Days 135-138: REUNITED! (1/18-1/21/21)

For the first time in a full month, we are finally back together as a full team! Our four quarantiners are set free today, after all of them have been in one of the NET houses for a week and tested negative. We got up early in Wisconsin, and returned to the NET Center to pick them up. We were able to hug, praise the flipping Lord, and we celebrated by doing Team Prayer. Once finished, we packed up their bags, and visited the Scarfone family. The Scarfones' hosted the the ladies the first week on the road, and invited us to go sledding on their large backyard hill, which was a blast. From there, it was time to begin our trek down south, with pit stops in familiar places. First off, Omaha, Nebraska, home of our own Amanda Baker. Her parents' took us in for the evening, and it was such a relief having a meal with the full team. It does feel weird, though, having everyone together again. I'm not sure why... eh, we'll figure it out. . . We spent the morning getting a few things done: oil change, haircuts, and exploring Omaha in Men's/Women's Session. We also did Team Prayer at the Holy Family Shrine, a beautiful church the sits on a hill outside of Omaha, overlooking the farmland and highway. It was really beautiful, getting to do Praise and Worship there. From there, it was a quick 3 hour drive to Kansas City, MO, to stay with our own Samantha Christy's family! We had met them briefly back in September, but getting to spend the night with her 8 other siblings was so much fun! They are all so unique, and you can have a different conversation with a different Christy kid. As a celebration, we ended the evening with a dance party, headed by Samantha's 20-year old brother Max. Dancing the night away was exactly what I needed, and I'm grateful for it. . . We left the next morning to continue heading south, arriving at another familiar site: Little Portion Hermitage in Berryville, AR, with Brother John! We stayed at the monastery in September, and it was great experience for everyone that we still talk about. This time, we had guests: NET Team 8! They are one of my favorite NET teams (outside of mine of course), highlighted by Adam (Amanda's brother, who was in my training small group last year), Sarah Beth (my teammate last year), Melanie (one of my closest buddies from NET), James and Patrick (from my training small group this year), and 5 other awesome peeps. We get to spend the next couple days with them, relaxing and being with each other. It's not often you get to see other NET teams, but we've been blessed to see three!! How nutty. . . Team Prayers with another team and led by Brother John hit so different. He did a more contemplative team prayer the first night, and a more charismatic prayer the second night, both were incredible and left us all in awe. In terms of service, the guys were able to cut some bamboo-like wood down in their garden, while the ladies helped label food packages. The highlight of the Hermitage stay was easily joint-skit/entertainment practice. The two skit leaders, Samuel and Sarah Beth, absolutely killed it! It was so much fun, sharing our comedic talents with one another. Yet, this place was so healthy for our team for many reasons. The main being, we are all finally on the same page. Something I didn't realize was how difficult it was not being together as a team for January Training. Moreover, we were all coming from different places, and we had to talk things out in person rather than virtually. The whole energy of the team had felt really strange upon having a team meeting, which ended up being really healthy for us, and I felt better immediately. Simply, Arkansas was our January Training, and now I am confident in being able to thrive in ministry as a full team. Of course we will struggle this year, but we're starting on the right foot.