Training Camp for the World Race- Gainsville, GA
October 8th through the 18th contained the craziest 10 days of my life! It was the most challenging, exciting, and insane week and a half I have ever experienced! It stretched me on every level: physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally- and I grew in each of these areas.
I flew out three days before camp started to take part in the MAN Hike on the Appalachian Trail, emphasis on the man part… We quickly learned that this was not what we were expecting. When the dust settled and we all collapsed at the end of the hike, it had gone down like this: 22 miles hiked carrying 40 lbs. packs through rain, rock, and mud, we drank water from streams, tried to replace the 50,000,000 calories we burned (the trail was seldom flat), and we sustained one casualty- one of my squad-mates had to be rescued by paramedics and hospitalized, but that is another story. This was the hardest thing any of us had ever done.
After tackling that beast, we knew the rest of the week would be a breeze. Training camp itself was simply nuts! Each day we had a different culture’s food and each night we had a different sleeping scenario… We were overjoyed to sleep in our own tents (alone) after a while. As for showering, my squad’s chant was, “Embrace the stank!”
Looking at the teachings/worship, God broke in to me and changed everything! At the first session, right off the bat, I was overwhelmed with the love of God. His presence was uncontainable! I was tearing up, barely able to speak, before we even sang the first song! God spoke truth in to my life, bringing out my true identity, telling me who I truly am.
Over the course of the week, God “moved some furniture around” in our hearts. He arranged things in our lives the way He wants them. He had to make room for Truth and toss out the crappy old junk we had filled ourselves with, namely the lies we had been believing for far too long.
All in all, it was a killer week! It was relieving to finally meet the amazing people I will be traveling the world with. N Squad is full of incredible people and I couldn’t be more excited for my journey ahead. We are going to kill it!
