U Squad
Only 2 weeks ago, I was driving through north Georgia too nervous to eat. I was headed to training camp on my way to meet the people I will be spending the next year of my life with. As I arrived, I had no idea what the Lord had in store for me that week.
Over the course of this week, my squad slept in a variety of places – a school bus, my own personal tent, a large family-style tent, and the floor of a gym. I even “lost my luggage” in transit and had to do without my pack for a night. I must say “hostel” night where we got to sleep in the Toccoa Falls College dorm rooms seemed like staying in a five star hotel after sleeping on a school bus with 50 others crammed on together.
It’s amazing how your perspective can change over the course of just a few days. Training Camp pushed us to live simply and rid ourselves of necessities. It made me realize how little I really need in life. I can pack everything I need in a backpack every morning with room left over and be perfectly content.
Training Camp also taught me flexibility. If you know me well, you know I LOVE planning…like I’m the person that plans my day off down to the hour. Ok, now some of you are laughing at me, but it’s true! When I checked in that first day, I was handed a packet which included some valuable resources, but no schedule! – Excuse me?! How can they possibly expect us to be anywhere on time without a schedule?! -But the staff knew what they were doing. They let us know in time what was coming and what we needed to prepare.
Trust is a major part of living in community and under leadership. We must trust those in authority to tell us what we need to know. My own selfish nature wants decisions to be made around what I think is best for me, but living in community means that I must let go of what I want for the good of the whole. Coming back to this realization gave me a piece of mind, and made hearing about our route being changed a little easier! (More to come on my new countries in a future blog!)
More importantly than trusting leadership is trusting the Holy Spirit. Over the course of the week, we were constantly reminded to follow the Holy Spirit in everything. No matter what our situation may be, we must pray, seek his guidance, and obey. I think this is particularly hard for most American Christians because we live in such luxury, and consequently, we fail to petition the Holy Spirit with our needs. This was by far the most refreshing part of training camp for me. Being constantly pushed and challenged to live prayerfully and seek his will above all was exactly what I needed to fully trust in my new journey.
Overall training camp was a wonderful experience. I have a fabulous squad which could not have been more perfectly and uniquely selected to work and live together for 11 months. Every prayer I prayed for my team was answered by the Father. I cannot wait to begin my journey with these people who already challenge me daily in their walks with Christ.
If I could summarize training camp in one statement, it would be this:
Let go of expectations. Be flexible. Trust the Holy Spirit.
Team Fearless Unity
