I feel blessed to have been a part of some pretty incredible communities the last four and a half years. At CSU, Navigators provided a great group of friends and roommates throughout college. The staff at Noah’s Ark is very close, and working, eating, playing, and living together in close quarters definitely builds community.
My squad on world race has similar characteristics to these other groups, except it’s even more intense- it’s community on steroids. It is like Navigators without the classes and studying commitment of college or if the rafting season at Noah lasted 11 months straight. The culture of WR breeds community. We see our teammates everyday, we serve together, travel together, worship together, grow together, eat together and even talk about bodily functions together (pull my finger!). We also do team time everyday together, and we feedback each other- meaning we give our teammates crazy awesome encouragement as well as constructive feedback. That means I know exactly how each one of my teammates feels about me- both the good stuff and the things I need to work on.
When I left from Kenya to come back to the states for medical school interviews, I felt so incredibly supported and encouraged by my squad. One team told me they had been praying all month for me. The day I left, tons of people prayed for me individually, as well as my team and the squad as a whole. As I got in the taxi, people shoved food, money, and encouraging notes into my hand. I actually have at least one note to read every day I am home. I feel like I have received so much more than I have given to this group. I can’t write this blog without mentioning the one person that has been on both of my teams and that I have seen every single day for four months- Kaitlyn Allen. She has loved me and others so incredibly well, and is always doing things that are above and beyond for people. Example- for Christmas, she sewed me a book, got me a guitar capo, and found a way to bake me banana bread via my mom’s recipe that she got from my mom over facebook.
I am not hasty to use terms of endearment. To call someone my “family”, “sister”, “brother” or “good friend” takes me a while. But God is really giving me the eyes to start seeing the men on this squad as my brothers, the women as my sisters, and A squad as my family.
My time in the States has been fantastic, and I am eager to see how He guides me with these interviews. I also feel so blessed to say that when I head back to Africa in a few days and leave my family and friends yet again, my A squad family will be there waiting with open arms.
