I’M NOT COMING HOME?!?

(the humans of Gap D! Bold men & women of God! World changers! I love them!)

Hi friends! You might be wondering what this blog title is all about, so I’m just going to jump right into it. As you know, I’ve been in Georgia since August 24^th walking out the role of an alumni team leader. I’ve had the privilege of partnering with the Lord and closely walking alongside a team of six women as they learn and grow with the Father. The goal is that these three months have been full of being filled up so they can freely give what they’ve freely received once official out-of-country ministry starts in January. As an alumni team leader, my expectation was that I would spend three months in Georgia, say “see ya later” to the squad in mid-December, and follow their overseas missions journey from home through my phone screen. That plan has since changed, and I want to share those developments with all of you, as well as an exciting announcement! But first, to give you some context and hopefully help my story to make more sense, let me introduce you to Gap D’s leadership team!

Madison Goodwin-Hanni – Squad Mentor

Madie is a woman of God who carries herself with strength, honor, and joy.  She did 22 months on the field with the World Race before taking on a full time job with AIM a few years ago. She splits her time between office work and time on the field with her squads (she gets placed over a new gap year squad every year). Madie is there to spiritually disciple and guide not only the racers, but her leadership team as well towards intimacy with the Father. As squad mentor, there is literally nothing that Madie doesn’t do for us, and she goes above and beyond her job description every day. I am endlessly grateful for her leadership, guidance, and friendship in this season. Fun fact: Madie got married in August, and her wonderful husband Derek also works for AIM in their offices! Power couple if I’ve ever seen one and #goals !

(aren’t they a gorgeous couple?!? I mean come on!!)

Jewel Macauley and Carter Groves – Squad Leaders

Jewel and Carter are men and women of wisdom who walk in authority that the Lord has given them. Carter did 11 months on the field back in 2019 and then attended CGA, a discipleship school for former World Race participants, before committing to coming back and squad leading for Gap D. Jewel did 8 (ish?) months on the field last year before getting taken off the field early because of Covid. Despite the disappointment of last season, she was obedient to the Lord’s calling in returning to squad lead as well. Their role is to stay and disciple the squad for the entire nine months of their trip. They have quickly become two of my best friends, and it has been a joy to lead with them and learn from them!

(for some context we dressed up as characters from the Lion King for Halloween)

Cassi Davis, Ellie Miller, Alicia Young, Mo Nelms, and Grant Holdeman – Alumni Team Leaders

Let me tell you about these people!!! Men and women of the Lord who are radically obedient, who walk in grace and humility, who go against what our culture says that young adults have to be like, and who have such big Kingdom dreams. We are all between 19-21 years old and did Gap Year from September 2019-March 2020 (rip). We have all gotten so close as we have come alongside each other as we do our best to pour into, disciple, and love our respective teams. I am humbled every time I think about the fact that the Lord has given me the gift of friendship in the form of these brothers and sisters.

(left to right: Grant, Cassi, Alicia, Ellie, me, & Mo)

Time for that exciting announcement I mentioned earlier!!!!

Earlier this month, my squad learned that they are officially launching overseas to Costa Rica in January!!! All of the Racers, along with squad leaders Jewel and Carter, will be spending at least three months doing ministry in Costa Rica starting January 8^th, and (hopefully) one more to-be-determined Central American country until the end of May. . . and ***drumroll*** I WILL BE GOING WITH THEM!!! Long story short, I had felt the Lord asking me to have a “yes” in my spirit for squad leading since early this spring. I brought this up in a phone call with Kacie, my mentor from last year, who encouraged me to tell my current mentor Madie, so I did. After our conversation, my leadership team along with other spiritual mentors over the Gap Year program at AIM prayed about it, and I am being raised up as a squad leader for the last 5-ish months that Gap D has left in their trip! How exciting!!

You might be wondering what this transition will look like. Basically, as a squad leader I will come alongside Jewel and Carter and share in the discipleship of the squad as a whole. I will be over another team in addition to the team that I have been over for the last three months. I was placed with Team Stride, a group of five incredible, beautiful, spunky, bold, and precious women who are chasing after the Lord wholeheartedly (I’ll attach photos of the two teams I am over at the end of this blog, so stick around for that!). I am overjoyed that my squad has the opportunity to spend their first few months overseas in Costa Rica, a country that I fell head-over-heels in love with last year on my own race. I am equally overjoyed that I have the privilege of watching these men and women step into ministry and put into practice everything that they have learned over the last few months; everything from cultural training, spiritual authority, and showing Christ’s love to the marginalized and forgotten. Their ministry could look like a number of different things: anti-sex trafficking, serving with refugees, teaching English, building relationships with university students, kids ministry, skate ministry, etc.

With that being said, it would mean the world to me for you to continue to support my squad and I in prayer. We are all on break until January because Covid has made it difficult for all of us to return to campus for the last few weeks of the semester this December. We are continuing to hold raised up leader training, worship nights, and learning sessions over zoom for the next few weeks. Despite this unforeseen curveball, AIM is confident that squads will still launch internationally in January, and we are all determined to push forward in spreading the Good News internationally–while following all Covid guidelines in-country (such as arriving in Costa Rica with a negative Covid test) and keeping both ourselves and the people that we will be serving safe.

The transition from team leading to squad leading means that I have to fundraise an additional $3,000 in order to continue the work that the Lord has trusted me with in leading and discipling Gap D. That money will go towards my plane tickets, lodging, food, and international health insurance costs. If you are interested in being a part of what God is doing through me in the lives of not only the men and women of Gap D, but in the lives of those we will be serving in Central America, please reach out and we can talk about it! Donations made through the link in my blog are tax deductible (woot woot), but you can also donate through cash, checks, or Venmo/PayPal/Cashapp.

If you made it this far, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I am more thankful for all of the support that I have received over the last two years than I could ever put into words. Never would I have thought that my initial decision to take a gap year before starting college would lead to two consecutive years on the mission field, but I couldn’t be more grateful for the roller coaster ride that following Christ and His plan for my life has been. His ways are higher, and I learn more of the depths of what that means each and every day! As always, if you have any questions or would like to learn more about what I am doing, shoot me a message and let’s chat!

Blessings,

-Nicole

team stride!

(left to right: team leader Alicia, Emma, Anjali, me, Kenzie, Morgan, & Andi)

team shathal!

(left to right: Jamie, me, Brooklyn, Sydney, Kailey, Angelina, & Gretchen)