It’s been 1 year since training camp. 1 year since I was put on a team with 6 other strangers and told they would soon become family. I remember going through this internal tug-a-war of being excited and terrified. I mean, it was almost like I was getting married, to 6 other people, who I didn’t get to choose for myself. Yikes!
Our first few weeks were the “honeymoon stage.” We were so polite to each other and wanted to show our best, kind of like the first few dates with a new person. My teammate, Angie, wrote a blog a few months ago about this which I will highlight here because it is so true…
I remember hearing World Race Alumni saying that the Race will prepare you for marriage one day, but now I understand the weight of their words. I am constantly putting six other people’s feelings, problems, ideas and comfort in front of my own and I have six extremely different personalities to connect with on an emotional and spiritual level. If that doesn’t prepare you for “being a grown up” I don’t know what would. Of course the seven of us are living in a purely platonic, brother/sister community setting, but it goes far beyond just “good friends I live with” like I had in college. In college I had my independence and I wasn’t constantly with my roommates. The seven of us on Team Frontline are always together…sometimes happy, sometimes mad, sometimes laughing, sometimes fighting but always pouring in all we have into our relationships with one another. We have to constantly let each other know how we are feeling and what we are thinking, whether it’s hard to say or not.
We even have “marriage counseling” which AIM calls “Debrief” every couple months with our Squad Leaders, Shannon and Scotty and our Squad Coaches, Mamma C and Pappy. They give us advice on how to relate to one another and how to resolve any conflicts within the group, and we take their feedback to the Lord and apply it to our daily lives as seven individuals living in extreme, intimate community. The seven of us sleep under the same roof, worship together, eat every meal together, do ministry together, have our “down time” together, and even have our “quiet time” together. AIM doesn’t allow us to ever be anywhere alone so there are many times when I would like to take a walk by myself, but for safety reasons, I can’t…so headphones and worship music have to suffice for “quiet time” until I get home from the Race. We try to incorporate fun things to do together as a team, as well as spiritual activities, and the seven of us always participate in our daily session of what we call “Feedback”, where we voice our feelings about anything that’s on our hearts–the good, the bad, and the ugly.
It can be exhausting, trying to compromise and work with six other people every single day for eleven months, but God has definitely taught me patience, perserverance, solid communication and constant commitment through it. There are times when I get so frustrated with my team I just have to throw my hands up in the air and pray to the good Lord to get through it, but my team mates always show me grace and mercy just like I show them grace and mercy when they’re having their times of frustration. I have learned such valuable lessons that I know my entire team will take into our actual marriages down the road. Lessons God chose to teach us through each other. I know Paul and Mac’s future wives will have the five of us women to thank for all that we taught them about women and I am sure my future husband will be thanking them for teaching me all about men. We have all learned that, however hard it may be, a relationship isn’t something you can just give up on, as difficult and painful as it may be from time to time. We give it our all, constantly trying and never giving up on each other, and that is a priceless lesson from God I will never forget.
So Happy Anniversary Team Frontline…it’s been a crazy, adventurous, hard, fun, awkward, wonderful year. Let’s enjoy these last 5 weeks!
Side note: We leave for India on Sunday, month 11! For me to start processing this year in full I will be posting a new blog every Saturday in August to recap each continent. If you have any specific questions you would like me to answer (ie: favorite food, funniest memory, etc.) leave a comment and let me know!
