As I’ve talked about in a few of my blogs, my team has had a rough race as a team. We have very strong personalities, to the point of calling us the “team of alphas”. We all have wanted to fight for each other, but it’s been a huge testimony of us learning how to let go of the reigns and let God do that. We walked through conflict resolutions right off the bat in Thailand as we were still learning how to best love each other. We said goodbye to a teammate after Malaysia. We fought through drama in Costa Rica and had to humble ourselves when we messed up. We changed our name from “United TOTS” to “CLO (cielo)” as a new beginning. We had to hold on to each other as our squad was falling apart 3 hours away when 3 squad mates left and we were stuck at La Montaña. We learned to choose each other even when we weren’t required to beginning in Ecuador. We learned to hold each other tight and love each other harder when we said goodbye to another teammate last week.
Through all the adversity, and through all the difficulties, I love my team. Believe me, it has not been easy always choosing to see the best in each other. There were countless conversation, usually involving yelling or crying or both. There were a lot of nights that we went to bed with a room full of tension. But yet, for some reason, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m not gonna lie, I prayed for a team change. But praise God He didn’t give us one.
Through everything, my team has taught me how to love. And not just how to love, but how to AGAPE love. Agape has been a huge word testimony for my team, beginning at the orphanage in Thailand and evolving into something so much deeper for each of us. Agape means unconditional love, and in order for it to be true love, there must be pain. This means loving so sacrificially that it hurts. It means putting your own interest behind you to help another. Unconditional love is not handed out haphazardly, but deliberately choosing to look past the faults and speak the truth into existence. And my team became a testimony of how to do this.
Aside from the team, each individual one of my teammates has taught me something that I will hold on to the rest of my life.
Ashlynn:
How to choose into the hard things
Brittany:
How to find my identity in God alone and not what others think of me
Hannah:
How to be bold and confident in my voice
Lilly:
How to put others before myself
Merrill:
How to be immovable in my faith
Olive:
Also honorable mention, Olive didn’t launch with us but we still include her as part of the team 🙂
I learned from Olive how to always stand up for what I believe in
Sam:
How to share my feelings and empathize with others
This group of gals is so insanely blessed and I love them to the moon and back. Don’t know what my race would be without them 🙂
-A
