Good news everyone. I survived training camp! It was an incredible experience too. I grew so much as we were pushed both physically and spiritually. It was a long week with not a whole lot of sleep, but I came out the other side closer to God and ready to begin the race. The week was jam packed with awesome activities and sermons designed to stretch us so here are 11 things that I learned while training for the next 11 months!
- I learned that I have a new awesome family, W Squad. Coming into training camp I was most nervous about meeting my squadmates and that everyone would mesh well. I should have known that God handpicked this group a long time ago because everyone on my squad is awesome! We all get along great and I couldn’t think of a better group of Jesus lovin’ folks to spend the next year with. Dub squad is about to rock the kingdom.
- I learned to drop all expectations. They taught us this the very first night. The race is not going to be what we expect. It’s not always going to be fair. It’s not going to be comfortable.
- I learned to trust the Spirit. This was a huge focus of the week. Christianity in western culture churches tends to minimize the power of the Holy Spirit. We began to learn about it's role in missions and even practiced listening for it. One night we did an exercise were my squad lined up in two rows. One row closed their eyes and the other shuffled so the people with their eyes closed didn’t know who was in front of them. Then the people who couldn’t see prayed for a word to speak over the person in front of them. Some people’s message made a crazy/specific connections, some didn’t. Both the words that were spoken over me and that I spoke connected but nothing that was too crazy. I am realizing that it’s a long learning process that will take practice over the next year and beyond.
- I learned not to get comfortable. One of the biggest elements of training camp was you never knew what was next. The first night I slept in my tent and it felt small and cramped. Every night after that we had a different living scenario. The first night the “airlines lost my pack” so I had to share a tent with someone and wear the same sweaty clothes for a little longer than is acceptable.. The next night we had to sleep 10 guys and all of our gear in a larger tent. Another night we had to sleep our whole squad and all our gear on a school bus. There were two people per bench and people trying to sleep knees to chest all down the center aisle. Now I can say I’ve already had my first all nighter of the race… I am grateful though because after these experiences my tent felt like a penthouse.
- I learned the importance of storytelling. We all have a story to tell, and it is important to share that story with the people around us. We got lots of tips on how to write good blogs and take good pictures. I left very motivated to keep you guys well updated throughout my journey.
- I learned what its like to have a group of brothers in Christ. I have some strong Christian bros, but never a group like this. A group that is setting out together to find out what it means to be a man of God and help carry each other when we stumble along the way. We exercised this very literally when we went for a hike up Currahee Hill (as seen in Band of Brothers) and had to carry each other a majority of the way. It was a physically exhausting task, but we left the hill with a new level of unity.
- I learned that I am about to be broken. There is a process that God takes us through in different phases of our life. One of these is brokenness. We will see and experience things over the next 11 months that will break us, but God puts the pieces back together and makes us stronger than we ever were before. I am now ready for this. I am praying for brokenness.
- I learned to speak with Authority. Spiritual warfare is real, and it’s about to become even more real as the enemy tries to distract us from the message we are bringing to these nations. I learned that in the name of Jesus we have the ability to speak with authority over Satan and his attempts to make us fall. This was one of my biggest takeaways of the week and I challenge you guys to practice it in your day-to-day lives as well.
- I learned that I will be exposing unsung heroes. I was asked to take a position on the squad as the Unsung Hero’s Coordinator. What is this position? You’ll have to wait and see because I’m so excited about it that I will be writing a whole blog about it soon. For now I’ll just say I think God might have designed this position specifically for myself and my passions.
- I learned how to live in community. Living with seven people for a whole year won’t be easy… but I can’t think of a group of people that I would rather share this journey with. Meet Team Ubuntu! These are the 7 brothers and sisters in Christ that I will be spending every second of the next 11 months with.
From left to right we have Dani (our team leader), Kristen, James, myself, Kyle, Meghan, and Stephanie in the middle! The staff put a lot of time in to forming the teams and they did a great job. We have a great team dynamic as we are all laid back but are also very active and adventurous. Most importantly we are all trying to get the most we can out of the next year and are ready to push each other the whole way. We represent seven different states as well! Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, Florida, and Tennessee. I’ll introduce everyone more specifically once we have spent some time together in the field. - I learned that it is going to be a wild and crazy year. One thing is for sure, God has a lot in store for me during these 11 months. I am expecting the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but I’m stoked for every second of it. It’s going to be a transformative experience for all of us in W squad.
If it were up to me we would be loading up and heading out tomorrow, but I am thankful to have the next 6 weeks to relax and get my mindset for the trip before we head out to Guatemala in September! It’s going to be a great year, and I look forward to keeping you guys a part of my journey every step of the way.
