After our death defying bus ride from Montenegro to Istanbul
our team seems to have gone pretty silent on the blogging front, so I’ll go ahead and apologize for that. I’ll try to catch everyone up
to speed on what we’ve been up to during the past 10 days or so.
Because of the crazy bus schedules on this side of the pond,
our team ended up in Istanbul two days before the scheduled time for debrief. Team Seven Camels and us spent our first few
hours sleeping in a park and scrambling to find affordable shelter for the next
two nights. It all eventually worked
out, as it always does, and we found ourselves in a sweet and relatively
affordable hostel right in the heart of the historic district of Istanbul. We were just a few minutes walking distance
from such famous sights as Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. We got to eat lots of shawarma and just
recover from the trip. It was awesome.
Wednesday morning rolled around and our two teams hiked a
mile in the pouring rain with all our gear to our new hostel to meet up with
the other 4 teams from J squad. We hadn’t
seen any of them since we left Brasov, Romania after the Awakening conference,
so it was a sweet reunion. (It just
happened that the hostel had a room that slept 28, allowing all the J squad
girls to sleep in the same room all with a bed!) Debrief time is very relaxed and allowed us
to hang out with our friends from the other teams and share stories from the
past month. We also got to hear some
great teaching from our squad leaders Caroline and Aaron.
A few changes were also announced during our debrief. Caroline and Aaron shared their hearts with
us and let us know that they felt very strongly about a few changes that would
help to increase the overall health of teams and the squad in general. The most impactful one for our team was that
our team leader Dan was moved up into the position of squad leader. His partner in crime is another former team
leader, Brandy, and the two of them will now lead our squad. There were also 3 new team leaders that were
raised up from within teams. I am one of
those, along with Colby and Don. As far
as teams go some people were shuffled around but for the most part teams were
kept as close to the originals as possible.
The changes were hard for some people to take. It seemed like our ‘families’ were being
split up or that people were ‘losing’ their best friends. It was all hard to hear but I am confident in
the direction Caroline and Aaron took our squad. It is also very apparent that through it all
our squad grew closer together in those 5 or so days then in the whole 3 months
we’ve been out on the field thus far. It
was awesome. It’s another time when I
have to say, I can’t really explain what happened to us, but there is no
denying that something was moving and changing in our hearts.
So on to the news of Team Unwritten: We were actually the only
team to not gain or lose any team members (minus Dan of course who is ‘technically’
still on our team). Despite our team
staying the same, we still underwent plenty of emotions through it all. We were pretty much convinced that our team
would be split up due to the fact that we are always told we are a team of
leaders. So the news that we were in
fact staying the same came as a shock to all of us. Also having been raised up from within my
team to be the team leader is also hard for everyone. But it is something I know without a doubt is
what I am supposed to be doing and something I am fervently praying and walking
through. The team is being very gracious
through it all and it’s really cool to see our team coming together in a whole
new way. Even with just one person
different, we have a whole new team dynamic; new challenges, new fun, and new
roles. I am nothing but hopeful and
expectant to see where God will take our team the rest of the year. With all this said, we are still fighting for
unity and are in need of plenty of prayer for that, so please join us in that.
And to our present location….At the close of debrief we flew
as a squad to Israel where we were disbursed into 3 different locations. Our team along with the Ninjas (the team
formally known as Silas) and Journey (the old Fuel) are currently living in
Arad, Israel doing a whole array of different things. Everything from running an English language
lab for Sudanese refuges, to working in a nursing home, to teaching in an
Israeli high school, to working with the Bedouin people and so goes the list. All 3 teams are living in separate apartments
through the city. It’s great to have our
own place to call home, but also to have some many fellow racers so close. Also the surroundings are just incredible and
beautiful. Just to know we are in the
same place where Jesus lived and taught is truly amazing. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to see the dead
sea and Jerusalem…I’ll keep you posted!
I’m sure by this time you are all tired of reading but
hopefully you know feel ‘filled in’ on the happenings of our team. Love to you all!
