I feel like I’m a freshman in high school all over again. Growing up I went to Kindergarden through 8th grade in the same small building. My school didn’t even have walls that went all the way up to the ceiling between classrooms, they just went up about 5 feet 5 inches, so if you were tall enough (which I was) you could stand up and look across the entire school of classrooms. Each grade only had 2 home rooms of no more than 20 kids in each. It was the kind of school where everyone knew everything about everyone. You couldn’t hide at Arlington Elementary. When I graduated 8th grade I knew that I was leaving my family, the people who always had my back no matter what, and the ones that knew who I truely was on my bad days and on my good days.
I went off to highschool and it was a whole different ballgame. I went to Harding Academy, which was a breeding ground for small little clicks and deep-rooted history together. These kids had known each other since preschool, since Harding is a school system that starts at Preschool and goes all the way up to Grad School. So you can go your entire educational life
knowing the exact same people. Scary huh? When I became a freshman there I was the new fish in town and had to try and get into friendship circles and get to know them, and I had to let people know who I was. This was difficult for me since I didn’t know the funny inside jokes, the history of each person, or where each person wanted to go in life. But I did it and ended up with great friendships, lots of laughs along the way, and memories that I will carry with me for a lifetime.
I learned that as long as you are yourself that people will learn to love you. People will forgive you of your strange little quirks and figure out what makes you tick. All I had to do was trust God in each situation, and know that he was in control and was taking care of me. I am learning this lesson all over again today.
My amazing team, AZARIAH, learned yesterday that our team was being demolished. Each of us were to be dissolved into the other 4 teams on my squad. Our leadership had been praying about this decision for a couple of months and really felt like this is where God was calling us. That moving to a new team would help us to fully grow into the people we were meant to be through God. So I am with 6 new people, and no one from my original team. This saddens my heart so much, not because of who I am put with, but because of who I am having to leave behind. These 5 other people I have lived every moment of the past 3 months with will not be with me each day anymore. I will still see them at the end of each month but I wont have shared my ministry life with them.
I am excited to see where I will fit in with this new team of mine, Team ABANDON, but I feel like a freshman in highschool all over again. Im the new fish in town and Im just praying that they love me like my old team loved me, that they give me grace as I walk through this process of learning to be with new people, and that they trust that God has me with them for a purpose. I love each and every one of them dearly and I am looking forward to getting to know them deeper.
So here you go, meet my new team!!!!!
Have fun getting to know them!!!
My new leader: Cori Smith http://corismith.theworldrace.org 
Jessica Phillip http://jessicaphilip.theworldrace.org 
Erin Neufeld http://erinneufeld.theworldrace.org 
AJ Peters http://arthurpeters.theworldrace.org 
Luke Cantrell http://lukecantrell.theworldrace.org 
Kimi Cantrell (of no relation to Luke) http://kimicantrell.theworldrace.org 
