Wow!! The last week has been unbelievable. Training Camp, especially the first half, is completely focused on freedom; freedom from you past, freedom from Satan’s lies, freedom from societies constrictions on God. The entire process from Saturday until Wednesday was focused on pulling everything out of your heart, confronting all your junk, and resting in the freedom and grace that Christ has awaiting us when we decide to take it. I have never felt so complete and at peace with my whole self. A calm confidence has take over my spirit and walking in that is what being a man of God is about. If you thought I was excited and passionate about leaving for the mission before, it is hundred fold now. I feel I have finally claimed and stepped into my complete identity in Christ. I know that there is more growth that will come, but I am absolutely prepared to serve my teammates and the ministries and people we will come in contact with. You are probably wondering,” How did all this change come upon you in such little time?” The first night they set the mission up for success by getting everyone to release or attempt to release their expectations for anything on this mission, to be completely open to what God has I store for us even if it isn’t what we initially wanted. There were four stations and at the last one, the staff member stepped towards me and said,” Nick I don’t normally do this, but I sense that this week will be full of freedom for you.” Ok weird. But I am a pretty open person and freedom sounded great, I didn’t know from what, but I decided to go with it and open my heart for the week for God to mold. The next day the focus was on me. Searching my heart for whatever might be holding me back from being the man that God wanted me for. Without to much detail, it was INTENSE. A good way to describe this night and the last week is Romans 8, read it and meditate on it. This is not the end of what I how I have grown so far, but it is the just of it. I will do into more detail with a future blog.
Now I am going to tell you what we have been doing! We have camped. Legitimate camping, outside, roughing it, not showering for days. Talk about greatness. Our squad, with over 30 girls on it, has not complained once. Talk about a testament to what the tone is going to be when we leave. The following day half of our luggage got “lost in baggage pick-up” and we had to figure out sleeping arrangements. It was miserable. I shared a 2 person tent, which is really a one person tent, with another guy. We had to sleep on a sleeping pad, which is similar to a pool raft, with only our upper backs on it. We had no blankets and it was wet and cold. Yes, needless to say we didn’t sleep great, but this is something that could definitely happen while we are traveling. My favorite day is the next two. I was blessed by our Squad leaders to have the opportunity to be the “Squad leader” for the next day and a half with two of my teammates, Sarah and Christin. It was awesome! Our whole squad was really respectful, listened to us, and everything went really smoothly even though we hit a few bump. Bumps? Without going into a lot of detail we lost a teammate. He had to go home, but our squad responded to this tramautic event with style, class, and resolve. Then that night we had to sleep under a tarp. Guys slept under the stars and girls under a lean to that the guys put up for them. What do you think happened? Rain!! Though everyone could have complained and been miserable we all responded with laughter and it turned into a night of fun. God blessed us with a cabin in the area that was empty with over 32 beds! The crazy thing is that it was filled with people the next day. The next two days will be a lot of team bulding exercises where we will get matched with different people and find out our teams!!! YES! I have also been taking a lot of video footage so stayed tuned for more awesome stuff!
Two days later now, but I am just now able to post this blog with internet. God blessed me with a huge honor and responsibility to be a team leader. The team I will be leading is AMAZING!! I feel so blessed to be apart of it and am blessed to be on a team with each of them. All of our God given skills and talents are going to really help us further the kingdom. It is difficult though because staff forces us to have feedback everyday. This means we have to sit down with each other and say what we have liked and not-liked about the other people on our team for that day. Talk about awkward. The good thing is that "Conflict breads intimacy" and I am really looking forward to growing in the ability to confront people, and grow as a man of God from the constructive criticism I receive.
Sorry this one is so long in the future I will try and keep them shorter! Miss everyone. Love Nick
