One of the most emotionally charged moments of Training Camp is when you find out who your team is. For T-squad that moment came on Thursday afternoon of TC. We had finished lunch and moved to our new sleeping arrangement for the night, 5 very big tents to house all 51 of us, and we gathered around a couple nearby picnic tables to find out our fate.
If you have not been through the World Race, then you may not understand why being assigned to a team could be an "emotionally charged" event. You see, our entire squad will travel to each country together and spend debriefs together, but the time living and ministering in the country is, for the majority, spent with your team. For all intents and purposes your team is your immediate family, best friends, and coworkers all wrapped into one! Are you starting to see why this could get emotional?
All week at TC you have been forming friendships and figuring out whose personalities you clash with. You get a feeling for who you think would make a great team- people you work well with and can open up to. Now, I won't divulge too much of the process, but ultimately you don't choose your team- the staff does. And trust me, they listen to your concerns, desires, and feelings, and they absolutely bathe the process in prayer. When it comes down to it, however, you are on the team that God leads them to assign you to.
So join me back at that picnic table. I can't speak for everyone else, but these were the thoughts running through my head: Which of these 7 team leaders is mine? Will I be on an all girls team? Who are my teammates? Will it be anyone I'm close to already? Will we get along well? What ministry will we do? Will we be the "beach team"? Gosh it would be nice to be the "beach team"….And then "Logan Gibson!" was called out interrupting my thoughts.
The moment Ben read my name I broke out into a smile and then had to choke back tears of happiness (tears are a common theme at TC if you haven't noticed). Ben and Libby Able are one of the two married couples on T-squad. From the moment I met them I felt an instant connection- I was able to talk, laugh, and open up with both of them. I had instantly recognized leadership in Ben and knew I could respect him. God has truly blessed me by placing me on a team with Ben and Libby.
But of course there are more than 3 people on our team! The other members are Andrew Redman, Guille Rodriguez, Elizabeth Hutchinson, Kara Turner, and Samantha Kolden. You can find links to all of their blogs on the left side of this page, and I highly recommend you check them out! This is a group of hilarious, talented, passionate, and devoted individuals who all love the Lord and are so psyched to go on this adventure! I can't wait to share our stories with y'all as we move forward.
As you may have noticed in the title, we are Team Sojourner. Each team is supposed to come up with a name they feel represents themselves and their goals for the Race. Our first night as a team we spent time praying together and listening to the Lord. It was an amazing bonding process where we were able to be open, disagree, discuss, and eventually come up with a name we all love. A Sojourner is a Temporary Resident. As a team we are temporary residents in every country we visit and every ministry in which we participate. As Christians we are temporary residents on this earth looking forward to our eternal home in Heaven with our Father. Our goal as Sojourners is to show the Father's love everywhere we go and leave these places better than when we came.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and TEMPORARY RESIDENTS to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do what is evil, they will, by observing your good works, glorify God on the day of visitation.– 1 Peter 2:9-12
