Tyler, Tim, Kyle, Max, A.J., Kent, Aaron, Jenna, Bethany, Shelby, Heather, Heather, Asya, Taelor, Alyssa, Hallie, Millie, Sarah, Jessica, Stephanie, Cortni, Savannah, Micaiah, Bekah, Kristen, Emily, Morgan, Sara, Katherine, Tom, Jill and Kyle, (aka Larry Bird)
I'm sitting here, in the Liberty University Bookstore parking lot, after just sending off the last two of our team members. Standing here and watching the last of our team drive away brought a lot of emotions, a smile, a couple of tears (probably because of Sara, even though she isn't here, she's made me tear up more times than I can count in the last 24 hours,) a sense of relief and then a slight feeling of panic.
The smile came because of all of the memories that hit me at once. Watching all of the students drive up for training camp, the utter panic and excitement that I saw on your faces as you checked in at Training Camp was priceless, it's even more entertaining now that I know you all. Tyler curling up on the bus floor to talk with Sara, Katherine, Tom and me in the middle of the night on our bus ride home. Max and Sara and the Milky Way. Millie marching around with her measuring tape and supervisor voice. Clearing brush that first day and realizing just how much work was cut out for us. Zip lining even though I wasn't supposed to and knowing that y'all would keep my secret. Trying to do a head count while everyone's running through the airport. Watching Sara debate whether she wanted to jump into a bottomless hole or just avoid the experience altogether. Listening to the testimonies and the prayers of our family. Sprinting for food when the Texas team of sharks nearly took out our dinner. Listening to the guys sing the songs that they wrote. Watching Sara and Morgan bond over their dish washing experience. That first bus ride to the camp. Sitting on the rock path with Sara and crying with laughter over her wipe outs. Watching everyone come out from the cabins to have devotions during our GL meetings in the morning. And so many more!
The tears came because I realized just how much all of you have become a part of my life and have changed me in so many ways. I love the fact that anyone could sit anywhere at dinner and be a part of whatever group was sitting there. I will miss the hugs that I got every morning as you all stumbled into the main cabin, half asleep. Knowing that no matter what happened during the day, everyone was there for each other was such a strange but great experience. I'd never bonded with a such a large group of people in such a deep way in such a short time. I remember looking at Morgan on Day #4 and saying, "I've only seen teams bond like this at the very end of a trip, what's it going to look like when we get home?" And I can truly say, I never expected us to be this close. We really are a family.
The sense of relief came when I realized that we all made it home, in one piece :) Through the scorpions, roofing, brush burning, bus riding and exhaustion, we have successfully made it back to the States. I am so proud of you all for being so strong and willing to do whatever we asked you to do. To the fire bugs of our trip, you know who you are, thank you for not going up in flames. To A.J., we will never let you live the zip line down. To all of the team members who went through weird rashes, 85 million bug bites, sprained ankles and heat exhaustion, thank you for taking everything with laughter. To Tim, I still want to know if that was sun poisoning or a concrete burn :)
The feeling of panic came and went in one brief second. I've been preparing for this trip for over a year now, praying about what trip to go on, meeting the leaders of our team, going through training, praying for you all, packing and dragging myself up to Lynchburg at some crazy hour to prepare for Training Camp. I can honestly say, this has been one of the best experiences of my life, partially because of the work that we did and what we accomplished, but mostly because of who you all are and how much we have grown.
I cannot wait to see what the Lord does in your lives over the next few years! Stay strong throughout your next year of high school or college, whichever you are going into. You just made it through three intense weeks of construction work in a foreign country! All it takes to make it through each day is a lot of prayer and help from the Lord, and the knowledge that you have 32 new family members that will drop anything to help you no matter what is going on.
I love you all so much!
Brittany
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