On
Thursday, our teams in which we will be starting the Race were
established (I say starting because we have been told that our teams
may change during the course of the eleven months that we are on the
field). Several team-formation activities, in which we did activities
to identify different people’s strengths and weaknesses and how
various team members interact with one another, and much prayer went
into the process. Many of us were at least a little anxious about it
as the process was taking place, but in the end, the sovereignty and
grace of God was shown once again, as I think just about every team
was excited about their teammates. A fellow squadmate on another team
actually said that she and her team believed they were the happiest
about who all was on their team, to which I replied that I might
challenge her on that �” when my teammates and I found out that we
were on a team together, we were hugging and smiling for probably at
least five minutes because we were so excited and relieved!
To
tell you a little bit about my team, we are honored to be the only
all-girls team on both the June and July squads combined. We were
told during the team formation process that those chosen to be on an
all-girls team would be the ones the AIM staff believed were mature
enough to handle the responsibility, so we take this as a great
privilege. I love the combination of personalities on our team and am
excited about how we will complement and challenge one another in the
coming months. Please keep us in your prayers both in regards to
ministry and safety in the places we will be going, that we may not
be reckless nor be ruled by fear but be led, ruled, and protected by
the Lord’s Spirit everywhere we go, that we may be a blessing and
bring life to the peoples of the nations.
Speaking
of life, our team name, L’chaim, means “to lifeâ€� in Hebrew. We
spent quite a bit of time that afternoon brainstorming ideas and
discussing our vision for the coming months. After some solid prayer
to devote our team and ministry to the Lord and seek His vision for
our team, one of my teammates suggested this title…and after a
little more discussion, we decided that this name fit us well,
encompassing just about all we envisioned. I am so thankful and
blessed to be on a team with seven girls (fittingly, the Lord’s
perfect number) who truly, passionately love the Lord, to minister
and grow with them over the coming months!
(P.S. I must send a thank-you shout-out to my squadmate Jessica Sims for the picture here that she took of our team during team presentations!)
