What’s up everyone! Many of you who read my previous blog post know that I recently went to WR training camp. In my last blog I talked a lot about the fun times and amazing things my squad got to experience at training camp. However, there is one thing that I chose to leave out and not talk about. I was saving this piece of information because it %100 deserves its own blog post. Today, in this blog that you are reading, I am going to tell you all about it!
I mentioned my “squad” a lot in the last few blog posts. My squad consists of about 50 people. This group of 50 people is made up of our squad’s leadership team and 44 racers. At training camp our leadership team divided us 44 racers into 7 different “teams”. These teams definitely were not random. In fact, our leadership team spent months of praying over us and relying on the Lord for guidance in how we should be placed into teams. At training camp we also did many team activities with different groups of people. This gave our leaders a visual of how different groups of people might work together. By the end of training camp our leaders had these 7 teams picked out. The team we are on is who we will be primarily living with and doing ministry with on the field. The big news I was saving for this blog post is about my AMAZING TEAM! I’m so excited about my team of 6 people and I can’t wait to do life and ministry with them starting in Costa Rica in January! So I’m going to get right into it and introduce y’all to my 5 teammates!
I wanted each of my teammates to have their own introduction. Therefore, I asked each of them a few questions for them to answer. I will also be including some other fun information about each of them that wasn’t in my specific list of questions.
These are the questions I asked each of my teammates:
- What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
- What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
- What is your favorite color?
- What are you on the enneagram?
- How can people be praying for you?
My team is made up of 6 people, including myself. Something cool about my team is it is 1 of 3 coed teams on our squad. I will try my best (I’m not the greatest tech person) to upload a team picture at the end of this blog post. The picture you will (hopefully) see is of my team at training camp. In the picture from left to right you have JD, me, Rachel, Tymon, Daniel and Annie. To make this the easiest, I’m going to introduce each of my amazing teammates to you in that order!
JD
JD is 21 years old from Seattle, Washington. On the enneagram, JD is a 1 wing 9, which he just found out and is still exploring. He says his favorite color is either blue or purple.
What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
“It is hard to narrow it down to simply one thing I am excited about with The World Race. I am very excited to experience different parts of the world and see the different ways people live while also getting to see more of God’s beautiful creation. I am also excited to do all of that while living in a community and becoming a family with my team.”
What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
“What I have learned since training camp is that it is very easy to take your eyes off Jesus. If you wake up one day without the motivation to die to yourself and focus on Jesus that can quickly throw you down the wrong path. You must constantly be keeping your eyes on Jesus and not letting your foot off the gas.”
How can people be praying for you?
“Ways that you can be praying for me: that I will have a constant focus on Jesus in everything, and that I will be confident in who I am and the gifts God has given me. Thank you, and much love.”
Rachel
Rachel is 24 years old from Tennessee. On the enneagram Rachel is a 9 wing 1. Her favorite color is purple “because it represents loyalty”.
What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
“Getting to be surrounded by young adults who LOVE the Lord while putting what I’ve learned this year into action!”
What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
“God has just really put a passion in me for the gospel. I’ve been more aware of what people preach/teach and how that can be received by the listeners/shape their beliefs.”
How can people be praying for you?
“That I remain present in the last few months at home and make the most of my time here.”
Tymon
Tymon is 29 years old from Houston, Texas. His favorite color is dark gray.
What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
“1. The new community 2. The missional lifestyle 3. The stripping away of myself and the deeper revelation of who Jesus is that comes with letting go. 4. A deeper understanding of my identity in Christ”
What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
“That it’s ok to be vulnerable and that I don’t always have to have it all together for Him to use me. He just needs me to say “yes”. “
How can people be praying for you?
“Sometimes I can get in the way of how the Lord wants to use me because of a need to control. Even in ministry, I catch myself defaulting to operating in my own strength. So please pray for that.”
Daniel
Daniel is 21 years old from Yorktown, Virginia. Daniel is an 8 on the enneagram. He says his favorite color is black but if he had to pick a “color color” then it would be red.
What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
“I’m most excited about being able to be used by God to spread His will, purpose and love in any way I can, as well as living in a community as supremely God centered as this one.”
What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
“God has been teaching me about and showing me His power in ways I has never understood before. I understood His love, purpose and dedication, but His supernatural and eternal power was always something I had never witnessed or understood until now.”
How can people be praying for you?
“I would ask that people pray for peace and wisdom for me as I leave behind some things in America and commit fully to what God has for me in this season of life.”
Annie
Annie is 23 years old from San Antonio, Texas. She is a 9 wing 1 on the enneagram and her favorite color is lavender!
What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
“I am so excited and feel extremely blessed that God has allowed me to go back out internationally and continue missions for a second year. When my first squad and I came off of the field in March due to covid, a lot of things were unknown and situations seemed slightly hopeless. God has continued to prove over and over this year, though, that His plans are infinitely better than our own. He has granted a double portion! I am excited for the level of dependence and faith that being on the World Race requires, it is a beautiful place to be with God.”
What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
“God has been teaching me a lot about how to end a season well. I am coming to the end of World Race America, which I have been doing since August with 5 girls from my previous squad. Once I went to training camp for this trip coming up in January, it made the fact that I have a new squad, a new team and a new adventure ahead very real. It’s so exciting it can be easy to jump ahead to the next big thing! God has been teaching me though, that the way that you end your current season is how you begin the next. He has given me so much grace in mourning the end of World Race America and truly enjoying the beginning of World Race with H-Squad!”
How can people be praying for you?
“Prayers for God’s endurance and provision! After this year of doing missions I am truly relying on Him in all areas (financially, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, etc) I pray that I always remain this way :)”
Now…. I feel like it’s only fair that I answer these questions too, considering I was the one that put my teammates on the spot. Plus, the Lord is teaching me to be vulnerable and share my life with others right now anyways, so yeah.
What are you most excited about for the WR/ this next year?
I’m most excited about living in this God centered community and learning from each person on H-Squad. I also can’t wait to grow in my relationship with The Lord and get to share, receive and experience His love and faithfulness wherever I go.
What has God been teaching you/ what have you been learning since training camp?
Oh boy, where do I even start?.. haha! I feel like the Lord is teaching me SO much at the moment. To name a few, He is definitely teaching me how to depend on only Him and release whatever “control” I think I have on my life. Learning to let God take over/control every area of your life is a hard process to learn but it’s definitely so rewarding. I’ve seen so much fruit in letting go and letting God be completely in control in only the past couple of weeks. I’m also learning how to be more vulnerable. Vulnerability is so important if you are seeking growth. Finding a person or small group of people you trust and know you can be completely vulnerable with, is so important and life changing.
How can people be praying for you?
I’d love it if you’d pray for my “grace in the process”. The process of fundraising, this time period leading up to launch and also during the WR. Pray that I will have clarity in what the Lord is wanting me to do during this time. That I’m always intentional with my time and I don’t waste it. Time is a precious gift that we take for granted often. Also, pray that my focus stays on what really matters and that all the worldly nOiSe around me doesn’t distract me. Thanks for the prayers in advance! 🙂
ALRIGHT! So… these are my five awesome teammates that I get to do life and ministry with on the World Race! We are all SO excited about this team and we are looking forward to January 8th! Oh yeah, also, we actually had to come up with a team name this week! Maybe in a future blog I’ll touch on how we came up with our team name, but for now…. I’d like to let everyone know that we are officially Team Fresh Fire!! 🙂 I hope y’all enjoyed getting to know a little bit about each of my teammates, as well as get to know their hearts. They are all incredible people and I know that I am going to learn so much from each one of them.
As always, thanks for reading,
Team Fresh Fire, out! *cool guy & peace sign emoji*
