Launch is the time when the World Racers come together for last-minute training before heading out into their first country. For my launch window (Jan. 2017), the squads spent January 7-11 in Atlanta before flying out to Mozambique for month one. Here’s my thoughts on the last days in America.
My People are Amazing
My mom, my brother, my best friend, and my boyfriend all hopped in a car with me to take me to Launch. That’s over 13 hours in a jam-packed car, and it rained the whole time. I felt so bad for everyone. I was so worried that they hated it and wished they hadn’t come. But every time I said something, they responded by saying, “Stop worrying about us. We are here for you. You focus on the Race and we’ll focus on you.” They even came to my rescue and bought me an amazing purse last minute.
Everyone’s Trees are Different
In one of our leadership trainings, they had us draw a tree (try it). Then we showed the trees we drew. Every one of them was different. The moral? Every single person on the squad is different. We know God in different ways, we grew up in different homes, we have lived different lives, but we are all following Jesus. So value one another and embrace the differences. Forests with different trees are the most beautiful.
AIM Knows What They are Doing
I’ve been a part of many organizations and leadership structures, and Adventures in Missions is doing it right. There is leadership for each squad and team, but then there are people placed in speciality roles. And they actually utilize the roles so that all the responsibility isn’t on one person. Because of this, a team is truly a team that leans on one another to function effectively on the field. It’s wonderful!
R-Squad is God-Ordained
AIM is doing something different with R-Squad (the squad I’m on). The way our route is functioning, the people that were selected for the squad, and the individual callings on our hearts are so unique, and yet, we are unified. We are embodying the Acts 2 church, and the vision over our squad is significant. God’s doing a new thing.
Your Win is My Win
To be a team, we have to die to our desire to compare and compete. You are my sister and brother. When you succeed at something, that doesn’t mean I’ve failed. This has never been truer than with fundraising. There are people who are fully funded and people who had to receive deadline extensions. But in order to have unity, we have to celebrate with our neighbors and know that our journeys are different.
Launch was very redemptive for me and allowed me to embrace my squad while being comfortable with myself. I can say now that I’m ready for what the year is about to bring with R-Squad and the World Race. Oh, and we are doing 12 countries!!! Malaysia, we will be seeing you in 3 months.
