I’ve been living with the same 5 women for the past 3 months…You heard that right; I’ve been breathing the same air, with the same girls, since the race started. It’s been the most edifying and joyful three months to this date. A lot of people told me before the race how when living with girls, to expect drama and gossip and that’s been the farthest from the truth with these women. There have been hard moments, and conversations, for sure, but nothing we weren’t able to work out together. 

While we were at debrief in Guatemala, our mentor told our squad we were having a surprise team change. She told us we had 20 minutes to say goodbye to our team and get ready for the switch. We all went into a room to say goodbye and I didn’t realize how much I loved these girls until I was faced with losing them. Which sounds SO DRAMATIC because they aren’t dying by any means, but it would be a different  dynamic not being able to do life with them daily, while they live in another city. Fast forward 30 minutes and we were the only team that stayed together…. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. The mentors and coaches all told us when they came together and prayed about it they all heard from the Lord that He wasn’t done with us as a team. There was more to be done with us together. And man have we seen that be the truth for Romania. 

When we got to Romania there was a huge difference in the unity of our team. We knew Romania would be a shift compared to the mountain in Guatemala but I don’t think we really knew what it would look like. In Guatemala we lived on a mountain alone, with no cell service, and all had our separate tents. We had no choice in our free time but to choose eachother. In Romania we all have access to our phones, are doing ministry with another team, and share the same bedroom and bathroom…. we knew there was opportunity for tons of distraction between us.

When we got here none of us really cared to be unified, there was some tension in the room with certain situations. Everyone was brushing comments and conversations under the rug for the first week. We all thought we were just “adjusting” but I think we knew deep down there were some things we needed to work out. 

I talked to my team leader, Riley, about bringing this up during team time and she thought it would be a good idea. We started the conversation with the differences we’re seeing from here vs the mountain and why, but also how to fix it. During our conversation I asked “does everyone still have the desire to be unified?” Walking and doing life as a unified group is hard, but so is going about it separately. So we needed to pick our hard. We either choose eachother daily and press in to work things out, or walk on egg shells around eachother and do life separately. 

We all openly talked about what we’re feeling with eachother and why, talked about how to move forward and tangible steps we all needed to take to get back to moving as one body. We didn’t wake up the next morning to a different situation but it was the daily pressing in that got us back to where we all started. There were more uncomfortable conversations had, but they were necessary for us to grow. In the weirdest way, I feel like the Lord is refining me for marriage with these women lol. 

Although we are far from perfect, I can confidently say something I admire about this group is that we’ve created a space of vulnerability and honesty with eachother. If I’m doing something that annoys anyone they have permission to call me out on it and same with me and the other girls. There’s no hurt feelings in the calling out because we know it all comes from a place of love. Lord knows the amount of times Amanda has looked at me and said “SAAARRRUHHHH” and I know dang well I’m doin something that’s annoyed her.

That’s all, my team is full of women who will fight for you, pray over you, challenge you, let you cry on their shoulders, but also redirect you to the Lord. I truly am a better friend because of them. Get you some friends like them, but not these ladies, they are mine :)