Here’s to L Sqaud, and All I Learned Alongside Them

Just about a year ago, or more accurately 11 months ago, I was approaching final debrief with G squad. I learned a lot from all my sweet G squad friends, which you can read about here. 

 

Now, I have wrapped up final debrief with my sweet L squad friends. And with, at least what I think will be, my last World Race squad (although anything is possible). 

 

L Squad is a fierce group of all women, who came to training camp ready and willing to go and do missions around the world. 

 

I started in Costa Rica with Team Bloom where we ended up in quarantine, but thrived as a team and loved each other well. We sabbathed well and learned what rest looks like. 

 

Month 2 took us to a tiny town in Nicaragua. It was our first all-squad month and it’s where I finally felt like I got to know the whole squad. It was a lot of figuring out dynamics and learning to seek the Lord in tasks that could feel very mundane.

 

Colombia brought maybe my favorite place on this race. It was a busy ministry schedule and there was plenty about it that was challenging, but I loved the people and the ministry here so very much. Connections with the squad were deepened and we went on fun adventures like paragliding and science museums.

 

Ecuador brought another quarantine, but this time with the whole squad. We pulled together and made the best of a challenging situation. A couple of us also read the whole Bible in a month and this brought some of my favorite Bible talk conversations.

 

By the Grace of God we miraculously all tested negative for Covid and were able to make our flight to South Africa. Here the squad adjusted to new teams and stepped into doing things on their own as Lubbock and I returned to the States. 

 

I ended up with a bonus month with the squad in Swaziland where everyone slowed down and many had breakthroughs in intimacy with the Lord. 

 

I, again, got a little bonus time with the squad in Romania, this time only for one short week. But here I saw them try to be present and to finish strong as the end of their race was rapidly approaching. 

 

I love this group of women and am so thankful for my time with them, both the planned countries and the surprise bonus ones. Cheering them on was and is one of my greatest honors and watching each of them seek the Lord and grow more in their identity with Him has been my most favorite thing. 

 

So here’s to L squad, and to all I learned from them, and what I learned on the field alongside them:

 

I saw incredible examples of what it looks like to fight for others, to have a heart for justice and to fight for it on behalf of the people you love. I felt fought for, and loved watching my girls fight for each other. 

 

The BOTH/AND. The Lord taught me so much about holding BOTH. We tend to take things as happy or sad, good or hard, we like it or we don’t. But, throughout this race I have seen so much of the both/and. Ending with G squad while starting with L squad felt both like loss and tremendous gain. Leaving my really sweet Gainesville community to go back out on the field felt really sad and so incredibly exciting. Colombia was my absolute favorite place, and some really hard things happened there. It’s both. God holds both, we can hold both. It’s actually incredibly beautiful to do so. 

 

HOPE. The Lord taught me so much about what it looks like to Hope. It looks a lot like risk. I saw several of my girls walk this out and learn this too. It was a pleasure to be part of that journey and to learn alongside them. 

 

Resilience. I learned this with G squad too, maybe there’s just something in watching a group of people you love deeply and are cheering on so whole-heartedly continue to press on, that teaches and re-teaches me about resilience. Things get hard, and that’s okay, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to quit. These girls showed me that. It looks different in each and every one of them, but it’s resilience nonetheless. 

I saw gentleness in action

I watched them fight to love each other well

I was loved well

I saw them sit at the feet of the Father

I watched them love on ministry hosts and new friends in every country

I watched them celebrate birthdays harder than any group of people I know

I saw growth. And freedom. 

I watched them work HARD, and very actively serve people around the world

I was challenged

I grew

I made new friends

 

So here’s to L Squad, so thankful for this last season of life.

 

Miss you all