Do you remember in college when you shared a small apartment or maybe even a room with some friends? You searched & searched for something in your budget & then upon finding it, decided to make it your home?
Me too. My first experience with that was 6 years ago & it recently came up again in month 8 of my race.
This month we are living together in a tiny flat with two rooms, a living room, a sun room, a kitchen & two even smaller closets {one has a toilet & one has a shower!}. We are able to cook together or separate, gather each day for worship & gaze out at the beautiful mountains past the countryside.
We’re spending 4 weeks in Yerevan, Armenia & it is beautiful. We arrived the day before spring came into full bloom & we have been watching the snow slowly melt off the mountains outside our window. You might know this town as being home to Mount Ararat – where Noah’s Ark landed! Yerevan is also full of cafe’s & fresh, cool air {which is a grand change from India & Nepal, where we constantly breathed in exhaust & burning trash}.
One of the sweetest things about this month has been my team. If you would have asked me in Argentina {month 5} about where I thought our team might be by the time we had been together for 3 months, my outlook may not have been as bright. The Lord is good. He has brought a whole lot of beauty & reconciliation & friendship. He has softened my hard heart hard towards the process of the race & has been ever so gracious with me as I try to navigate a new community & the balance between letting them in & making sure my fiance’ feels as much apart of my life as my team does.
Needless to say I have learned a lot. Being a team leader is the most humble position I have ever been in; I didn’t realize in Argentina that my main ministry would be my team. At the beginning of this season I told them that I desired to grow in one of my gifts – pastoring {Ephesians 4}. I am a person who loves a whole lot & cares so deeply for the health {spiritual, emotional, physical} of each person I encounter. Sometimes this is a hard boundary for me to draw, but, like I said: I am learning.
The Lord gave me this tiny flock of 4 to shepherd the past three months; it has been a gift. He has given me wisdom & insight into their lives & they have poured into mine, but it began with a choice – we each had to choose in & choose one another. Getting to pray for & come alongside each of my teammates has been one of the ways I have seen the Lord challenge me & grow my team the most.
I have seen Sarah grow in boldness – she isn’t afraid to step up & do what the Lord asks her too, even when it’s uncomfortable. Sarah is thoughtful, childlike, kind & truly desires to be your friend. I have watched her overcome a lot of fear & she has done that by having hard and uncomfortable conversations.
Court is musically gifted, tender-hearted, & loves to play games {& win!}. I have seen Court grow in vulnerability; she has conquered a lot of fear. Court & I have sharpened one another in our friendship, but much of this began with a choice to press in, have hard conversations, & choosing the each other before ourselves. Court has a passion for change & a voice we need to listen too. I have learned a lot about having hard conversations, coming away better, not bitter.
Dan is a freaking whale – deep all the time, no matter what. Although once in a while, he’ll be a dolphin & come to the surface to play & have fun – he does love to adventure! He will always ask you how your heart is & desires to know how he can be a better person. Dan is constantly learning & sitting with Jesus, it has been sweet learning from him how life is ministry & ministry is life.
Wes is kind & generous. He always looks for little ways he can serve & care for you & will literally eat anything & everything; he also loves a good, random adventure! I have watched Wes let go of expectations he has held onto & it has encouraged me to do the same. Wes uses his gifts of animation & videography to bless many people we have met a long the way.
I have been blessed to wake up & watch the sunrise each morning with my creator. This month is so sweet is because we have a living room & we actually all want to be in here together, just hanging out. We don’t need anything special to make us feel apart of something, we just know we are welcomed and we belong. Even though it only took 3 months of hard work – communicating with one another what we need & sharing our hearts & our hurts. It’s worth it.
When our teams changed at the beginning of month 5, I saw us as 5 wabbley baby giraffes, just trying to learn how to walk. As we enter month 9, with new teams again, I think we will still look a whole lot like baby giraffes. Awkward, uncomfortable, not sure where to go or who to look too. But I know that it’s worth it to press in, it’s worth it to petition to the Lord on behalf of your teammates & the things that are important to them. I have learned a whole lot about loving people & sometimes that means loving & doing the things together that you wouldn’t normally do.
I know I can leave month 8 feeling a little more known than before & head into month 9, expecting to want to pull away, but fully knowing the power of pressing in, especially when it’s difficult.
We chose our name New Ground, with the intention of breaking ground & ushering in new life. I’d say we did 🙂
I love you chiekkkens! <3
Maddie
