Liters of packs, rain flys, tevas, footprints, compression sacks, bucket showers, and the lists goes on and on. I had heard of some of these things, but never quite understood the importance of them until this past week at Training Camp. Before I left I’d read several blogs of people returning from TC saying they weren’t sure how to put it all into words, and now I feel I understand exactly what they were talking about.
How do you explain how in one week God can completely turn your world upside down in the best way possible?! How can you meet 40 people you’ve never met before and realize that at the end of the week you don’t want to say goodbye because you truly love them and feel as if you’ve known them for years? How can God continue to blow your mind with each speaker you listen to, every song you sing, every new friend you cry and laugh with? How do you explain to your family and friends back home that you know in your heart things are different now and you can’t and won’t go back?
God has called us to this journey and for each one of us it may be for a different reason and I would love to sit down and talk with each and every one of you about it. It’s amazing how if you let go of all you have….if you really let go of everything and stand before God with only yourself hands open to Him, He will invite you on the most romantic journey you could ever imagine!
I’ll try to break down the logistics the best I can. I’m part of ISquad consisting of approx. 40 amazing people from the USA and Canada. At training camp last week there were three squads and four more are there right now. These two weeks compile everyone who will be launching to all corners of the world around September 1st.
Each day we ate food from varying parts of the world we’ll be traveling to in order to help us become familiar with tastes and portions. We were also challenged as a squad daily with a different obstacle in an attempt to prepare us for situations we may face out on the road. These situations varied from sleeping on the ground under a tarp a few inches above our faces to keep our packs dry in case it rained, to all 40+ of us spending the entire night on a school bus because we arrived at the border and it was closed for the evening and it wasn’t safe to get off. We were paired up on the second day and instructed to place our packs on different tarps. The leaders then told us half of us had lost our luggage so we had to rely on our partner for anything we may need. I carried a girl up and down hills on my back while being blindfolded because our airplane crashed and I couldn’t see and her legs were broken. I took two bucket showers in a week. I learned what a baby wipe shower felt like. The last night we put on war paint and battled the H and J squads in some fun activities to celebrate the camaraderie we had developed over the last seven days.
We also did team building activities which aided the AIM staff in breaking us up into small teams in which we will do our traveling, and at the end of the week I was asked to lead this incredible group of people in the picture below! Meet Team Warrior!!! We’re all fighters for the kingdom and for each other! I couldn’t be more excited to serve and experience ministry with these guys! From left to right: Joshua, Lindsay, myself, Anna, Tommy, and Kaitlin. Please pray for us as we embark on the most incredible journey of our lives and continue to be stretched out of our comfort zones.
I’ll write another blog soon….so much to say, but if you would like to receive updates please subscribe in the left column. By His grace 🙂
