Team leading wow. It was a challenging season. It pushed me in so many different ways. It caused me to depend on Jesus in new ways. He and my team were so very patient with me every step of the way. With that being said I absolutely enjoyed and felt like I thrived in that role.
Our first month together we were in Zambia and our hosts were locals, which is always super fun. During our time together I really sought out time to just sit and chat with him and his wife. We would sit on the front porch and just talk for hours. He would share about his government and how corrupt it was and I would share how ours was too. We would talk about the popular religions and how they differed from what I experienced in Botswana and South Africa. Also our walk to church was in a different village so it would take quite some time and I loved getting to talk about anything with him, he was incredible. Also I got to live with his intern who became our friend and ministry partner. If we ever needed anything like someone to kill a giant spider or cricket he was our guy. He also gave us a bomb Zambian music playlist.
Also in Zambia because being a leader and having responsibility was so new to me I would often forget that some things were my job. One time our taxi broke down on the way to another host’s house for a Christmas party. Guess who’s responsibility it was to call the host, I had never met, and explain where we were so that he could come pick us up? Me. Yup had no clue cuz hello Africa and dirt roads. He ended up finding us, praise God. Then I had to call a taxi company to pick us up afterwards and forgot again that it was my responsibility to round everyone up and get them into that taxi. It was the small things that I had never thought about until then. The list could go on and on.
India was a different story. So we lived with an intern for our ministry and a couple of volunteers. Our host talked to me but instead of face to face it was more over Facebook messenger. He had an incredible since of humor. One awesome thing about where we stayed was this closet that had clothes that we were allowed to wear and then return for future volunteers to wear, because well Kurtas aren’t really a thing in the U.S. So there was this beautiful dress that I would often borrow to wear on our off days and at the end of the month I was like ya know what I’m just going to ask him if I can keep it. Ya know what he said? “It’s mine sorry.” Then I said are you sure it fits..to which he replied “ok fine. U can have it.” Also at one time he said that he had something exciting and fun for us to do…it was cleaning out his kitchen. Gotta love him. On our last night we were able to eat dinner with his family and had an absolute ball. We sang, did some tap dancing and played a little volleyball. It was so sweet.
In India communication was sometimes a challenge. This became more of a problem when we went out of the city and from our host into a remote village. We had a girl that was our translator but sometimes she wasn’t around. Also the main lady in charge in the village at our ministry spoke English but she too wasn’t always around. I had to learn how to communicate things with people that didn’t speak my language. Boy was it tricky sometimes. At times I just had to fight to meet our teams needs over the children’s needs because we needed to eat dinner and didn’t know how to explain to them that we had to stop helping them feed the children because our food was prepared downstairs and would probably be taken away if we didn’t get down their fast enough.
Nepal wow oh wow. Nepal might have been my most challenging month. The ministry we did was absolutely incredible and life giving but our days looked long and they required a lot from us. At the slums we would have to share bible stories, play games, and sing action songs. (Zambia prepared us well for that) Then a couple of people would have to share a message and testimony at another part of ministry where a group of Christians would meet up at our hosts home, eat a Nepali meal then have fellowship. Then the same thing for church, two testimonies and a message/ sermon.
Something that I couldn’t stand that I have seen in leaders I have worked under was that they would tell us all the things that had to get done but then would never volunteer themselves to do any of it. Like they were above the tasks that needed to be done. So I took the opposite approach. I would volunteer myself first to share a bible story and my testimony. But then I realized that I started walking the fine line of well I don’t want to put all the weight of the responsibilities and duties on myself but I also don’t want to do nothing. God was teaching me what delegating and stewarding roles and responsibilities looked like. I was able to challenge my team in their willingness to say yes to all we had to do and to not sit in silence as everyone waited for someone to volunteer themselves, which didn’t happen all the time just sometimes. Which I get it, sometimes you just don’t wanna. We were tired a lot & also walked a lot.
Y’all this month was tiring. We were emotional, physically, and spiritually tired. Our days were long and to be honest a lot of days I had to just keep pushing myself and put a smile and positive attitude on. There were nights where we were so freaking cold and had to walk 30 minutes home up many hills and empty streets. This included nights where we would play soccer with our host family or after running beauty for ashes events for all the girls living in their home at like 10 pm. A couple of nights we had team times where all we did was cry and share all the struggles and hard things happening in our lives. We also gave each other hard feedback and did some conflict resolution. It was so good and rewarding.
Also a lot of times our host would have me do things because I was our team leader whether that was praying over meals, bible lessons, our quiet times, ministry, etc and honestly I loved it. It pushed me out of my comfort zone that I would so often want to go to. It pushed me into more confidence in the Lord and what He could do in and through me. We lived with one of our ministry hosts’ sons and he became a dear friend of mine. Like I actually am missing him as I type this. The two of us got to share my music on our five hour ride up the mountains to the remote village we stayed in for a little while, we had too much fun together. We was trouble really but we loved him dearly.
One overlying theme of being a team leader that I found was that you absolutely had to be okay with plans, times, and even ministry changing. Detailed information was often not given till maybe a few minutes before because it so often subject to change. At first that would stress me out but as time went on and I realized that it carried on into each month and that it was out of my control. No joke we were told that we were to run two beauty for ashes events the day of and then a couple of days after. Those events required preparation through prayer, and activities. Those events were on top of the ministry we had all day long as well. I was so proud how obedient and optimistic my team was through it all. It showed how servant hearted and patient each and everyone of them were.
Our time in Romania was so good. This was the first month I got to team lead with another team. I quickly fell in love with our host family and really sought out friendship and relationship with each of them. We would text and call each other and use a ton of emojis while doing so. They also have the best since of humor. He told Christian, the other team leader and I how appreciative he was of us and how relaxed and reliable we were as leaders. He also said that I was one of the best he had seen in years. I’m not saying that to brag, okay maybe a little, but I’m saying it because I am genuinely proud of myself and how God was able to grow me and push me into leadership.
Month one Emily probably would have received different feedback from our host. Y’all the world race is hard. You are constantly having to chose whether or not you are going to push yourself into further growth or stay in your comfort zone. Although I wasn’t perfect by any means I am grateful for all the times I chose growth over comfort. I wanted to see all the God could do in and through me. He sure did a ton.
As I enter into this new season with a new team and no leadership role I keep reflecting. I am so very grateful our leadership team saw potential within me that I didn’t see in myself. I am grateful for all the time I got to have with my team, I will cherish every memory. Our team laughed, cried, challenged, matured and spoke truth into each other’s lives. Beyond pumped to see what God has in store for these next three months with this new team.
