One week ago today I left the craziest ten days I’ve ever experienced. Training Camp.
I’ve had many people ask me how training camp was, and I never know what to say. It was the most physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting ten days I’ve ever experienced. It was also the most life giving ten days I’ve ever experienced.
I spent ten days living with strangers, who soon became family, in tents pitched out in the backwoods of Georgia.
We had backpacks that held everything we would need for camp including our shelter.
We ate meals family style, often without utensils and plates. I’m now a pro at scooping rice into my mouth with my hand. I think it should be a new resume skill.
We exercised almost everyday. And can I say those Georgia foot hills are no joke.
We took “showers” with five gallon buckets of freezing rain water.
Nights were cold. Really really cold.
We had a new scenario every night. We became accustomed to our leaders coming to us in the afternoons and telling us that we had to spend the night in the “airport” because we had a twelve hour layover, or that the airport had lost half of the squads luggage so we would have to bunk with a buddy until the airport could retrieve our luggage. They were getting us prepared for situations that will most likely happen on the field.
They also prepared us emotionally and spiritually for this next year on the field. We had three sessions a day were we were taught on topics of Identity, Intimacy with God, Holy Spirit Living, Stewardship, Forgiveness, Processing, Listening Prayer, the list goes on and on.
After they taught, we were able to put the disciplines to work with our community. It was beautiful. We prayed together, we cried together, we opened up old wounds together, we spoke life into one another. I learned what true community is during training camp.
I feel like my cup was running over by the end of camp. He broke chains of unforgiveness and shame in my life. I had words spoken over me that were life changing. My heart was broken once again for His children who are lost and hurting.
I think my biggest take away from training camp was how to process emotions. This is something that I’ve always struggled with. I’m not good at pointing out negative emotions and dealing with them. For a long time I would just bury my emotions and forget about them until the next time they popped back up. Here is some of the wisdom that we were taught.
- Emotions are part of our humanity and are what connects us to God.
- It’s healing that heals, not time.
- Think of negative emotions like a splinter. Acknowledge that it’s there, pull it out, and clean it.
- We need to steward our emotional capacity. Learn how to empty your emotional cup, because once it overflows you can’t control it.
- Learn how to feel your pain and receive comfort.
Processing has become part of my everyday life. One day at training camp, I had the opportunity to take a short nap in the woods in my hammock. It was amazing. I was rudely awakened from my nap by someone shaking me and telling me I had 3 minutes to get back to the campsite for a squad meeting. I was disoriented and groggy. One of my squad leaders came up to me and asked me if I was okay. My response was, “I haven’t had time to process waking up yet.” Processing is something I do almost subconsciously now. Even for the little things like waking up from a nap 
.
I am now more excited than ever to launch with my squad in January! I love these people so much and I can’t wait to see the transformation that happens in their lives over the next 11 months.
I still need about $5,000 to launch in January! Please keep me and my fundraising in your prayers. Pray that I will find opportunities to tell my story and gain supporters.
Thanks for reading! Love you all!
p.s. Watch this video if you have time!
