1. I need to rely solely on The Lord. This became a struggle for me the very first day of camp. My phone had already died from the plane ride there, and we were told we weren’t allowed to charge it. Usually, I’m pretty good about staying away from my phone, but for some reason this was extremely hard for me the first few days. All I wanted to do was text my mom and my best friend and make sure they were okay. I was scared every morning waking up in my tent. Of what, you ask? Everything. I had come to training camp without knowing anyone, I had no idea what the week would consist of, and I had no way of contacting people back home. I was (for lack of a better word) FORCED to rely on God. I mean, I had no one else. But I am so thankful for it. I have never had to rely on the Lord like I had to this past week. And he was so faithful! (surprise, surprise). He gave me people on my squad to comfort me and lead me to Christ while I felt swallowed by my fear.
2. I could really do more than I thought I could. One fear that I (along with most campers) had was the dreaded “fitness hike”. We were told it was a two mile hike we had to do under 40 minutes with our entire 30-pound pack on. I’ve been telling myself to go to the gym the past 3 months in order to get ready for this, and yeah that didn’t happen. But as the dreaded hike creeped in on the second day of camp, so did my realization that it was not as scary as it sounded. I walked with 5 awesome girls from my squad along a flat road and we had a great time. And! We were given granola bars afterwards, which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but check #4 and you’ll understand. The week as a whole was pretty physically challenging, but honestly nothing to fear and nothing I couldn’t handle (and that’s coming from someone who has never been physically fit in her life).
3. I had to stand on my own faith. I have never been so challenged in my faith like I was at Training Camp. Adventure in Missions is a Non-Denominational organization so they put a lot more emphasis on the Holy Spirit than my Baptist Church back home does. It’s funny because upon making my decision to go on the World Race, I had been asking God to expose himself to me in new ways. But when he started to do so, I was extremely uncomfortable and overwhelmed. Again, as I stated in #1, I didn’t have anyone but the Lord to run to when I had questions. I had to take my church, my friends, my mom, and my youth pastor out of my faith and base it completely on my personal relationship with God and His word. There were so many things I was confused about and had questions on, but it was so encouraging for me to be able to recognize my questions, seek out truths in scripture, and then be able to allow the Spirit to reveal Himself to me in ways He hasn’t before.
4. Always bring snacks. No matter where you go or where you are, make sure you always bring snacks with you. The food at Training Camp was surprisingly awesome, but with all the physical exercise we did every day, 3 meals just wasn’t enough. I learned how to save food, eat even when I wasn’t hungry, and mooch off of people lucky enough to have thought about bring extra things to munch on.
5. Not to care so much about what I look like. For those of you who know me, you know that I am always concerned with cleanliness and looking nice. Well, after going 6 days straight without even looking in a mirror and only changing clothes when a shower was needed, you kind of get over the need of having to look put together every day. It was actually sort of a relief to not care about how my hair and makeup looked at every point in the day. All of us were hot, all of us were covered in sweat, and none of us paid any attention to one another’s appearances.
6. No matter where I go, I am, and always will be, a girly girl. Just to kind of qualify that last point: I am still Alexis Dillon. I learned at Training Camp, that while getting dirty and wearing the same outfit 3 days in a row is fun, I still love looking and feeling nice and girly. We had one “off-day” at camp and I finally got to put on something other than gym shorts and a t-shirt, and man, was it great. I realized that at camp, and even when I’m on the field, I still can be myself. And I will happily get my pack and my towel monogrammed.
7. I will actually enjoy these people. Honestly, I was a little worried that I was going to have to go 9 months faking laughs and hiding my irritation with people. But I can say with complete honesty that I LOVE my squad. And every single person on it. I have never felt so comfortable and happy around an entire group of people like I did in C Squad. And the best part- THEY ALL LOVE JESUS. It’s so encouraging to be around 50 people who are all striving and working toward the same goal. Even though most of us were from different denominations, everyone was so accepting and open-minded to everyone else. I could really see Christ in all 47ish people in C Squad. I’m incredibly excited and thankful that those people will be with me for 9 months.
8. The Great Outdoors are pretty great (sometimes). Bucket showers, porta-potties, sleeping in tents and with spiders, and the oh-so-popular enoing all add up to making this past week pretty great. Now, I’m not at all saying that I have all of a sudden fallen in love with the natural life, but I can honestly say that it was fun being a tad bit more outdoorsy than usual. I was glad that although camping, hiking, or even being outside for that matter is not my strongest suit, I was able to complete the week with a smile on my face.
9. God breaks us, brings us to himself, and then makes us into something we could never be on our own. Not to scare anyone reading this hoping to go on the World Race, but I cried every day for the first 3 days of training camp. And I rarely ever cry! I had a spirit full of fear and anxiety. One day two amazing girls from my squad asked me if they could pray for me because they could see my distress (I guess I’m no good at hiding it), and although my fear didn’t go away instantly , they continued to pour into me and pray with me and point me towards Christ throughout the week. Well finally towards the end of the week, God replaced my spirit of fear with one of excitement! Those two girls and I were all placed on the same team, which means I will spend 9 months doing ministry with them. The coolest part? I was asked to be a team leader! So those girls that lead and assured me that this was where I am supposed to be will now be lead and supported by me! It’s awesome to see how God uses us and builds us up to glorify Himself!
10. This is exactly where I am supposed to be. If you’ve read my other blog post, you might be confused as to why I even questioned God’s calling in my life. Well trust me, I was confused too. Fear and doubt and discomfort creeped into my thoughts in the very beginning of the week that drove me to a point where I was sure that I was not going to take my 9 month trip with the World Race. But people from my squad (who only knew me for less than a week) were coming up to me and telling me that they knew I was supposed to be going on this trip (!!!). One guy from my squad asked me to tell him 3 words that were on my heart. I had no idea what to say, no one has ever asked me that question before. But I came to realize that there were 3 very clear words that God was laying on my heart at Training Camp, and these are it: I belong here.
