What's IN:
Asia
Noodles
The best mangos ever
Tagalog, Fillipino, and English
Team TBD (Welcome Zebulun! Cody bumped to Team Leader!)
Exceedingly long travel days
A mink coat*
Rural life
Farming
What's OUT:
Central America
Beans
Maduros (fried plantains)
The Honeymoon Stage (3 months of speaking the language)
Spanish culture
Cheaper phone calls
Package sending opportunities
Team Prisma (Scotty bumped to Squad Leader)
City life
What's the SAME:
Rice, rice and more rice
The people still love Americans
*Despite the fact that we are in hot temperatures, I am wearing a mink coat.
Sounds crazy huh? Yeah, I know. Well, this is more of a figurative illustration of my new role on my team.
During our short debrief in Alajuelita, Costa Rica, we learned that our teams were going to change. For Team Prisma, it wasn’t too much of a surprise considering the fact that Scotty had been moved to lead the squad with our other squadmate Shannon. It was inevitable- he had been a tremendous leader.
After a whole night of preparing ourselves for the worst, we anxiously awaited the news, for good or for worse.. I was convinced that I would have a new team completely, so when the team leaders (plus the addition of our peers Cody and Lindsay) began saying the new teams, my heart crouched low in my throat. The first few teams were entirely different, so I thought my situation would be the same. When it was Cody’s turn I kind of turned a deaf ear, assuming that SURELY they wouldn’t raise him up to be a team leader and have him lead us. He announced the addition of Zebulun, one of the guys I had hoped to get to know over the next 8 months, and the names Aimee, Janee, Amber, Danielle and ME!
At the sound of the squeals beside me, I naturally jumped alongside the girls but then realized quickly that a fake smile was plastered across my face.
Why was this news so disheartening? I felt like I had just been hit by a transparent wall. I had been moving swiftly but immediately was pushed onto my backside. To be honest, this was the one scenario I had prayed AGAINST. I thought it would have been just too hard to follow Cody as a leader because I had been walking beside him for 3 months.
Thank God, Lauren our squad leader announced that we had a mandatory 2 hours of silence following the team changes. Tears were already welling up in my eyes as I dragged my feet over to my sleeping mat. I remember dramatically thinking “How am I going to do this? How am I going to submit to Cody’s leadership? Why couldn’t they have just given me a new team? It would have been so much easier!” I laid with my face down crying into my inflated pillow. For about one hour, the Lord allowed me to grieve.
As many of you know, the Lord continually calls us to be uncomfortable. You will not find one place in the bible where it says, “I have called you to be comfortable and to never face adversity.” Knowing this, I began to look at the bright side. I popped in my headphones and grabbed my bible. I knew once I allowed Him in, God would comfort my sorrows.
For the record, know that I have always loved Cody. Since the first day at training camp, I connected with him. We have so much in common from our southern upbringing to our business school education. We clicked right from the start.
So why was it so hard to imagine him leading me?
Well, long before the changes, there were seeds planted in me about leadership. My pride was most likely the reason that they took root so quickly. I’ve been a leader in things my whole life. I knew at training camp that God was not calling me into leadership. Once with my team, I was happy to snuggle up under the umbrella of Scotty’s leadership. I continued to learn about submission and what it meant to be a true follower as all of you have read in previous blogs. It came so easily because I genuinely respected him and believed that he had fully submitted to the Lord. He always had our best interests at heart, even if our flesh told us differently.
We all learned so much about community and ourselves during those first three months, therefore I looked at my peers as equals.
During month three, Scotty often affirmed my new understanding of leadership and they way I displayed it towards others. As time passed, he said things like, “You are a leader Christina. People take your words seriously and there is power in them. God is calling you to leadership.” Looking back, I can see how I took that more as a hint that I may be a team leader instead of the role as an influential leader.
During that hour the Lord brought REVELATION to me through one of Peter’s epistles:
“You younger men and women, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of soberspirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
In my heart of hearts I know that I am a leader. I do not need the positional authority to know that. God also knows my heart so well that he felt more than comfortable leaving me just where I am and challenging me to submit to a new authority that was going to test me even more. God spoke to me saying “Christina, do you really trust me?”
Since then I have rejoiced in our new team. I am honored to submit to Cody’s leadership. I believe him to be a highly capable leader; one who is selfless and constantly looking out for our wellbeing. I look forward to seeing how our identity changes now that things have been shaken up!
The squad leaders coined this idea of “bigger coats”. They said that each of us would be wearing bigger coats and assuming new roles on our teams. Well, I certainly feel the weight of my mink coat. Truly I can say that I am thanking God for it. He has favored me. He has given me the freedom from responsibility (have fun Cody!) and the comfort of staying out of the rain. I am nestled beneath a new umbrella of leadership and thriving already. God put me in this role to sharpen Cody and my teammates and for them to sharpen me.
Praise our God for knowing ALWAYS what is best for us!
*stay tuned for my update on the Philippines
