When I asked for questions, the following is what I received and is therefore what this blog is based on: Love love following your journey! (Thank you very much!) I’d love to hear how you’ve bonded/struggled/grown with your team. And how do teams work? I know its a big group but are there smaller groups too? Love you!!
How do teams work?
Our large group is called a ‘squad’ and that is the group we travel with from country to country. There are 45 people on my squad right now and we’re divided up into 6 teams of 6-7 people each, and then we have 4 ‘squad leaders’ who travel with us and usually stay with a different team each month.
My whole squad together in the Dominican Republic, Month 2!
Each team has a ‘team leader’, and a ‘treasurer’ who does team finances. We have 2 ‘unsung heroes’ leaders on the squad who head up finding new contacts and ministries for the world race to send future teams to. We also have 2 ‘logistics’ personnel who are in charge of getting the squad together at the end of the month and moving us from country to country, arranging hostels and buses. Teams change about every 4 months (within people on the same squad), but depending on the squad it can be more than that, and we have 5-6 day debriefs at the end of every other month. Also, we had an all squad month where all of us were at the same ministry for a month, there’s a ‘manistry’ month where all the men are together, and it’s not unusual for teams to be paired up with 1 or 2 other teams in any given month.
My 1st team and 2 other teams we were with month 1
I’d love to hear how you’ve bonded/struggled/grown with your team.
Keep in mind that the world race accepts people from all backgrounds. Take the normal missionary stereotype and erase that immediately, it’s usually not true anyway. Any struggle you can think of, I’m sure there’s someone on my team and/or squad who’s ‘been there done that’…and we are all redeemed by the Lord (though not perfect), a group of people desiring to make Him known to others through our lives and testimonies. We’re a bunch of people looking to serve a God who can make something of our messy lives and live in the grace and freedom that comes with that.
Also keep in mind that there are things that happen back home while we’re overseas. People die (I lost my grandpa month 3), friends get married, there are dating relationships that end, tragedies happen. Life still happens in the lives of your loved ones…and you’re on a different continent and (most likely) time zone.
Bonded– you learn well how to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. Other than the Lord, your team is the most stable thing you have to lean on, and even that changes throughout the Race. You bond through conflict resolution and daily feedback time where there is opportunity to give and receive positive and constructive encouragement as we see things in each other that push us to grow. There’s also plenty of fun/bonding time in ministry and free time, coffee dates, exploring towns you’re in, struggling to learn language and communicate with locals, sharing a room with 6 people, doing laundry together (by hand)…essentially just doing life together!
My 2nd team, we switched after month 4, love them SO much! This is with our host family in Nicaragua last month. We just got new teams again at the end of August, but I don’t think we have a team picture yet (just picture pure awesomeness).
Struggled/grown (because growth most often comes through struggles)- because we have people from all different backgrounds, it can at times be hard to understand each other and understand where we are each coming from. While I’ve felt frustrated and misunderstood at times, it’s also hard for me to understand others in their lives at times. While I get frustrated when I feel like people don’t have grace for me where I’m at, I’ve also realized that I need to be always giving grace for people where they’re at in life. Everyone is in a different life process, but all going through sanctification, it just looks different depending on the person. Also, you live and do ministry with your team, and you aren’t allowed to go anywhere alone. Therefore, there are also times you flat out get tired of and/or annoyed at teammates. AND, you get to learn how to give and receive more Christlike love through that.
I hope this gives a sufficient picture of what teams look like and how growth takes place! If there are more questions or follow up questions to this blog, feel free to post a question in the comment section!
Live Well!
Crystal
