Morocco was a blast! My team, Groot, was in Tangier for the month. We were there for 41 days and we spent most of in the heart of Tangier. We walked every where! Oue ministry for the month looked way different than the previous months. Morocco was our first ask the Lord month (ATL). My ministry wascthe bBerber market, Lan and Gabby’s ministry was Crossfit Lady, a gym near our apartment, Tiffiny’s ministry was the grocery store, Catherine’s ministry was the team, and Tee’s ministry was the Old Medina. Athe grocery store and Berber market were only twice a week, so we became floaters for everyone’s ministry except for Catherine’s. As a team, we made lots of connections with locals and our neighbors. The last ten days our neighbor started bringing over traditional Moroccan dishes for us to eat. They beought over this dish called tajine and some kind of soup that was absolutely delicious. After enjoying the tajine, we bought this vanilla cake from the local bakery as a thank you and returned their dish. A couple days later they brought the soup over and we ate that for dinner and left the next morning to explore a couple different cities in Morocco. My team decided at the beginning of the month that we would save our adventure days untik the end of the month and go explore other cities. We went to Casablanca, Chefchauen, and Marrakech.
Chefchauen is widely known as the “blue city”. It is absolutely stunning and breath-taking. Four out of six of my team went ro Chefchauen. We spent most of the day there exploring and taking in the scenery. The four of us found this little shop that was selling handmade soap and the shop keeper gave us a really amazing deal. So, of course, we each bought a bar of soap. Then, went ti dinner on the rooftop of a local restaurant and took in the sunset. We finally got back to our apartment in Tangier around 11pm. If you ever get a chance this is a city to visit.
When we were in Marrakech, we stayed at Kaktus, a hostel in the heart of the tourist area. Once we arrived in Marrakech, we realized that we definitely weren’t in Tangier anymore. The traffic doesn’t stop to let you walk across the road. Peopleare all up in your face trying to get you to buy stuff from them. The taxis were consistently trying to rip us off simply because we’re white and don’t know the language. After being there for only two days I was over the hype of the city. My favorite part of Marrakech was the hostel we were staying at. Breakfast was included, you just had to walk up to the roof to have it. We had a very interesting time trying to get to Casablanca on the train but we finally got there.
Once arriving in Casablanca, we found out that our housing situation was just like the start of the month, which fell through. Luckily, as a team we had learned to have a back up plan in case this were to ever happen again. Thankfully, we did have that back up plan because we actually had to use it. We were waiting at the train station for like 2hrs after arriving because of housing issues. Once we finally got our housing figured out, we loaded up into rwo taxis and headed to our apartment for the next 48hrs. We didn’t really leave our apartment in Casablanca. We only left to go to our final team debrief as Groot and to go to the mall to find out who our new teams were. After, meeting our new teams and coming up with a name, we spent sometimd making memories together. We came back as a squad and introduced our teams and our names. Afterwards, we went back to our apartment and finished packing and our final night together as Groot.
The last five months together, as Groot, has truly grown me in many ways. I’m grateful for the time we have had together. Groot, may no longer be together but we will always be in each other’s lives long after we finish this 11 month journey. Our lives have become intertwined and we are invested with each other. Many of my Groot family is still fundraising, specifically Tiffiny, Tee, Lan, and Catherine. Gabby is already fully funded. If you feel led please hell these absolutely amazing women become fully funded.
My heart and prayers go out to my Groot family and to their new teams. May each of you continue to grow and help those around you grow as well. We will always be Groot. We will always be five out of two. Much love everyone.
Jamie
