Currently I
am sitting in a mission home bedroom in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. After every month we come back together as a
squad to travel to our next location.
(Not yet, hold on.) But every
couple months we have a few days set aside to debrief as a squad, team, and
individual.
A typical day
looks like…
8:30 Breakfast
9:00 Morning
Worship/Announcements
12:00 Lunch
Afternoon: Team Debriefs with squad leaders and coaches
6:00 Dinner
7:30 Evening
Worship and Teachings
A focus of
debrief is certainly to rest. (A good
night sleep in a real bed can be hard to come by on the race.) We spent a little bit of time sharing about
our ministries to the squad, but a majority of time is used to reflect on where
we’ve been as a team and where we are going. 
Honestly, our
team just came out of a hard month. The
people we met and served were an incredible blessing, but our team really had
to come face-to-face with the realities of community. Giving up what we believe to be our
“rights.” Giving up expectations. Thinking for others more than yourself, all
the time. Walking in faith even when
there is no voice. Stepping out of your
comfort zone, often times for the benefit of others.
As the team
leader, I really felt the brunt of this.
Every person’s struggle became mine as well. My focus has become serving and ministering to
my team, yet I need to find a balance with focusing on my relationship as
well. I’ve sought to challenge my
teammates, but I need to balance that with more love, grace, and encouragement. While the last month has been difficult for
me to lead in an unstructured, sometimes less logical, more heart sort of way-aka
the Holy Spirit-it’s causing me to learn lessons I really don’t know where else
I could have learned them. Favor has
been shown to me by putting me in a leadership position, and it’s hard to rejoice
during the struggles, but I’m learning. (On
a positive note, when one of my teammates overcomes an obstacle or is freed
from something, I get to rejoice alongside of them.)
During each
debrief we sit down as a team with the squad leaders, Sean and Andi, and the
coaches, Mike and Patti Paschal. During
that hour and a half they modeled how Christian leaders need to pour into their
people. Their demonstration of genuine
love and understanding spoke more to me than anything they specifically said to
me.
We will all
leave here at the dark and gloomy hour of 3:30am on Tuesday morning. After a bus ride to Managua, flight to Miami,
run through customs, flight to LA, six hour layover, we’ll finally be on our
way to Taiwan and ultimately Thailand Tuesday evening. (When top priority is to find the cheapest
transportation possible, sacrifices need to be made.)
On an even
more exciting note, the men and women are separating this next month. The ladies will probably be in the cities of
Thailand partnering with prostitution ministries, and us guys are going
somewhere into Northern Thailand. We
don’t know much, but we’ve heard rumors of jungles, mountains, caves, and
adventure. No matter where we are, I
become giddy just thinking about spending a month with 14 godly men learning
what it means to be royal warriors.
This is my
life right now: the World Race. It’s finally hitting me. (I’m sure it’ll hit even harder in the coming
months.)
New Reader? Please add your email to the “Subscribe for Blog Updates” on the left.
Photos generously compiled from Sydnee Mela’s incredible collection.
