Training camp for the World Race was a week of adventure including strange sleeping arrangments, strange and small portions of food, and losing rights and expectations.
First night of training camp- Our "supposed" sleeping arrangment for the week involved sleeping in our tents.
HOWEVER- one of many challenges at training camp involved learning how to deal with unexpected (or slighty predictable) mishaps. On Monday night, we "traveled" to South America, and half of our squad lost their packs. We worked together as a squad to make sure everyone had a place to sleep for the night, and cleanish clothes to wear.
The second unexpected sleeping arrangement involved cramming 61 people, with 40- 60lbs packs, onto a 48 passenger bus (apparently, this really will happen next year). Luckily, I borrowed nyquil from a squad mate, and slept about 6 hours (more than most of my squad mates). This was the warmest of all sleeping arrangments!
Hiking to our third unknown sleeping destination…
The lake! (more like a swamp). This is our team deciding how we would use the items we were given in order for everyone to eat and sleep.
Some of my awesome squadmates cooking chicken and vegatables over a fire…very resourcesful group of people!
My contribution for the evening…roasting my own marshmallow (or maybe 4)
Getting our sleeping arrangments situated on the tarp- PTL for sleeping pads!
The next morning- yes it is as cold as it looks. I slept the least during this sleeping arrangment because I was freezing!
Each day of training camp highlighted a specific country during meal times. We all followed the traditions of the country, which were described at our tables. Monday was Asia day, so we used chopsticks, and made sure to leave a little bit of food in our bowls, so we didn't indicate we wanted more!
First breakfast of training camp- Fish head soup
This was Africa day. The ladies served the men first, then we sat on the floor, and ate with our fingers. For lunch, we ate Ugali (meat and cornmeal), which was quite tasty in comparison to fish head soup, and much more filling than others meals we had throughout the week.
Each squad took turns cleaning the dishes after mealtime (that's me in the organge shirt)
Ron Walborn presented teachings during the first few days of training camp. He is the dean of seminary at Nyack College, which was a college I almost attended. His teachings BLEW me away, and challenged my Pneumetology (study of the Holy Spirit). More to come on this topic in my next blog.
N Squad Ladies on the last night of training camp before squad wars! Great team of women! I'm on the bottom left with really tall blue hair (idea credit goes to my squad mate, Melissa Milroy!)
Me and Julie at Squad Wars on the last night of training camp…yes our squad color is blue!
My team! While I will be traveling with a squad of 61 people, I will be working with these 8 amazing individuals at specific ministry sites in each country. A few days of training camp included group exercises in order to form teams. Props to our trainers for spending so much time, energy, and prayer into organizing teams! I really love this group of people!
From top left: Me (Jesse), Julie, Kylie, Eric; Middle: Molly; From bottom left: Meredith, Abby, Brianna
