My departure date draws close as time continues its endless endeavor of disappearing. I leave October 2nd to join my 37-squad mates for three days of preparation before launch. On the 5th, we fly to Cambodia and split into six teams to spread the good news with more abundance. Each team has a different mission. We could be living in the same city or on opposite ends of the country. The teams were chosen through much prayer and deliberation at training camp. We participated in team activities throughout the week where we went through exercises with different groups of people. Our squad leaders prayed over the teams and who to put in each one. Three are all girl teams and three are co-ed. I was placed on an all girls team. I would have been thrilled either way, but it feels like this team is the one that was meant to be, like the Holy Spirit put us together. There is a strange, but beautiful peace that we feel and we are hoping that we can stay unified and centered in Christ so that our mission will be more fruitful. After our teams were decided, they let us leave camp for a couple of hours. We got to spend quality time talking and getting to know one another. We also decided on a team name.
We are team Querencia; it is a Spanish word that means a place from which ones strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self. Ernest Hemingway describes it as, “a place the bull naturally wants to go in the ring, a preferred locality. It is a place that develops in the course of the fight where the bull makes his home. It does not usually show at once but develops in his brain as the fight goes on. In this place he feels that he has his back against the wall and in his querencia he is inestimably more dangerous and impossible to kill.” Translated in relation to our mission, our strength will be drawn from Christ. We will be our most authentic selves in Him who gives us strength. Our natural defense will be turning to Christ. He will be our locality. This strength in Him will develop over the course of our fight to spread the good news and we will be at home with our team and Him at our center. The Holy Spirit will guide us and reveal His plans for us as we come to the people He has chosen for us to encounter. Jesus Christ will be at our backs. He will be behind us, behind our actions, and we will be a force to be reckoned with. In our querencia, the Holy Spirit, we will be inestimably more dangerous and impossible to keep out as He flows through us and ignites the hearts of the people in the countries we enter.
It was neat that the definition comes from Ernest Hemingway who wrote The Old Man and the Sea. It felt like it came full circle because our team had previously talked about how we especially wanted to dive into the ‘oceans’ of God’s love and be reckless in our walk of following Christ. Coincidence is sometimes a sign pointing us in the direction we should go. God chose us to be team Querencia, and we will strive to live our mission in querencia, united in our connection with the Holy Spirit, so that He flows through us so boldly that any resistance is unearthed and heaven rains down.
I have not spent much time with my team thus far but can already see amazing qualities in all of them that will add so much to the mission. Our team leader is Ally. She has a heart so big, that she’s already leading us to open ours fully and authentically. She is going to show the world the heart of Christ. Haley has a background in leading worship and loves photography. She will bring creativity, inspiration, and direction to our team and to those we meet. She brings ‘all the feels.’ Deb is a dancing machine and a feisty gal. She is going to be powerful and bring strength, spunk, and perspective to our team. Leslie will be an encouraging and joyful presence. She will bring unity, a listening ear, and a caring heart. Crysahna is going to center us and bring us back to the calming beauty of Christ. Quiet and full of wisdom, she will stir hearts. I am so blessed to be on a team with these Godly women.
I will be living in community and spreading the Gospel, the good news, with these ‘babes’! They are the women that I will grow with in my faith and in my relationship with Christ. I look forward to the person I will become this year and the ways in which I will grow. I will not return the same woman I am today. I also can’t wait to see the ways in which they will grow and the women they will become for the kingdom. My team and I will be living in Phnom Penh and working in the surrounding rural villages. Kinship Cambodia is a new ministry, so we will need to be flexible as our plans could change at a moment’s notice. During the week, we will mostly be working with Adore Mission at One Hope International School, teaching and helping where we’re needed during the day and spending the afternoons visiting villagers, building relationships, and sharing the gospel. We will attend Kinship’s service on Sundays and then work with them through the rest of the day. Saturdays will be our day off to explore. We have to be with someone on our team at all times, so it’s going to be an intense month of ministry, learning to live with six women and get along extremely well, as our relationship as a team will show in our ministry. “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
I want my identity to be in Christ. I hope this year will teach me how to maintain my identity in Christ and live with intention daily. Querencia brings us to a place where our strength is purely drawn from the Holy Spirit and our identity is Christ. He chose this team to be His hands and feet. It feels like He is choosing our route and the places He wants us to go, the people He wants us to reach. Please pray for our team to grow our roots deeper into Christ.
XO,
Meagan
