Play Hard: Community

Last week I found myself unexpectedly in a group headed for “la madera” — a Spanish word we’ve all come to know translates to a long walk up and down the mountain to a clearing with a bunch of fallen trees and typically a man in a cowboy hat with a chainsaw measuring out lumber and cutting it right before our eyes, followed by a long walk down and up the mountain with your freshly cut lumber on your shoulder or your hip or your head (wherever you can stand it for a few minutes). It’s hard and heavy work, and the long walk leaves a lot of time to think. 

I ended up thinking a lot about the paths we were walking on. Well-worn, lined with towering trees and little flowers, muddy and rocky and just about everything in between.

I wondered how many men walk that path daily coming and going to where they can find work. How many women with babies on their hips have walked that way to visit a friend or run an errand. How many kids know that trail as the way to their favorite friend’s house. How many people have walked that path simply because their curiosity couldn’t stand the not knowing what was at the end of it. 

And then a few days later, I found myself again wondering about the path I was walking on. 

On our team’s “adventure day,” we hiked to the waterfall on our mountain. We’d been hearing about la cascada since we arrived many weeks ago and all were holding out hope we’d get to have some fun… and we finally had the opportunity to go!

We were prepped with the information that we’d be taking the longer but easier route, but ended up half-walking, half-sliding down the mountain side of a stranger’s coffee farm on what was in fact not the easier route. 

As we found ourselves slipping and laughing and grabbing the trees beside us and both saying and asking “you good?” over and over, I couldn’t help but think about the nonexistent trail we were on. How maybe after 20 sets of feet all attempted to find the same footing, there might be the beginnings of a new path forming. But also how if no one followed again behind us, the terrain would soon takeover again and the next adventurer would find him or herself sliding in a similar way through the clearest space they could find. 

We finally made it to the waterfall, elated and ready to see what all the hype was about. We waded around in the pool directly under it and dunked our heads beneath the falling water. We laughed a lot and took a few photos and some people got baptized! 

It felt like such a sigh of relief to be there and simply get to play hard and enjoy. After weeks of hard work with few monumental “fun” things, it was more exciting than getting to drop your piece of lumber at the end of your walk back from the madera… and that’s very exciting. 

“Play” looks very different on the Race than it does back in the states, and it almost all revolves around community. We play a lot of card games and sometimes watch movies, we’ve made many friendship bracelets and have so much fun with improv games. 

The community aspect of the World Race is one of the hardest and most beautiful things about it. Going from being completely independent, to having someone else decide when and what you eat for breakfast and what you’re doing everyday can be a big change. Transitioning from having freedom to go wherever and do whatever and deciding if I wanted to be alone or around people, to being told the distinct and small boundaries of where I can walk alone and only finding solitude in my own tent has been a challenge. 

Community is good and hard, and fun and stretching. I’m still learning how to do it well and how to build it up strong, but I’ve figured out that the best community is one that can work hard and play hard. 

Prayer requests right now: 

• for our goodbyes to the place we’ve called home for the past two months! The relationships we’ve built here are fun and sweet, and it’ll be hardest to say goodbye to new friends. 
• for rest and renewal over the course of our debrief (starting next week). We’ll be in El Salvador for it, and I’m looking forward to the squad being together again, sleeping in a real bed, and taking hot showers again!!! 
• for smooth transitions as we say hello to new ministry in Nicaragua soon! 
• for my fundraising 🙂 myself and a couple other squad mates are still fundraising, and we’d love if you would pray for us and it! 

Let me know how I can be praying for you, and as always, thanks for following along, friend. 🙂