The Team

I will start this post by just expressing this overlying theme for this past missions trip: I just served on my all-time, favorite, most amazing team EVER! I'm actually really sad that we won't be serving together ever again, because I'm not sure any other team will ever measure up to this past one - and that is totally a fact.

That being said, I've been processing what my role was on this team. Prompted by the post before this, I was afraid from the start that my role on this team would be "grown-up wife of SPACE director" - and it was a role I did not want. I did realize it would be a difficult one to overcome, and I recognized that, to a certain extent, I'd be viewed that way by everyone we met. Knowing that we had on our team the most talented, able-bodied, intentional, dynamic, and motivating leaders on our team - 4 others to be exact - I made it clear to T from the start that on this team, I wanted to be in the background and let them shine. In doing so, THOSE leaders allowed the whole team to shine to the point that I still have some Christian Associate friends asking who those leaders were.

One example of leadership assumption by default of being the wife of "the" leader - when we arrived, T was to be given a tour of the properties we would be utilizing. Since our hotel was being utilized for the conference, there was no space large enough to run a full kids program, so we had a space up the street for that. For reasons I will never understand, only two people could go on this tour and for other reasons I don't understand T and I were chosen. It only took me a few seconds to conclude that it was silly for me to go on this tour because MY work on this conference was at our hotel, in a very small room working with all the 2 and under children. So, I suggested they take along another leader who would actually be working in this space!

Every one of our leaders on this trip did things sacrificially to allow our team members the maximum benefit, most missional experience possible - and they were extremely intentional about it. And our team members, all high school students, blew everyone away. And I mean that in the most amazing sense. There was not one student on our team who acted like anything other than the most responsible, incredible, mature, loving teenager ever. I'm honestly so proud of all of them. Of course, their leaders allowed them to shine. We had no choice!

Out of this team and the leadership, there is only one thing I would have changed (maybe more if I took a bit more time to really think about it) that stands out to me: our attitude in dealing with conflict that arose in working with others. It was something that united us as a team, was slightly unexpected and deserved a different response and could have had the potential to destroy what we were trying to do as a team. I am humbled by the fact that one of our teens, not a leader, reminded us daily that we were there for the kids. It was not about us at all. Thank goodness for Trev!

Working with the babies, while it was a sacrifice of sorts and created a very isolated feeling for a few of us, gave lb and I a taste of missional life from a very different perspective. We communicated with some of these families on a whole different level, spent gobs of time with incredibly well-adjusted toddlers (who were amazingly good-looking!) and bonded over poturdies and some of the messiest diapers I've ever seen! It was the perfect job for me, although quite stressful at times. It made me appreciate all the more seeing our team in action whenever I could.

Thanks, everyone, for making this the BEST MISSIONS TRIP EVER for me. I'm almost afraid to try this again for fear that the standard has been set way too high! You all are the best!