TEAM CHANGE

Hi everybody!

The beginning of month five has been busy and full of lots of change. Change is pretty common during the race, but this month we changed teams. I’m totally okay with change of location, food, where I’m sleeping and those kinds of things. But, change of people is hard. It’s hard to say goodbye to ministry hosts that we really love. It’s hard to say goodbye to the kids we’ve come to know and spend time with.

This month though, we had team change. I traveled for the first four months with one team. We started this adventure together, learned, grew, and laughed together. My first team, J-Walkers, will always have a special place in my heart.

Leading up to team change I went through a range of emotions. I was sad that we wouldn’t be together. We love each other a whole lot. I was nervous about what the new team would look like. Then three of the four teams lived together in Togo and I got to know everyone a little better and know their hearts a little more. By month 4 I was actually kind of ready for team change and excited to see what the Lord would do in and through our new team.

We learned our new teams while we were at debrief and I am beyond excited to spend the next however many months I get to with them.

My new team consists of Kristen, Anna, Adi, Alycia and myself. Our team is full of A’s and K’s and we have named our team A.K.A Kingdom Advancers.  

We have been at ministry almost a week now and it has been really cool to see us come together as a team already. We all bring different things to the team, but that is what makes us work well together.

Kristen was on my first team and we are fairly similar and get along really well. I am so excited we are on the same team again. She is kind, caring and protective and never wants anyone to feel left out. She brings peace to the room. She is hysterical and is a phenomenal photographer.

Anna was also on my first team (here I was worried about our team being split up and I still get to do life with two of them). I am so excited to continue to learn from her over these next couple of months. She is our team leader and loves us well. She asks hard questions and looks to the Scriptures for all answers. She has sweet dance moves and is always ready to jump into an African dance.

This is my first time on a team with Adi. We got along really well at training camp and I even stopped by her house in Georgia afterward. I am so excited to get to know her more. She loves kids and it is so fun to watch her love on kids around the world because she is really gifted at it. She is friendly and shares her heart openly and is just fun to do life with. She is creative and talented and puts together amazing videos.

This is also my first time on a team with Alycia. I love how much I have gotten to know her over the past week and am excited to continue to get to know her more. She is fierce. We are quite different, but that just means we can learn from one another. She asks great questions about the Bible and about why things are the way that they are (or aren’t). She is passionate and shares the power of the Gospel with everyone and anyone that she can. She encourages me to be bold. She is also goofy and fun and makes up words on a regular basis.

Team A.KA. Kingdom Advancers, I am so excited for what our future holds.

– Kayla