On Saturday, May 17th 2014 I packed up my car and left for Training Camp in Georgia. I had no clue what to expect. The only thing that we had received from the Adventures in Missions staff was to come packed like you would for the real thing and the address of the site that we would be staying at. I had no clue what to expect!! My mind started racing, thinking of things that could possibly come up during training camp. On top of not knowing what to expect for the contents of the training itself, I had only talked to my squad online, through Facebook. I would be meeting 44 people who would soon be my family for the next year…
The Thursday before I left for training camp I received a package from Emily, a sorority sister of mine that been on the WR as well. In this package was a handwritten note giving me advice for the week. The main piece of advice was to keep an open heart and an open mind which really got me thinking.
Let me just say that I started to get nervous on the drive down.
At about my halfway point there I picked up 3 of my squad mates; Jordan, Linda, and Kayla. Picking them up and having an extra 2.5 hours with them calmed my nerve, knowing that I at least know 3 of them already.
When we got there we signed in and then went to the field to set up camp for the night.
After setting up my tent we had a couple hours to hangout and finally meet our squad!! Later that night we had the first our of many worships and then lectures from Ron Walborn.
Let me tell you something… Worship was AMAZING and completely MOVING!! And so were Rons lectures.
The rest of the days tend to blur together but there were several moments the first half of the week I have to share.
I experienced several things for the first time the week at training camp. The first, motivating worships!! These worships where we sang and prayed made me realize that I can feel Gods presence in worship!
The second thing that I experienced the week of Training Camp was the presence of the Holy Spirit. I started to get nervous when Ron started talking about calling the Holy Spirit upon us.
What, people might start talking in tongues? People might start falling over? Start crying? Start laughing?
These thoughts started to freak me out but all of a sudden I thought back to Emilys card. Keep an open heart and an open mind. I asked God to take away the fear, the doubt, and to take complete control. I closed my eyes to keep myself calm and continued to pray. As I was praying, I felt someone place their hand on the back of my head. At that moment I was completely filled by the Holy Spirit. I tried to open my eyes but I could not, and at that moment, God spoke to me telling me to keep my eyes closed, this is MY moment, not anybody elses…
And the tears started to flow.
The next day Ron talked to us about healing prayer and the step to remember when asking for healing. He asked us to get in small groups within our squad and practice healing prayer. Once again, I started doubting. How can this be possible? We just learned the steps 5 minuets ago. I brought up some medical things that had been bothering my the past couple of years that the doctor could not figure out why they are happening. After interviewing me for a couple of minuets, one of my squad mates got to a moment in my life that I was not ready to reveal, but then I knew that God was ready to heal that part of my life.
I did not give them much insight to this time of my life but all of a sudden Jake started speaking. He told me that the words Love and Obedience kept coming to him. As soon as the word LOVE came out of his mouth, it felt as if a fire has been set on my heart, literally. It got so hot that even taking my clothes off would not have alleviated the heat. Once again, the tears started to flow.
The next night we were talking and practicing about listening prayer. My squad was broken up into 2 groups. Each group took turns going to others in the other group and sharing what God and shared with them for you. One of my squad mates came up to me and started to tell me that she saw me in a garden and that God LOVED me unconditionally. As she tole me what God had provided her to tell me the word Love kept popping up.
After some processing I realized what God was trying to tell me. All these years I have been trying to fill my emptiness with love from other such as boyfriends. I realized after these 3 events that God was telling me to fill that hole with his love. He loved me more than any human being could ever love.
At that moment of realization, the tears started to flow.
And this was only Wednesday. I could not wait to see what he had planned for the last 2 days of training camp.
