Volunteering for 10 days internationally with Venture 2 Impact when you don’t know anyone else on the volunteer team can be scary. While some of our volunteers sign up with a friend or colleague, many do not. When I led my first V2I volunteer experience in Indonesia in 2017, I was anxious about whether the other volunteers would like me, whether we would have anything in common, and whether I could belong to the community. Not to mention the fact that I wanted to make an important contribution to the development work we were doing. While transiting, sharing meals together, working, and playing cards together in the evenings, I had opportunities to ask my fellow volunteers questions and to share vulnerably about my life – if I had the courage to share. I was grateful for our “team time” discussions, facilitated conversations that enable volunteer teams to reflect and educate ourselves on important topics such as poverty and identity, which created a safe space for honest conversation and connection. By the end of the program, I knew that the volunteers I had the privilege of spending 10 days with were genuine friends. And many of them still are!