La femmes
While at training camp, AIM staff had my squad do activities and other exercises, along with extensive prayer, to figure out how to pair us all up into smaller teams of 6-7 people. These are the people we will be traveling and doing ministry with on our 11 month adventure. My team includes myself and five other gorgeous ladies.
This is my team – face painted and decked out for Squad Wars!!
From Left to right – Kelly, Brittany B., Brittany O., moi, Suzy, and Ashley!
Our "namesake"
The day we found out who our teams would be, we were given the task to go out into the city, spend a few hours together as a way to get to know each other better, find someone to minister to and…figure out what our team name would be. On the drive into Cartersville, GA we prayed for God to use us, and to give us ideas on a team name that we could all agree on.
Our first stop was at starbucks – we hadn't had coffee in days!!! – so as we were waiting for our drinks, Ashley felt a prompting from the Lord to sit down at a booth… not sure of the reason yet, 
she obeyed. Soon after that a lady sat down next to her. A conversation was started. Ashley began to share with this woman what we all were doing there, shared about the world race, God, etc. She found out the lady was a muslim from Sudan. So we got Brittany O involved in the conversation since she had visited Sudan on a missions trip. Talk about an odd connection! As these two were ministering and just getting to know this complete stranger, the rest of us girls sat outside in the lawn drinking our pumpkin spice and chai tea lattes, and just praying and enjoying one anothers company.
Soon afterwards, Ashley and Brittany come out to join us, ecstatic over the conversation they had had with this Sudanese woman. We asked what her name was and they enthusiastically said "Raja." I have a thing for uniqueness so I instantly blurted out "ooh, how about team raja?!" The other girls seemed to like that idea, but first we wanted to make sure we knew what it meant. We learned that in arabic the word "raja" means "a waiting kind of hope." BOOM! We picked the meaning apart to get a better understanding of this translation, and we came up with "a patient hope." Every single girl then felt strongly that this meeting wasn't just a coincidence… that God Himself had orchestrated this meeting for a reason, and thus had given us our name for our team: "team raja" or "a patient hope."
My team sitting with Raja at Starbucks in Cartersville, GA
A Patient Hope
We were encouraged by AIM staff when thinking of a name for our team to consider one with a prophetic meaning. Consequently, the interpretation of Raja's name, "a patient hope," held various significance for each of us women. As christians, it expresses the patient hope we have in the return of Jesus, the hope we share that one day we will spend eternity with the lover of our souls. As missionaries it reminds us to trust and hope in God's provision.
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. ~Romans 8:25
For me personally, I felt like it was just one more affirmation from God for me to patiently hope in His timing and His will for my life, specifically when it comes to fulfulling the desires of my heart. The fact that God placed me specifically with each of these women for the coming year, and the fact that He just so happened to name our team "a patient hope" is no coincidence to me! I am beginning to believe more and more that everything God does and allows in our lives is intentional. Knowing this helps me to trust God with my future even more, and gives me peace that He has good things in store for me. There was a time I used to dread my future, mainly because I could not control or foresee it's outcome…but I am learning that my God is in control, that my future is in His hands… and that fills me with hope…a hope that waits patiently.
There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. ~Proverbs 23:18
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ~Jeremiah 29:11-13
