Yes if you are thinking of Finding Nemo you “Crushed” it right now. But seriously this has been a very real question for my team these last few months. You see, it is AIM’s policy and just general safety smarts to always at least maintain the buddy system out of the house. Yes this means we quite literally go out two by two on a daily basis. Back inside our two bedroom home, there are generally between 7 and 11 bodies moving around and a consistent rubbing of elbows. I believe introverts immediately see the implications of this rule and extroverts soon feel it as well. So what does life look like in community? What does quiet time look like when it’s very difficult to be alone? How would you handle constant relationship? How have I? Tune back later on our next episode or just read on ;D haha
I believe the most accurate answer to this question of how to successfully live in close community is sacrificial love.
My team is made up of 7 individuals, and believe me we are each so unique with different personalities, passions, and backgrounds. We have also had between 2 and 4 alumni leaders coming in and living with us off and on, so all in all we have a pretty big family here in our little North African home.
Quite simply we have all had to make sacrifices in order to love each other well in this small space. There are obvious ones anyone who had roommates knows well like letting someone else shower before you, grabbing extra dishes when you are washing your own, pausing a deep conversation to answer a question about trash bags, and then less traditional ones like walking to a cafe and ordering a coke so your teammate can use wifi to make an important call home, waking up early and walking your teammate to the gym so that they can have that time, or simply staying busy in the house when your teammates are exhausted and just need some personal quiet time.
This type of buddy system has taught me so much about loving others well. Oh so many times my teammates have asked to go somewhere or do something that I have no personal interest in, but I still go because I am loved by the Lord and I want to love them like He loves me. On the flip side, I have received this love from my team many times as well. They have gone with me to the store late at night, waited with me to meet up with that one local friend, and even gotten up early and made me special coffee! All in all the exit buddy system has been both an amazing test and platform of authentic love for me and my team in our small family unit on the Race.
So what does rest and quiet time look like in close community?
I’m not going to lie, on the Race being alone is a rarity and often times only achieved through planning, so essentially the question is how can I create a quiet space. In this, it is much less about your surroundings and much more about your heart and focus in any given space. I personally am an extrovert, right out of college living, so not having personal space except for in the shower is not new to me, but I have most definitely been stretched in this area of rest.
Mainly for me, I have had to learn how to intentionally rest amidst people and be disciplined in this. You see people give me energy so it’s very easy for me to slip into a constant go, go mentality and then experience burnout my first taste of being alone. So I have had to learn to consistently pull away and read my Bible, spend quiet time in prayer, or journal and process what we are experiencing, even if others are together. In this, I’m realizing I have a bit of a fear of missing out, so just resting with the Lord in time and conversation when people are around is honestly quite challenging. But the Lord is so good and massively growing me in this discipline to intentionally rest with Him even amidst people.
Perhaps my favorite part of living in close this close community with my team has been what I feared most at first—Feedback.
One of AIM’s encouragements is to implement the rhythm of sharing feedback consistently with your team. For us this generally looks like meeting together every other day in the morning saying a quick prayer over our time and then speaking encouragement and challenge into each other’s lives. Basically the goal is to call each other higher as the Holy Spirit directs and then take whatever is shared to the Lord and ask Him for clarity and direction. It has definitely taken a while to get the hang of and there is so much humility and grace shared between us with the weight and honor of getting to speak into each other’s daily lives and behaviors. It is something that is rarely practiced even in Christian circles and it definitely doesn’t take the place of conflict or conflict resolution, but there is something so powerful and unifying in getting to look your friend in the eye and encourage them in becoming more like Christ and embracing His power in their life.
Overall, so much of what I have been learning and sharing with my team has just been John 13:35 living. In other words, they will know we are Christians by our love. Because God is love and because of Christ’s example and redemption, we love as He first loved us and that love points straight back to Him.
What has been so encouraging is we have had multiple people that we have interacted with abroad make mention that there is something different about my team. They have spoken of our kindness and our pure love with a little bit of a question, which we are trusting the Lord to water.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers!! It truly means the world to me. I would love big prayers over our last week here in North Africa. In this time, we can be a bit more bold with the gospel and together are praying over the relationships that we have made and the people we have encountered. I would also so appreciate your help in becoming fully funded. I am on the home stretch and 77% funded with only $4,306 left to go until I am fully funded for this whole year of ministry!!! So many praises in that and only 2 months left to fundraise!
Thanks again for sharing in this journey with me! Your comments and messages are truly so encouraging to me.
Blessings,
Bre
