10. I’m a better sleeper than I thought – Our sleeping arrangements on L squad (which consists of 40 people) included individual tenting, fitting everyone into 4 large 12×12 tents, a school bus, and a campout without tents. Overall, I slept great!
9. Dancing is required – We danced during worship, had dance offs, and danced just for the sake of dancing.
8. Adventures in Missions cares about our marriage – We are the only married couple on L squad but it was emphasized throughout the week how important it is that our marriage is lifted up through The World Race. We have a mandatory half day off of ministry every week for date night and were asked to take a weekend away every month or two to focus on our marriage.
7. Schedules optional – We were not given a schedule all week to prepare us to expect the unexpected and always be ready for change while out on the mission field.
6. L Squad is awesome – It was amazing to be around 40 people all week who legitimately just wanted to love each other with no ulterior motives.
5. Bucket showers are fun – Ok; so fun might be an exaggeration but they do get the job done.
4. Spiritual, mental, and physical preparation – We received 3 days of teaching from Ron Walborn of Alliance Theological Seminary, and we soaked in the presence of the Holy Spirit through worship and quiet time each day. We were also given a lot of practical information such as how to pack, how to handle a foreign market, and how to be safe on the field.
3. Just eat it – Each day was themed to the type of food and eating style of a specific part of the world. I learned that the portions will not necessarily be large so it is important to eat what your given. We will likely be eating community style often and The World Race will be tough for picky eaters and germaphobes.
2. I can hear God’s voice – Ok, so I already knew this one, but one of the things that we practiced a lot was listening prayer. We will be doing a lot of ministering to people through prayer and the laying on of hands while on the race. Listening prayer is simply stopping to listen and see if the Holy Spirit is giving any impressions during prayer as opposed to just talking the entire time. It was wonderful to have a safe place to practice and “workout” our discernment muscles.
1. I love my team! – On Thursday our squad of 40 (L squad) was divided up into teams of 6 or 7. My team is the people I will be with pretty much 24/7 for the next 11 months. Here is a picture of us on Friday night before squad wars, which was the grand finale of training camp:
From left to right we have: BJ, Nick, Bekah, Diane, Marin, Brady, Anna. We decided on the team name of “Boldly Present” and would greatly appreciate your prayer. Please feel free to click on the “meet my squad” link on the left hand side of this blog and check out the blogs of the rest of Boldly Present.
