We Actually Don’t Like Each Other

Four months ago, I started this journey with 5 other women that I had no history or understanding of who they were. When we were told that we were going to be on a team together at training camp, none of us were exactly happy. In fact, some of us cried. From what time we did have to get to know each other at training camp, we couldn’t see why our leadership team would put us together. We had very little in common, each one of us have different personalities, and we are each fiercely independent people.

By the time launch came around we decided that we were going to put our best foot forward to make efforts to be a united team. All of us came on this journey to grow so we all agreed to make efforts to bond. We decided we were going to choose each other despite our feelings and reservations towards one another. Through this, we became a great team for accomplishing any task thrown our way. However, before we left our leadership team warned us that having fun together was going to be a challenge we needed to overcome. With that piece of advice, we took off on our race and made our way to the Dominican Republic.

Once we were in the DR, we continued to be a power team with the tasks we were given. We could start to see that our skills were complementary to one another’s, and we were able to get along even though we weren’t really ‘friendship’ material. We respected each other and were constantly honest during our team time each day. For a little bit, our team was fine because we kept things surface level, but before the end of the month we found ourselves dreading team time and we would never dare spend our free time together. We honestly just didn’t like each other. It wasn’t personal, we just didn’t click. However, being on a team where you spend every day together and spend time debriefing daily it became more and more of a problem.

I can remember one night, as we sat in the dark on the long driveway to Hope Mountain’s entrance we prayed as a team that God would help us to start laughing together. We admitted to one another that we actually had became miserable on our team, and we couldn’t find joy in something that was suppose to help us grow and be joyful on the already tough journey. We were tired of trying to ‘fake it til we make it’ as a team. We asked God that night to move in our team and open our hearts to one another. We were choosing each other in our actions, but for the first time we started to choose each other with real love. We surrendered our team to God and hoped for the best. Luckily for us, it wasn’t too long before God began to answer our prayers.

One day we had an ridiculously bad day. I had an allergic reaction to fire ants and was knocked out on medicine for most of the day. Elle was away painting a mural at the local school, and actually had the blessing of being the one person without anything happening to her that day. Ashley, Hannah, Amanda, and Lauren were working on the hot side of a mountain burning trash when a cow (known to us as the devil cow) started charging at them. Hannah and Lauren were ran up a tree while Amanda and Ashley defended themselves on the ground. Ashley hid behind one of the fires they had started, but in the process of standing too close she caught her shirt on fire. Amanda, who was defending herself with a gardening tool against the cow, stepped in pile after pile of giant cow poop (she was wearing sandals btw). And while Hannah and Lauren thought they were safe in the tree, they found out pretty quickly that it was filled with termites that began to crawl all over them. Our team gathered that night to talk about the day and we couldn’t help but laugh. Really, truly just laugh. This moment broke the ice for God to come in and begin to bring a lot more laughter to our team. As more ridiculous things happened to us, our team was able to bond as we’ve had to cling to each other. There have still been moments of not clicking well together, but the Gospel Girls have continued to ask God to move in our team. We’ve asked Him for more love towards one another, more understanding, and more unity. He has faithfully answered our prayers with many cherish-able memories. 

As we head into month five, we are preparing for team changes. The Gospel Girls will unfortunately be no more. I can now honestly say we actually don’t like each other, we love each other. God has brought us together and been our bonding ground over the last four months of this journey, and it’s going to be a very hard goodbye as we change teams. These women are incredible women of God, and I’m so sad to see us disperse. During our last team time together we decided to write down all of our favorite memories into a list. Below is the list, along with some pictures of some of our amazing memories together. Enjoy the sap!

Month 1, Dominican Republic:

• The day of the mad cow
• Celebrating Abby’s Birthday with fake chicken nuggets (I really love chicken nuggets, but apparently not every country does)
• Teaching Head shoulders knees and toes a ridiculous amount of times to the kids at the Lajas De Yaroa school
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• Passing tents down the stairs (our first time getting to really know each other)
• Team Colmado trips
• Jumping in the pool in our clothes while it was raining, Lauren in rain jacket
• Wearing face masks at debrief and watching She’s the Man
• Team time painting nails with Grace (squad mentor)
• The frog in the bathroom shower
• Team time at the “restaurant” where we got hot dogs and tacos…Te Bote
• Dragging stinky rotten trees down in the mountain and picking up rotten mangoes
• Clipping hedges together  (look out for Abby and Ashley’s future lawn care business!)

Month 2, Haiti:

• Noah’s Ark team time (literally having team time on top of a miniature Noah’s Ark)
• Playing Spicy Uno and Bananagrams
• Ashley’s birthday with funfetti cake
• Vulnerability Night (getting real deep, real quick)
• Having the best bread in the world for almost every meal
• Waterfall hike
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• Communion on the mountainside under the stars at BHM
• Getting ice cream with the Haitian guys and getting stuck in the rain
• Medical depot
• Playing cards with the local Haitian people

Month 3, South Africa:

• Our time as camp counselors at the UCSA camp (dead fish, fainting children, monkey marathon, skit night, emotional)
• Performing the Monkey at mini –debrief talent shows and catching everyone by suprise
• Running to Hannah for a hug at mini-debrief
• Choir practice in a half constructed log cabin
• Surfing together
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• Running in downtown Jeffrey’s Bay for team time
• “Teacha” (A new trigger word for the GG’s because of the over use of it by our many campers)
• Ostrich egg water bottles
• Amanda leading worship at church
• Elle and Amanda getting tattoos!
• Eating bone marrow and snails (bone marrows are gross, snails are better than you think)
• Movie night at Wendy’s
• Camping oceanfront
• Being overrun by children on the playground at Ithumba

Month 4, Botswana:

• Van time in the Bush (what happened in the van, stays in the van)
• Being surrounded by lions
• Wrapping our heads for the funeral
• Playing ‘Heads Up’
• Getting real African skirts made
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• Ashley yelling in the shower, burning her cornea’s , and her expression of misery in the bush
• Christmas gift exchange
• Orphans stealing underwear and breaking into our room constantly
• Attempting to start a fire in the bush
• Taking naps in the sand on our sleeping pads (desperate times call for desperate measures)
• Horseback safari
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• Praying for elephants all month long until God answered our prayers
• Mufasa dad (the six of us were adopted by Mufasa)
• Attending an awards ceremony, a funeral and a wedding with strangers
  

All four months:

• #teamtypically (countless times we’ve heard people say “This typically doesn’t happen to our teams”)
• Sandy, Chiquito, Lobo, Snickers, Rosie, Lizzie, Ginger, Summer, Shadow, Madison and all the stray dogs along the way
• Feedback gesture (think Godfather/Italian)
• Blackout team time

I’ve truly love my time with the Gospel Girls. So many great memories and such great growth from serving along side these women. They’ve taught me about boldness, patience, wisdom, love, and mercy. These women will always hold a special place in my heart. Please be praying for us as we take what we’ve learned into new teams to do even greater things!

Also, some exciting news is that I have been asked to step up as one of our new squad leaders! Our current squad leaders, James and LeAnn, are going home after this month and are raising up three new squad leaders from within our squad to take their place. My journey is going to look a little different after debrief. I will move around from team to team and play a more behind the scenes leadership role while still serving alongside the team I am staying with. I find out more about my role and start training as a squad leader next week at our debrief. Please be praying for me and the other two new SQL’s as we step into some big shoes and receive some big responsibilities. I am honestly pretty nervous, but God has promised to be with me every step of the way so I am ready to conquer the challenge.