Hello from Ecuador!
After what seemed like a million years between training camp and launch, we have finally arrived in Quito and it feels so incredible to be writing a blog post from the field!
Before I left for the race a lot of people asked me what I was most looking forward too, and even though I was excited about everything, I usually told them I couldn’t wait to meet people. I couldn’t wait to have a community. I couldn’t wait to make new friends and grow closer to my squad. I couldn’t wait to live with people who were so on fire for the Lord for an entire nine months.
And let me tell you, it’s been even better than I could ever imagine. This group of people is incredible! I spent ten days with them in July, and we have been together for one week now since launch started last Sunday. That’s only 17 days, but these people already feel like family. We eat together, worship together, laugh together, pray together, do life together – and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
While I was at launch earlier this week, one of my leaders told me that the sense of community you end the race with is unlike anything else. They explained that when we leave the race, the expectations we will have of what a community is are way higher that what most of the world can comprehend. Their highest expectations, the most amazing community they can ever imagine, their “ceiling”, is our “floor”. Like I said, we’ve only known each other for 17 days, but this community is already unlike any I’ve known. The way everyone jumps to help someone, the way we all rush to volunteer to do dishes, the way we help each other find what they need to get downstairs for devotions on time, the way we hold each other up to keep from falling on the bus, the way we open up in vulnerability to each other, the way we share the clothing and snacks we’ve brought, the way we apologize after something frustrates us, the way we make mistakes together and laugh through them, the way we make each other feel at home. If this is how much we love each other after less than one week on the field, I can not wait to see where we are in nine months!
Going into the race, especially leaving for the field, we all had expectations. After talking with past racers and listening to people talk at training camp, the expectations I had for how amazing this community would be were high. At least I thought they were high at the time, but what I’ve experienced in the last week has blown those expectations out of the water.
This is what a community of God’s people looks like.
The vulnerability, honestly, trust, and faith the people around me have shown reflects Jesus. During team time last night we talked about what qualities we admire in Jesus and how we can be more like them.
This is what a community of God’s people does.
We strive to be like him. We step out of our comfort zones, we look past people’s circumstances and see their hearts, we put our faith in God, not in people, we ask for help when we need it, we love even when it’s not easy and when it hurts, and we praise God for his goodness even when it doesn’t seem like we can see it.
This is a community of God’s people.
