Well, dear readers, as I wrote in my last post, the L-Squad
has been completely switched up, turned upside down and shaken, and spit out
into seven brand new teams. I honestly wasn’t sure how I felt about the idea of
changing teams at first (well, I didn’t really like the idea of leaving
Jubilee) but after seeing how everything worked out, I must say I’m pretty stinkin
excited. The five new team leaders are Bethany Holland, Bill Bush, April
Duncan, Melina Orengo, and Kelsi Dawe (Brad and I are the vets haha). My new
team is-drum roll please-Allison Schwartz, Maryanne Yeary, Nicole Ricketts,
Kelsey Sage, and Michael Sanders (…I would link to their blogs, but the
internet here is slow, so just do FirstnameLastname.theworldrace.org and it’ll
get ya there). We are definitely still getting to know each other, but already
I can see that this was exactly what we all needed at this point in the Race.
For me at least, being seven-going-on-eight months into the Race means it’s
been harder to stay excited and stay challenged rather than getting
complacent…and let me tell you, when something like this happens, there ain’t
no staying complacent! New challenges present themselves daily – how do I lead
this new team? What is this new dynamic of the team? How do I get to really
know my new teammates? What should our team name be? What are our goals and
vision for the next four months? How do I truly love and serve each member of
my new family, and how do I continue to do the same with the former members of
Jubilee (who are still family…it’s just a bigger family now). Lots of things to
roll around in my brain these days! One of the coolest aspects of the team
change is that I know I had led Jubilee as far as I could and they needed new
people to take them higher, and for myself I have a brand new team to lead…and
LEARN from! I wish you could be around them to see the hunger they have for God
and the passion they have for taking others deeper into His presence. It’s
pretty incredible (I’m trying to not be intimidated).
Hopefully in the near future I will be able to present our
team name to yall! I unfortunately don’t know when we’ll be able to get
internet again, as the World Wide Web is not quite so world-wide in this part
of Nigeria. It comes and goes with blatant disregard to me…very bad manners.
Oh, and we are in the city of Okpo, in the state of Kogi, in
the middle belt region of Nigeria. Spiritually, this is the hardest and most
difficult place we have faced so far …not because of the poverty or the native religions,
but because of what Christianity looks like here. It is all so fake and so
based on emotion and fear. The leaders have fed so many lies to the people
about Jesus and the Holy Spirit and themselves. It’s sad, really, and so
frustrating. It’s like imagine the worst televangelist you can think of, then
throw it in a third world country that is so wrapped up in wanting power and in
fear of evil spirits, and completely trash the truth of the Holy Spirit…and
you have West Africa.
Oy vey.
