As I've said my final "see ya laters" to my parents, I slowly realize: It has begun. This journey that I've been anticipating for almost a year now has finally become a reality. As I write this, I am sitting on the bathroom floor of my hotel room on the first night of launch. It's still so surreal that I am not going home for another 11 months; that my today and tomorrow are going to look drastically different from my yesterday. One of my squad leaders said to us tonight "Thank you for showing up to your life." Such truth! This is not just a mission trip, this is my life.
I praise God for blessing me with an incredible team to live life with, a team of 7 strong women of the Lord, who will be my family and community for the next year. The Lord has so many exciting things to teach us and I just want to ask you all, my support back home, to keep each one of these women in your prayers by name. If you want to learn more about them, you can click on their names to go to their blogs. This is my family, so what is mine is their's and what's their's is mine, so please lift them up when you are lifting me up in prayer!
On a different note, I realized that my parents have experienced some confusion with the vocab of the World Race. So, I wanted to break it down so everyone would know what I am talking about when I use specific words throughout these next 11 months.
Squad: Specifically G Squad, is my family for the next 11 months. There are 54 of us, ranging from 21- to 36-year olds, all from different areas of North America. We travel together to each country on our route.
Team: The squad is broken up into eight teams of 6-7 people. My team is Team O.I.L., which stands for Overflowing Infinite Love. We are one of three all-girls team on our squad. Route: That is the order and list of countries that my squad will be traveling to. Then when we get to each country we will split up into our teams and go to different areas of the country to do our missions work: to love and serve the people the way Jesus would.
Squad Leader: We have three amazing, prayer warrior squad leaders: Robby, Megan and Hailey. They've all been on the World Race before and they have answered the call to come lead our squad for our first 4 months and to impart on us the wisdom and knowledge the Lord has given them to best equip us for what the Lord will do on our Race.
Coaches/Squad Parents: Our squad parents are of one the most loving and God-obsessed couples I know. The G squad is so honored to be pampered, prayed for and loved by Bruce and Marcy Dawson, who have sent their daughter on the World Race before us and have now agreed to be our stand in Mom and Dad while we are away from our own.
Launch: The first few of days of the World Race, for us it is July 3-7ish, where we are poured into by the leaders of AIM so that we may overflow onto the people of the nations we are being sent to. It's the preparation period right before we head off to our first country of the Race.
Debrief: We haven't had our first debrief yet, so I'm not even sure what it means, but from what I have gathered, it takes place ever few months and the whole squad comes together to reflect and soak in all that has taken place on the field thus far.
Hopefully this will help clear up any the confusion when I use these words in the future. I'm still learning the World Race vocabulary myself, so I will try to keep you all updated as I learn more.
I'll leave you with some photos from my final "See ya laters":
Mom, dad and me before launch in DC.
Best friend Katie Rae came to visit me in DC before I went to launch.
With my high school best friends: Rachael, Sarah and Annabelle, at my last church service at Passion CIty Church. We were blessed to hear from Beth Moore, such a good Sunday to be sent off from!
My best friends, mom and O.D. sending me off around the world! Couldn't be more thankful
for my support system back home!
Good night and God Bless!!!
