Well as most of you may have figured out, I was in Georgia all last week for Training camp. It was a challenging, exhausting, overwhelming, wonderful experience. Since I don’t even really know where to begin and because I love lists, I will do a list of 11 things that I learned while at training camp. (These are in no particular order and some may be serious, others not so serious). So here you go:
1. I can go 3 days without showering…I felt nasty but I did survive three days before I caved and had to take a cold bucket shower. I had never taken a bucket shower so that was an experience in itself but it got the job done and it was surprisingly pretty refreshing.
2. God is alive and present in my life and everyone else’s, it is just a matter of letting Him in and acknowledging Him. Ok, so I knew God was/is real and that He is present but before camp I had times when I struggled with letting God in and listening to His voice. This week we were challenged to actually take time to listen to God’s voice and to let the Holy Spirit in. It was a new experience for me but I loved it!
3. You really can go from being strangers to family in one weeks time. I came into camp not knowing one single person on my squad. Sure, I talked to some people on our facebook page but it was nothing like meeting them in person. L Squad is seriously the greatest group of 42 individuals you will ever meet. Everyone is so different yet we all share the same love for the Father. I can’t wait to serve with everyone over the next year.
4. Germs really aren’t a big deal. I shared bowls, spoons, food, etc with everyone this week and it didn’t bother me one bit. Usually I am a little hesitant about it but I decided that it didn’t matter and I am just building up my immune system. There was one point where we were trying the curry that we made over the campfire during our camp out and about 20 of us ate off of the same spoon. No one thought twice about it. It was great!
5. Port-a-potties aren’t too awful. Those were our bathroom options this week. Port-a-potties everyday. But I survived. It was a little rough not being able to wash my hands with soap and water but I got over that pretty quickly.
6. In my opinion, sleeping on a bus is awful. I’m not looking forward to the day when that happens but I guess I will just have to stay positive, because complaining won’t get me anywhere. (L Squad, you may have to remind me of that when the day comes)
7. Ron Walborn is a great speaker. He spoke on Spiritual Formation on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. It was great. I learned so much from him. If you haven’t ever heard of him I challenge you to look him up and listen to some of his podcasts. I just downloaded about 10-11 of them last night and can’t wait to hear more of what he has to say.
8. Sleeping in a tent is actually quite enjoyable. I mean I only got to sleep in my tent 4 of the 8 nights, but I enjoyed it; even the last two nights when I didn’t have a sleeping pad cause it got a hole in it. I think I can survive a year of it. (I will be getting a new sleeping pad though…suggestions anyone??)
9. I don’t like unpacking and packing my bag everyday. We had to pack up every morning and that wasn’t very fun. Luckily on the race we should only have to pack up at the end of the month, not every day. So I should be able to handle that.
10. My squad loves to dance. We danced at least one time everyday, actually probably multiple times a day. I may not be the greatest dancer but I learned you just have to let go and have fun with it. I have some pretty great dancers on my team so hopefully they can help me with my dance moves throughout this next year.
11. Speaking of my team, they are pretty awesome. Our team name is the Hungry Youngsters. The name was formed while laying on a dock by a lake in Georgia. We are all the babies of our families and we love adventure so that is where the Youngsters part comes in; and then we all want to stay hungry for more of God. We don’t want to ever lose that hunger for more of what God has for us…therefore, we are called the Hungry Youngsters. I can’t wait to do life with these five wonderful people over the next year. It’s going to be a great year!
My Team: L-R: Me, Scott Perez, Katie Allen, Megan Moffitt, Carli Torti, Chase Bonning
I also have to add that LSquad won SQUAD WARS! So that was pretty awesome!
So that was training camp. If you want more details, feel free to contact me via email ([email protected]) or facebook. I would love to share more of what God has done in my life and the lives of the ones I will be living life with the next year so just let me know!
P.S. Our route has changed a teeny tiny bit; we are now going to Cambodia first and then Thailand and then the rest are still the same (as of now).
