Dear Future Racers,
No matter where you are in your stage of the race (month one, month six, month eight, maybe you aren’t even on the field yet!), you need to soak up EVERY FREAKING MINUTE.
Even that moment that you absolutely hate, where you want to go home, where you are soooo uncomfortable and you think you may just in fact kill that teammate who keeps doing that thing that drives you up the wall. Where you just can’t go on, this isn’t what you signed up for…
soak that up.
Because you ARE strong enough to get through that moment. Your team will come along side of you and push you. And that teammate that you thought would end you, you‘ll learn to fight for them. God has picked you for this. For that teammate. For these ministries.
Then one morning you are going to wake up and you’ll be where I’m at: month 11 with only 2 weeks of ministry left and the ‘real world’ on your horizon.
Training camp.
I wish I could say that I liked it, but I didn’t. I was one of the people in the very back with my arms crossed. Refusing to participate in the jumping up and down, shouting out declarations, the whole prophesy bit…thinking what the hell am I getting myself into… yes, I was the one who when they marched us off into the woods for a special night, I kept an eye out for the best exit incase things got too weird and I needed to bolt. I even called my dad towards the end hoping he would get that these crazy people were too charismatic for my liking and I was uncomfortable. You want to know what he said?
He said this, “Do you think that all these cultures you are about to visit are going to look and act and worship in exactly the same way you do here?�
And he was absolutely right. They don’t. And just because they don’t, doesn’t mean they are any less of a Christian then you or me. When we are uncomfortable, God gets to show us how we can improve, how we can know Him more, in different ways. We don’t have it all figured out. Please please please listen to me when I say this:
Don’t you dare put our Jesus in a box.
Allow Him to revile Himself to you in ways you never thought was possible. Because through Him, all things are possible. They really are.
And you may not get it now, but training camp actually makes sense. When you are done with the race, you’ll look back and see <3
If you struggled with it like I did, just get through it. Make friends. Make memories. Get a little taste of World Race Culture. And Get pumped for the nations that you are about to encounter.
And here are some of my top things I think you should remember to pack:
1. Invest in one of those rolling bags that can also be a backpacking pack. They are awesome!!!! One girl on our squad had one and I wish with all my might I had gotten one as well. Makes travel days way easier. If you need to put the pack on your back, it has straps. If not, you can easily roll this sucker through any kind of situation. It’s one of the best things ever created. Everyone should know about them. They sell them at REI.
2. Along with that, use packing cubes. You can get them at REI too and I think they work better then stuff sacks. And your clothes don’t get as wrinkly.
3. Bring clothes that you would wear in America. You are going to take lots of pictures and you will want people to tag you in them. So don’t just pack the throw away clothes that you are ok with getting ruined. You can have style and be a missionary. I promise, it can be done! Things will get ruined, but why not have a little style in the process?
4. Bring an external hard drive. Back up will be your best friend. So many people have lost pictures/music without it being backed up….it always sucks, so be prepared!
5. GIRLS; cute head bands :] showers are scattered and again, you’ll be in tons of pictures. Cute head bands will help disguise greasy hair
6. A sturdy day back. Enough room for souvenirs, lap top, camera, change of clothes, and possibly the small children you fall in love with along the race. I’ve got a couple in mine right now! (…I wish)
7. Tons of printed out pictures of family and friends. You will want to print them out because you won’t always have your lap top/ iphone. Sometimes you won’t want to bring that stuff out because it’s flashy and westernized. It will also be easier to tote around and can serve as great conversation starters. People love to see that you are real people, you have families, you have a real life, ect.
8. Leave behinds/thank you cards. My girl woody made me these awesome post cards before I left for the race, which I handed out to my supporters and at fundraisers and foolishly left them at home. I cannot tell you how many people on the race that I want to keep in contact with or to check out my blogs, and how many times I have thought of the hundreds of left over post cards that I have sitting in my storage back home would have worked perfectly on the field. SO GET YA SOME! And actually bring them with you!!
9. Bring a pillow. It gets old rolling up my shirts to make a pillow on the floor. Luckily I have had contacts to supply me with one every other month or so, but I lost my cool pillow in Asia and have been longing for one ever since.
10. Bring a study bible! I brought my small one because of space, but make room for a study bible. If you don’t have one, get one or borrow one or ask someone to buy you one. You will have SO much time to dig into the word of God and to have a study bible with you brings you to new levels.
Get prepared for God to rock you. You won’t return the same. You will come out of these eleven months with experiences you can’t even think up, culture shocks that will inspire you to change the world, and a family of your closest brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the real church. This is real life.
So soak it all up.
