Hey there! This is SaraLou, comin’ in hot on account for Team KB! Since many of the team members (cough, cough, Alexandra and Candyea) ((among others)) are less than thrilled to write blogs and I love to write, I have the pleasure of bringing you a quick little recap of the time we’ve spent together! There is no way to accurately summarize the last four months we’ve experienced as members of the Team Kindred BOW (Band Of Warriors). We’ve seen so much, met so many, and loved so well, it almost seems impossible to try and relay it all on paper. I’m going to try, to the best of my ability, to write this Ode to Team KB, in hopes that one day we can look back and fondly remember the time we spent together, as short as it may seem now.
Let’s start at training camp, we had only a few short days left before returning to our lives across the states, and we were selected to be in a team together. I looked around me at the girls sitting with me, wondering how in the world we would make it. They were strangers, all vastly different than me, and I wasn’t sure what the organization was thinking when they placed us together. I looked around at Candyea, our team leader, at Alexandra, our logistics manager, at Ashley and Oliva and Shakila and Emma, and decided then and there that whether we liked it or not, this was our new family, and I resolved to fight for them. Theresa McMillan walked over to our little circle and spoke over us that she saw a team of fighters, a band of warriors, and that she knew we’d come out okay. We took a liking to the title, and used the little prophesy as our name, adding Kindred to the front, and there we were. A team of eclectic taste, a beautiful mystery to be revealed, we returned to our homes resolved and determined to love each other well, to support each other well, and to become the team we imagined we’d be a part of.
Three short months later we returned to Atlanta, GA with the rest of our squad, closer than we’d left each other, ready and excited to leave for the race. We found confidence through the encouragement of our squad mentors, coaches and leaders, and could feel it in our bones that we were about to embark on something incredible. When we stepped off the plane in Colombia, we began what would be the first of four months together.
Month One – Planeta Rica, Colombia, brought with it many ups and downs. For many of us, we mourned the loss of independence, we missed the option to choose what to do with our free time, and for all of us, we sweat. A lot. But in that first month, we also discovered a beautiful friendship that bloomed under our noses, our free time spent together under a straw cabana behind the church we were serving. That month, we got to do children’s’ ministry together, we got to travel to feeding programs together, we got to spend a lot of time getting to know the young-adults group within the church. We got to build relationships with them, encourage them in their walks and push them to be bolder in speaking Jesus’ name. We rode in the bed of a pickup truck that hit high speeds, watched one team member fall out of her hammock, (we won’t name Olivia’s name) we visited farms, we taught English to some friends, we swam in the neighborhood pool, we ate spaghetti for breakfast, went to the beach and we laughed a lot.
We had a week in between month one of ministry and month two, where the entire squad got together, all 57 of us, and in that time we got to cook together, worship together, and some of us got to go Paragliding! We drank smoothies, did some street evangelism, and enjoyed a week of rest before heading to Ecuador.
Month two – was all-squad month where all of us stayed at Casa Blanca, with Mabe and Fabi, our host parents. That month my team got to work with Pastor Efren and his wonderful wife Monica, where we got to teach English classes, organize the church, and serve Efren and Monica by deep cleaning the place for them. We spent many days passing out fliers and talking to people in the streets of Carapungo, inviting them to Efren’s church and to English lessons. We encountered many people and got to share with them why we were in Ecuador, and that we had good news to share. We spent a lot of time with the squad, and one our weekends we got to travel around Ecuador, to the equator, to Banos, and many other places. We saw waterfalls, rode horses, and experienced Carnival, the liveliest holiday Ecuador has. Ecuador was chilly weather, a nice break from the month prior where the heat had been oppressive, and we enjoyed the opportunity to sleep snuggled up with lots of blankets, an experience KB would not have again.
Month Three – We traveled to Peru excited for what was to come, unprepared for the Peruvian Natural Disaster of 2017. A rare weather front brought much rain to the mountains in Peru, washing with it most of Trujillo, the city where we were staying. We stayed in a school building, safe from the flood waters, but experienced massive amounts of destruction around us and watched as hundreds of homes were swept away. It was a hard month for us, we hardly had running water, it was quite hot, and we were finding difficulty to work together well, tensions were sometimes high, we were uncomfortable, and the results could have been bad, but instead, Peru taught us all individual lessons. We all grew, we were all stretched, we all were challenged, and we had to choose to love each other. Even though we sometimes failed, the disaster around us could have broken us, but instead, gave us a desire to do better the next month. We found lots of laughter amidst the chaos, including but not limited to, Emma falling through a bunk bed mattress, the school building we stayed in having a hairless dog, and waking up to the sound of Ashley dancing on the roof. (“Did you hear the sounds on the roof this morning? Was that a squirrel?”)
Our “travel week” to Cote d’Ivoire was exhausting but wonderful, we traveled to Spain and got to explore Madrid, Alexandra got to see Ed Sheeran, and the team got to explore the city in depth. Ashley and I ate crepes and drank Sangria and the others did the same, our hearts were full and when we finally reached Cote d’Ivoire a few days later, we were refreshed and ready to choose love.
Month Four – And choose love we did. Team KB laughed until we cried during month four. We loved each other better, we chose each other over ourselves, and it was obvious that there had been a change from the month before. I’m proud of the way we banded together, warriors for each other, as Theresa had spoken over us so many months ago. Month four’s ministry was in the city of Gagnoa, where we preached nearly every night, traveling from church to church, preaching the gospel in turns. We sang together, preached together, and it was an incredible experience.
The four months are impossible to summarize, and I know I did not do them all justice, but what I can say is this, we pushed each other, as iron sharpens iron, to pursue Jesus and His kind of love. We grew together, hurt together, laughed and cried together and found healing together. We got to watch as each team member grew in individual battles, and got to do ministry together. In the four months we spent together, almost twenty people gave their lives to Jesus. We all came along side each other as everyone got sick (except Alexandra, that woman is strong like a horse) and we all celebrated each other’s victories. (We also got to experience our squad leader, Danae, fall for almost a solid 60 seconds before giving up and landing on the ground) We experienced the different cultures, had many marriage proposals, (none of which were accepted, but trust me, we kept a running tally.) I’ve never lived in a hippy community, but I imagine this kind of life is something far better than that, this kind of life is the kind that Jesus designed for us to live, one with the tough conversations, the tough love, the feedback, the sharpening, and the sisterhood.
I’ve known Candyea Brown, Olivia Collier, Ashley Thomas, Emma Flaming, Alexandra Bruns and Shakila Carrol for only seven months, but I consider them to be my sisters, my safe place, my home, and I know that there is no place I would have rather been than with them these last four months. Team KB, I’ll miss you immensely, but I know that the Lord will bring so much to the next teams you are all in, and I know that His Kingdom will be brought wherever team KB goes, even if it’s not together.
