Logistics!!!!!!

Okay.. this blog has been a long time coming; I have been wanting to write it for the past week and a half, but I’ve been so busy! (sorry loyal blog fans) so here we go…..

     September 9th,
I was informed that my leaders wanted to me be apart of one of the squad roles!  

     For those who don’t know what that means, essentially, there are various jobs/roles that our leaders and mentors empower us to work in as a way to serve our squad while we’re out in the field.

See some examples of said roles, and their duties, below:
– Hospitality: plan special celebrations (birthdays, holidays, etc.), communicate with ministry hosts in each country
– Treasury: deal with all things money
– Storyteller: promotes testimony sharing, runs squad social media, sharing our squads collective testimony
– Beauty for Ashes: run our woman’s ministry program, ministering to woman in our squad and in other countries
– Logistics: in charge of getting visas, travel days (planning transportation and navigating our squad to, from, and through the airport), and filing receipts for team/squad spending 

(There are plenty more roles that I won’t get into, but they are all amazing and are an important part of our squads ministry!)

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this blog, I was invited to join my squads logistics team! And as you also probably guessed from all the exclamation points following the title, I’m super exited about it!!!!
But when Braden Morris (head of Logistics/one of my squad leaders) first told me about me being a candidate, I was NOT exited at all.
Logistics, was in fact, the absolute last job that I ever thought I’d get picked for; I wasn’t even worried about getting picked for it because I didn’t think anyone would ever think me fit to do such a technical, important job! It’s got a lot to do with planning and organizing; transportation from country to country, travel days, even dealing with squad finances! Basically it’s a SUPER IMPORTANT role with A LOT of responsibility. I had literally no idea why they wanted me to do this job.

     So, September 9th,
I walk into the training center (into a leaders only area, cuz I’m a rebel like that) in search of a leader to advise me on what to do about my currently flooded tent. I ended up finding Braden! And after triumphantly throwing his passport on the ground (announcing that it had not been ruined by the rain) in a very ADHD like fashion, he looks up at me and says “Ellie, I need to talk to you.”

He proceeds to tell me that I have been picked as a candidate for the best of all the squad roles. So, of course, I think I’ve got Hospitality! But no.. “Logistics” is what he told me. 

Months ago, I’d heard about this job form Ethan Kinzley (a past world racer) and, at the time, I knew in my bones that I’d never be fit for such a job; such responsibility. But when Braden told me, “we have full faith that you can do this job and do it well”, I started to think “well maybe I could”. If these people believed in me, these leaders that I respect and value the opinion of, that not only gave me confidence that they can do what they say I can do, but it gives me motivation to do good in order to serve my squad. 

I felt so unqualified when I first took this position, and now (a week and a half later) I still feel unqualified lol. But I also know that people believe in me and believe that God has called me to take on this role. And I believe that too.

I believe God is calling me to be stretched. To get uncomfortable, and do hard things (Talitha Koum). I will rise up to the challenges God calls me to, just as the little girl rises from her death bed when Jesus calls her to in Mark 5:41. Now is a time I get to grow!!!

And learn to depend heavily on the Lord. (: