One of my biggest prayers going into the World Race was that God would create a ton of unity inside of my team, and that request has been answered tenfold. I could not have asked for a better team. We all get along so well, and our ministry has been so fruitful because of it. Our team has a knack for being able to have a serious, deep discussion one minute, and the next be laughing our butts off and having so much fun. We love to play games, which if you know me, you know how awesome that is. Each of us is so different, yet we all come together for the same goal of serving the Lord, and our personalities and gifts compliment each other so well. I thought I would give you an introduction to each person on my team, so you can see how amazing they all are.
First, our fearless alumni team leader, Stepheni Peltier. Steffy is always challenging us to step out of our comfort zone. As our leader, she is very good at empowering us to step up and be leaders ourselves. She will be with us only until halfway through month 3. She knows that she will only be with us for so long, and her goal is not to make us become dependent on her, but to disciple us so that when she leaves, we will still be able to function well without her. Not that we want her to leave, though. She brings a perspective to our team that none of the rest of us have. She majored in risk-management and criminal justice, so she is a very quick decision maker, and is the most decisive person on our team. She has such a heart for justice. She loves to call us higher and make sure we are staying on track. Steffy is always telling us to do things out of our comfort zone, and when we follow her instruction, it always turns out well. Our first day in the market, she challenged us to go out and pray for people passing by. We did, and it ended up being very fruitful. And now, it is somewhat of a team norm to pray for people all the time. She doesn’t have to tell us to do it anymore. She is so good at getting us to live out the motto “life is ministry, ministry is life.” We will be sad when she eventually must leave us, but we are very grateful for the time she has spent with us as our leader.
Next, our fabulous team treasurer, Zachari (B-U) Bultman. Zach is our team comedian. He’s always cracking a joke or being sarcastic. Zach is always there to make our team laugh. He has such a heart to be bold for the gospel. Boldness is something that he told me to be praying for him while we were at training camp, and now that we are on the field, I have seen firsthand how much God has already grown him in that area. I’m excited to see how God will use Zach’s boldness throughout the rest of the Race. Seeing him be bold has already helped me to step out in boldness myself. Zach always has such a willing heart to help, even if it’s not something he necessarily wants to do, and he never complains. He has a very gentle, tender heart and is always willing to give people a hug. He had a few health complications last month, as he was in the hospital for quite a bit of time. He ended up having salmonella and typhoid fever, but he’s feeling great now, praise God! Plus, he’s got plenty of great stories to tell from the hospital. In college, Zach majored in Computer Science. He’s already gotten to use that knowledge for ministry in helping our last host to develop their website, even though it was in Spanish. Hopefully he will get more opportunities to use his strengths for ministry in the future, and I am praying that he will continue to grow in his boldness.
Now for our squad safety coordinator, my Spades partner and hiking buddy, Amanda Young. Amanda is such a joy to be around, and she is always smiling or laughing. She always says that when she laughs, she has no clue what sound will come out of her mouth, and it’s so true. She has like 20 different laughs, and they are all wonderful and joy-filled. She does not have a fake laugh. Amanda has the eyes of God and the gift of mercy. She always sees people who need prayer and goes and prays for them. One night, we arrived very early to a church service where there was a woman sitting up front by herself. Amanda knew she had to go pray for the woman, so she did, even though she had no clue what to pray for, and they spoke different languages. She prayed for the woman’s leg, having no clue that the woman had issues with her leg. Later during the service, the woman went up in front of the church and shared that her leg had been healed! There are countless other similar stories. Amanda has such a way of seeing people in need, and such a willing heart to try and meet that need however she can. It’s great having someone like her on my team, because that’s something that I could grow in. Amanda also has type 1 diabetes, which creates many challenges when travelling around the world. There have been a couple of scary moments in which her blood sugar is way too high or way too low, but she is so strong and is always able to push through. We are all praying that God will heal her. I’m excited to see how God continues to use her in mighty ways, and I’m ready to continue destroying Zach and Ana at Spades with her.
Next, our team storytelling coordinator, Ana Marmolejo. Ana has such a servant’s heart. She was born in Colombia, so is fluent in Spanish, and has always been more than willing to be our translator, even though I’m sure it is quite stressful/annoying for her at times. She has made some very delicious meals for our team, taking a lot of time out of her day just to bless us by cooking for us. She sat at the hospital with Zach for hours on end, and even slept there, just so that she could be there to translate if need be. The way she is always willing to serve in every circumstance is very inspiring. She is very logistically minded, which helps our team and squad in many ways. She even served by planning our entire squad trip to Machu Picchu. Ana is 34 years old, and thus the oldest member of our team by quite a bit. Even so, she fits in with us younglings so well. (Also, she doesn’t look a day over 25). I am praying that God continues to use her servant’s heart to bless those around her, and that His love would overflow from her heart on to the people she encounters.
And last, but certainly not least, our beauty for ashes coordinator, Maia Jenkins. Maia once told me I am like the brother she never had. We have so many random similar interests and we get along very well. Maia loves to get to know people. Not just on a surface level, but to know the depths of their hearts. She has a saying: “vulnerability creates vulnerability,” and she lives it out very well. She is always willing to be vulnerable with you, and in turn, it makes it easier for you to be vulnerable with her. It’s so easy to get to know her because she just loves to connect with people, and she loves to ask questions that stir up discussion and make you think. It’s so easy to be yourself around Maia because you know she just loves you for who you are. She is so intentional about each one of her relationships. Maia is engaged to a man named Eli from back home, which makes her the only engaged person on our squad. Eli has even become an extension of our little family, as he’s almost like our brother-in-law. It’s been so wonderful to get to know him as well either through Maia talking about him, or from getting to meet him over FaceTime. I’m excited to go to their wedding when we get back from the race. It’ll be like a little family reunion for our squad, and it’ll be fun to finally meet Eli in person.
Please be praying for continued unity on our team, and that God would be using us in powerful ways during our second month in Peru, and for the rest of our time together. Go and subscribe to all their blogs if you haven’t already! They have such amazing stories to share as well! Thanks for taking the time to get to know my amazing team!
