9/26/20
During our time in Washington with the other two squads, I got the great privilege of spending an entire day hanging out with the six beautiful women of C Squad and a wonderful young lady getting to launch on her own World Race adventure in October named Hannah R.!
Before now, I didn’t get the opportunity to know these girls that well. With Hannah R., this was my first time meeting her because she came only for the Awakening. C Squad and I were at training camp together back in October and then for the one travel day we spent in Idaho between Utah and Oregon they came to a worship night with us because they were in Idaho for their ministry.
I fell in love with these girls that night worshiping together.
So of course I jumped on the opportunity to spend an entire day getting to know them.
We had a fabulous time.
We did laundry together, navigating an American laundromat and coordinating to save money without really being concerned for who’s paying what. It’s an interesting thing that develops on the World Race: this sense that you all just support one another in whatever needs arise and in the end it’s probably going to work out pretty evenly and you just love one another enough to buy each other things sometimes. In between the washer and dryer, we ventured to a coffee shop, where I was not among those buying a drink, but it was a cute little coffee shop. Then their mentor and squad leader joined us and we had lunch at a little local Mexican restaurant next door to the laundromat.
It was also a stressful day for C Squad because of the stress for one member who was the logistics leader in charge of planning so many things about our Awakening experience, including our meals. We are all grateful to Annie for her hard work.
I volunteered with Hannah M. to go and do the grocery shopping, and let me tell you it’s not one of my favorite activities to go shopping and figure out how much of this and that to get for 20ish people. But that time with her was invaluable because I’m grateful for the friendship we developed over the course of the Awakening and that time at the store with just the 2 of us doing all of this problem solving together.
So much of the World Race is problem solving with your squad.
And that’s what I watched C Squad doing. I watched them coming together as a squad and problem solving and working together and welcoming a stranger into their group.
And I loved being part of that.
I loved being with those girls.
I thought about how cool it would be to travel around with these angels all the time on World Race America, knowing the fun they have and the love they share and the way they problem solve together.
And then I realized how little I truly know about them. I literally only spent one day traveling around with them. I know nothing about their true habits and their bad days and good days. I’ve only gotten one tiny glimpse.
But then there’s B Squad.
My squad.
The people I chose to return to the field with after 3 months in quarantine, and the people who all chose the same thing in return.
The people I lived with internationally in a foreign land doing all the same problem solving for 2 months.
The people who I have seen the good days and I have seen the bad days. The people who have seen my good days and my bad days.
The people who I’ve sat in a crowded van with for countless hours of travel days.
And who keep choosing to press through with each other.
I realized that C Squad, who I’m only just getting to know, they’re my friends, but B Squad has become more than that.
B Squad has chosen to become more than my friends.
It’s something to realize and reflect on. That’s what the World Race, whether in America or across the globe does to a group.
So, of course, if you’re planning to go on the Race, I want you to realize what kind of family you’re getting yourself into.
But, also, this isn’t the only way to gain a family of friends for life. It’s all about choice. It’s about choosing to love someone anyway.
It’s about choosing to love the way I choose to love B Squad and the way B Squad chooses to love me.
It’s a love that we choose because Jesus modeled it for us on Earth and God commands us to love.
Choose the people in your life to love. Choose your family and your friends to become something more than friends.
Don’t take what you have for granted. I’m grateful for the love of C Squad to show me and remind me of the love that B Squad has chosen to have for one another. A love that isn’t going to end at the end of November when the Race is over. Because these people, this squad, they’re more than just my friends.
I’ll love my B Squad family forever.
