I literally was left speechless. Without words. Blown away.
For the people in the world who didn’t have the privilege of living in Trujillo, Peru this Valentine’s Day, I have a story to tell you.
This morning, we were finishing up a quick all squad meeting and were given very specific instructions: be at the compound, ready for a surprise at 6 pm. The girls sort of looked around, but none of us had a clue of what the precious men who we share a squad or teams with were up to. And we spent the day without knowing what to expect. Even when they were questioned, information was not being given. To any of us.
I had an idea because the men of this squad love the 44 women of this squad so incredibly well that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary night. Literally every day of our race, the 11 men that we call brothers, teammates and squad mates, love us so incredibly well, so I spent the day excited about what they were up to.
But, to be remotely close to what they did, we would have had to be able to see the future. We got home, spent a few minutes putting on the cleanest clothes we had (which really has become a relative thing on the world race), put a few strokes of makeup on, and were summoned to the downstairs of our compound.
One of our gentleman proceeded to say that they loved us, and they wanted to serve us. And they were going to do that by washing our feet. Cue the looks, the amazement, and the speechlessness. And then they proceeded to tell us they were going to give us each a foot massage, and also paint our toe nails. I literally was left without words.
Friends, each of these gentleman are absolutely one of a kind, and INCREDIBLE.
They did this with such grace, love, and gentleness. It literally brought tears to my eyes to watch the men of our squad love on each woman that is on this squad so well on a day that has the great potential to hold different memories for each of us.
This is our first of quite a few holidays that we will spend on the race this year, and they made it a memorable one for us.
And you thought they were done. And so did the rest of us.
We had eaten dinner, and I went into wash dishes. I was quickly not allowed in the kitchen anymore, because those same incredible guys were not going to let a girl do the dishes on the day that they were going to blow our socks off. They literally will make sure to go out of their way to serve, every single day, not just for Valentine’s Day.
As dinner and our service for the evening ended, the guys told us to sit back down. They disappear to a room out of sight on our compound and return with a rose and a card for each of us. They didn’t just make generic cards for each of us, but a specific card for each one of us.
That’s the moment that I cried. The women of P-Squad have the privilege of living the next 11 months with these fantastic men who love us each so incredibly well. Our guys are absolutely the best!
I think I can safely say that the men of the next squad that is on the race for February 14 have some incredible shoes to fill.
Today, I am thankful for the privilege of being loved by the most incredible people that God put on earth. This day ends with a smile, a happy heart, and such a full spirit.
Kristy
***To the people who love these men: Thank you for sharing them with us. As the first holiday they will miss this year has come and gone, we are honored that you shared them with us for the next 11 months. They are incredible people that we love very much.
***A specific thank you to the people who helped raise these incredible 11 men: Thank you. Thank you for investing, for teaching them to be servants (they each embody this every single day!), for teaching them to respect women, and for teaching them to be the men who seek after the heart of God. We are incredibly blessed that you would share them with us for the 11 months of 2015.
