MY SQUAD! 3rd Generation I SQUAD! 
Training Camp has just ended and it was surely an amazing 10 days! So much has happened in me and my heart over the past week and a half that I wanted to break this blog up into a couple different posts that I will post throughout the week. Read this blog post as a stepping stone for the next one.
What is Training Camp?
Training Camp is exactly how it sounds, a training and preparation for me and others for the race. You might wonder how they could possibly prepare me for 11 months of ministry in exactly a week. That is a great question and I would respond by saying God has been sovereignly preparing me for the past 3 years. Also, Adventures in Missions and The World Race staff strongly believe and look at this 11 month journey as a discipleship program for me and my fellow racers. Many of the things learned will be on the race itself. That said the staff tried to recreate life on the race as much as possible during Training Camp.
What did Training Camp look like?
There certainly was a lot that took place but I do want to give an overview of what occurred. I went a couple days early for a man hike that was set up a couple days before Training Camp officially started in order to build comradery amongst the men. I am so glad I did this. I think it helped me get rid some comforts before training camp started and build relationships with some of the guys on my squad. The first few days of Training Camp were teaching and worship heavy. A speaker named Rob Reimer came in and spoke on the presence of God, intimacy with God, healing wounds, forgiveness, spiritual formation of a leader, grieving, and dealing with lies. Topics like these emphasized going deep with the Father and letting Him do a work (I will unpack this in another blog this week). These sessions along with worship had me right in my element. I absolutely loved Rob and the worship. After these several days, training camp transitioned away from “me” to “team”. In order to break down each squad into teams of 6-8, the staff at Adventures in Missions created team formation activities to see who worked well together. For example an activity could include having 6 people stand on a towel with the objective of flipping the towel over to the other side while having everyone still standing on it. Activities like this forced everyone to communicate and work together. By the end of the week and several team formation activities, our squad of 40 or so was broken up into 5-6 teams. I now know my team which I will post about later!
Throughout the week, the food served was determined by the culture of the day. The week included India, Eastern Europe, Central America, Asia, and Africa days. Because I am not a picky eater, this was not a big deal for me. But what was interesting to me was the different norms of each part of the world like India who won’t let you eat with your left hand (I am a lefty!) because the left hand is “unclean.” Interesting things like this would be made clear to us each day at each meal.
There also were certain common world race scenarios thrown at us. One night half the squad had to bunk up with the other half because half the squad’s luggage was “lost.” My luggage was “lost” so I had to share a tent with another dude on my squad. Another night, while traveling to another country in Africa, they closed the border for the night so we had to sleep on a bus for the night. All 40 of us piled into a bus and slept. We quickly found out who the snorers were. Other nights all 40 split up into 4 community tents and slept tightly packed. One of my favorite scenarios was a mock marketplace. For dinner one night, the staff and leadership played roles of barters, beggars, gypsies, thieves, etc. to create a real life scenario where our squad has just got to a country and we have to get food for the night at a marketplace. The staff spoke in different languages, stole items, bartered, and tried to make it as chaotic as possible. Scenarios like these gave us perspective and experience on things that will happen on the race. These scenarios always were followed up by debriefing with the leaders on how we responded, what we did well, what we didn’t do well, etc. This process was the same for the team formation activities too. Everything we do on the race is combined with communication and feedback. So we got to practice this as well.
This is just a general overview but I do share this overview because what the Lord did in my heart will make more sense in the context of understanding what went on. Because of things that went on in the physical realm, it impacted me in the spiritual. Therefore, it is important to understand what occurred in the physical. I will post another blog in the coming days more specifically about what the Lord spoke over me! I cannot wait to share!
