Hello, all!
Firstly, I just want to say a huge thank you to all who prayed for my squad and me over the last couple of weeks while we were at Training Camp! God showed up in huge ways, and I cannot begin to tell you everything that He did in all of our lives. Training Camp was a bit harder than I expected, namely because they messed with my sleep and my food, which are very important things in Tera world.
I lost over five pounds in ten days (they were getting us ready for what $3 of food a day looks like, I think) and every night we had some kind of “challenge scenario” that dealt with losing sleep (check upcoming videos for more on that). I had some crazy allergies and couldn’t breathe, I got a few horrendous ulcers in my mouth, and they were sticking us in a pressure cooker spiritually, all at the same time. I wasn’t getting any alone time to recharge, and even though we were getting good sermons, I wasn’t able to have many quiet times by myself with the Lord because most of my personal time was spent waiting in line for the bucket showers.
Many people broke down within the first few days of camp, but being the stubborn person I am it took all of that physical brokenness over ten days to get me to the spiritual brokenness that God truly desired. My squad leader had a long talk with me the last day that really enabled me to see some deep roots of pain and wounds that I hadn’t acknowledged before, and I’m so grateful God allowed me to reach that point before Training Camp ended. I wouldn’t have changed anything about Training Camp because it was an incredible preview of all the things that can and will happen on the World Race. God is good, and I am grateful for the incredible things He did in all of our lives at camp.
For the sake of keeping this post readable, I’ve divided it into some categories with bullet points. I hope this helps keep you posted on the journey.
LOGISTICS
They explained more of our route to us at camp. The first half of the year is pretty planned out, but a lot of things in the second half are still up in the air. Things can always change spur of the moment because this is the World Race, but here are a few logistical updates that we know so far:
-We will no longer be going to Venezuela. If you are unaware, the country is currently in shambles with political and economical crises, so it is not safe for us to travel there
-We will be flying to multiple places (previously I said it would only be ground travel)
-We will be spending 70-80 days in the Amazon along the river itself and in the jungle
-Teams were chosen at Training Camp! Our squad was split into five teams of six people. We will meet up with the squad between every country and team changes are very probable along the way, but for now we have our first assignments. We start the World Race in Colombia. One team will be working in the slums, two teams will be working with YWAM, one team will be working on an island, and my team will be working with a ministry in Medellín, a city in the mountains about 11 hours away from where we land in Colombia. Eeek! So exciting!
-Launch will be August 4. We will have a few days of training in Atlanta and then we will fly to Colombia
SPIRITUAL LESSONS
-Sharing information is not the same as being truly vulnerable. I thought I had become better at being vulnerable, but it turns out I’ve only experienced more things and processed more things as life goes on. I’m willing to share what I’ve processed, but I’m not any better about sharing what I’m currently going through, especially if it has the potential to hurt me in some way. Vulnerability is one of the biggest reasons I think God has me going on the World Race.
-Healing comes in layers. It’s not a one-and-done deal. Healing is like an onion. We have to let God heal us layer by layer as we get to deeper and deeper levels of true healing.
-I am ridiculously hard on myself. I think because I have such an intense testimony that it’s not okay to be human. I feel like I have experienced God’s faithfulness and love in depths that most people never get to experience, and thus I don’t have the right to ever doubt God or sin in mundane, everyday ways. Whelp, I was told Peter walked with Jesus in the flesh, and even he still doubted. So I’m not alone. I need to be a little more forgiving of myself and not hold myself to impossible standards. Christ is who we look toward, but His blood on the cross created grace. I don’t need to walk in shame because I’m human.
-Forgiveness: Pray prayers of blessing over people who have wounded you deeply. Until you can do that, you probably haven’t forgiven them wholly. Hint: You will probably have to start praying the prayers before you feel like praying them. Emotions always follow the commitment, at least in my experience. Stop waiting to feel like forgiving someone. You never will.
VIDEOS
I will be making quite a few videos to show you all that happened at Training Camp, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUcR-tK-XoEgb2Uy_WGlnEw
I am going to try to post the videos on this blog and on YouTube, but I can’t make any promises that I will always overlap the two, especially once I get out on the field. So make sure you subscribe to both this blog and my YouTube channel if you want to see all the updates over the next year!
In the meantime, here is my first video about traveling to Training Camp and the first night there. Hope you enjoy!
I will be posting many more updates in the next week, so stay tuned! I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and your support!!
Tera
