There are so many emotions to describe what I experienced at training camp! 11 days filled with love, Christian community, Jesus-filled worship, dirt, bugs, but most importantly, the Holy Spirit! Jesus showed Himself with grace and love to each and every person in such a special way.
The morning of the 8th, I woke up ready to go to Georgia for training camp but I was feeling very anxious. Anxious to meet the 40 other squad members and my new squad leaders and coaches. When I arrived at the Dallas airport, I felt the Lord telling me to open my Bible. I opened it to Mark 5 and started reading. Starting in verse 38, it tells a story about a little girl who was dead. Jesus saw the commotion of people crying and sobbing loudly. He told them “This child is not dead but asleep.” The people laughed at Him because they clearly knew the girl was dead. Jesus then took her father and mother and His disciples and went to the child. He took her hand and said “Talitha koum!” Which means “Little girl, arise!” IMMEDIATELY the girl stood up and walked around. Everyone around was ashtonished. (Mark 5:38-43)
As I landed in Atlanta and began to meet all the new people who would soon be my new family, I began to panic as doubts filled my head. These doubts grew in the next 36 hours. I felt so overwhelmed because it truly hit me that I am going to leave everything for a full 11 months. I began to doubt if I was supposed to go, if I was equipped enough, strong enough, and good enough. I could hear Jesus telling me over and over again “Tilitha Koum, daughter arise.” The second day, I prayed begging God to give me the YES I needed to know that I was in His will. He instantly gave me perfect understanding of what He was telling me.
“Tilitha Koum. Little girl, arise. My daughter, arise. It is your time to arise and be the woman I have created you to be. People including yourself may have thought you were dead but I know you have just been sleeping. Doubts of you being too young, not equipped, not ready, or not strong enough are all lies! I have been preparing you for this journey. I tell you arise. Not tomorrow, now! Now is the time for you, my daughter, to be warrior of my kingdom. “
Training camp was doubt free after that (Praise and glory to Jesus!) The first half was focused on your own heart and forgiving yourself and others while listening to what the Holy Spirit was telling you individually. The second half was building teams and unifying the squad into one body. Jesus did amazing things to each person while bonding us all together as one. One family with one heartbeat for Christ. I am so excited to say that my first team will be all girls who have already become my sisters. I was asked to be my team’s leader, which is such an honor. Our squad broke up into six different teams and will be on those teams for the first five months or so. All the teams will be going to the same country but breaking off to different cities or parts of the country. The teams will be doing different ministries with the ministry hosts. So, each month will look different for every team. At the end of each month, the squad will come together and debrief together as one before traveling to the next country. Our teams will change up so we will be with new people.
I currently am sitting at 70% funded and need about $4,000 more before I have reached my fundraising goal. This money goes toward everything we will need on the field including transportation, food, housing, and ministries. I pray that the Lord uses us to build up His kingdom. If you would like to help me financially, you can click on the “donate” button. Donations of any amount is greatly appreciated. Please keep my squad and team in your prayers. Prayer is so powerful. Pray for safety, for the Lord to open our hearts to feel, ears to hear, and eyes to see what He wants from us. Pray for the people we will come into contact with throughout this next year to open their hearts up to receive the love of Christ.
I will be heading to Georgia on August 4th for launch and we will be heading to Serbia on August 8th. The order of countries we have the privilege to travel to are Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement I have received. All the glory to God!
