Brown, modern couches face each other. We are at an independent coffee shop in the historic district of Gainesville, Georgia. There are dark-stained, modern coffee tables atop the scuffed up hardwood floor. There is a low shelf filled with interesting books which lines the wall next to our couches.
I am with my new family, the family which will travel with me for 11 months. After two days of group exercises and a ton of prayerful puzzle-piecing from the staff, we have been given our teams.
Let me explain: there are two squads of about 44 for the August 2009 World Race, J squad and K squad. I am on K squad. Now, K squad is further divided into seven different teams of six or seven people. Throughout this week (a week of break through and transformation, one worthy of 20 blogs; sorry… for now you only get this one) we have been waiting anxiously to learn who is on our teams. Teams are more than just ministry partners, more than something like a sports team. These are going to be the men and women we spend every day with for 11 months, the ones we work alongside, pray alongside, laugh and cry and sing alongside. These are going to be family.
“If you could be any animal, what would it be?” Matt asks Dez. “And describe that animal in three adjectives.”
Right after we were given our teams, we were told to make a memory, make a memory anywhere in Gainesville. They gave us three and a half hours. Obviously, the first thing we had to do was get coffee. Throughout training, the staff has viciously disregarded our need for good coffee. The first two days, they didn’t give us any at all! For some of us, this was disastrous. After that they gave us cheap instant coffee, only mildly better than dirt. So here we are at Inmen’s Perk, making a memory.
Matt sits on the brown couch across from me next to Dez, Stacy, and Heather. To my right is Tamica. To my left is Lauren.
“I would be a tiger!” says Dez, in her smoky, energetic voice. “My adjectives? Fierce… cunning… and, uh… I just like ‘em!” She talks breathlessly, almost thoughtlessly. No, not thoughtless but effortless, free from guile. We just like her.
To be continued…
Read Part 2.
