Mid-race Debrief

Hey hey!

It feels just like yesterday that I was leaving the -10 degree weather in Minnesota, yet my time in Africa is down to 3 more short weeks. It’s crazy to think I’ve been living out of a backpack for a little over 2 months, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

With time winding down, we had the chance to escape Manzini (the city we are living and ministering in) for a week-long debrief last week. This meant no ministry for a whole week (but that didn’t stop us from having some good conversations with the others at our hostel). The heart behind this debrief is a chance to wind down, rest, and reflect on all that we have encountered on this journey so far. My squad mentor, Hannah (we call her Avocado), even made the trek all the way to Africa to spend this week with us. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to talk with her 1-on-1, be encouraged by her, and take in all her advice on how to best finish out the race we have begun. She is also the cutest human and radiates the Lord’s joy— we love you, Hannah!

This week also involved a team debrief. My “squad” is the group that I came to Africa with and live with, but my “team” is who I do ministry with every day here in Manzini. We also come together as a team to reflect on ministry, study the Word, and check in with one another on how we are doing. My team here consists of 5 girls: myself, Chiara, Ren, Anna, and our God-sent leader Hanna. We have truly grown a lot as a team recently and are really good at tackling whatever is thrown at us. At debrief, we had the opportunity to reflect on how we want our team dynamic to be for the final month. I feel pretty blessed to be able to grow alongside these wonderful women of God.

Our debrief location was at a game reserve about an hour away from Manzini. The entire kingdom of eSwatini is beautiful, but this game reserve was next level. We took lots of adventure walks and hikes together to take in all the breath-taking scenery, as well as run into some African animals along the way. God sure knew what He was doing when He created this place.

We took the week off running, which meant I got to sleep in! I hit an all-trip record of sleeping until 8am one of the days. The rest was very needed, but my body is resisting 5am running club the past few days. My marathon-training injuries are trying to sneak back. Living out of a backpack means no foam roller, so I’ve been making do with a frozen Gatorade bottle. My chiropractor would be so proud.

Last week was so much fun and I definitely feel closer to each one of my squadmates because of it. Between the long walks, deep conversations, dinner cooking, game nights, and rides in the pickup truck bed, I’m holding on to these sweet moments before our time is up. One of my favorites was crushing 6 cans of apple spritzers (aka Appletisers) with my leader Jerod and new bestie Bri at our squad dinner. Another was when all the men decided to copy my hiking outfit by tucking their shirts into their shorts like they always make fun of me for (funny picture below!). These people keep me laughing, that’s for sure.

Leaving debrief we only had a month left and with this week already done, that leaves 3 more weeks. I’m excited to see everyone back home, but I’m definitely not ready to leave my favorite kiddos here or my amazing squadmates who live all over the states. I am cherishing this time I have left with everybody. The Lord has been so faithful with the people He’s brought into my life lately.

As always, I love you all and so does Jesus! See ya’ll soon!