Ferv Ladies. As for the team since losing two of our sisters the team has found unexplainable joy. Our days are filled with so much laughter and love. We have become so much closer through these hard situations. At the start of this crazy adventure, I fought with my team. But now as we enter into the last three months of this race I will fight for my team and continue to pursue and love them the best that I can. I am beyond excited to see what the Lord has in store for us as we prepare to head to Guatemala in just a few days.
To my amazing teammates, this is about to get really sappy but I am just going to go for it anyway. I feel incredibly lucky to call you my team and my family. Each one of you has blessed me more than you know and I wouldn’t trade you for the world. This team was a complete wreak we all know it, but Abba has a crazy beautiful way of turning messes into uniquely beautiful things. You each have changed me in the best way possible and have always pushed me back to the Lord. I am so honored to serve alongside each of you whether it was for five months or for the whole nine months. I am glad we get to be leftovers because at least we get to be leftovers together. (sorry that was so cheesy) I know that it was no accident that we all ended up together I need you guys more than I ever realized.
EC, girl I miss you, obviously, but I know Abba is doing some crazy cool things in this new season. Thank you for always listening and for showing how to love others unconditionally. You have a way of making others feel loved and seen, as well as always encouraging others around you. Don’t ever stop being you!
Sarah, I freaking miss your face dude. You are an amazing teacher and probably the most organized person I know and that honestly kept the team together. You also love others so well when you chose to love someone you put your all into it and I love that about you. Thanks for showing me how to genuinely care for others.
Soph, our fearless team leader! I love seeing you pursue the Lord you are up every morning no matter what making sure to get plenty of quiet time in. You inspire me to push into my relationship with Him even more. Thanks for showing me what having the joy of the Lord as your strength really means. You always have a constant smile even in the hardest situations I freaking love that about you!
Jo, hey my other five! You have such a great sense of humor one that I’m still learning to understand. Thank you for showing me what true kindness is and how to love a person I wouldn’t usually choose into.
SJ, my grapefruit hunting partner! You’re the literal joy of this team you always have a smile on and it’s incredibly contagious I have found myself laughing more with you than I ever have in my life. Thank you for always being so bold in everything you do especially when it comes to worship. And showing me and the rest of our team what freedom through worship really looks like.
