As I sat in a crammed room with the stench of 3 days since our last bucket shower, all of us girls were laughing as we discussed feedback on our last field scenario. We decided to then go around the room sharing some of the big moments of the week so far at training camp.
When it got to me, I tried to say it with a straight face, but as the words slipped out of my mouth everyone began keeling over.
“I’m pretty sure the Holy Spirit turns me into a thug, guys!”
Laughter ensued.
“I’m serious, I get gorilla arms and I am just dancing around like I am someone else!” I added on, now starting to have trouble speaking because laughter is now slipping out of the sides of my mouth.
There is something to be said though about dancing around like a fool, King David would be, “leaping and dancing before God,” (2 Samuel 6), he even said, “Oh yes, I’ll dance to God’s glory—more recklessly even than this. And as far as I’m concerned . . . I’ll gladly look like a fool.”
Sometimes the love that wells up for Jesus and knowing that he saved a screwed up wreck like me, causes me to lose all control, knowing that God would love me that much.
[interested in what song I was dancing to? click here]
Ironically, my statement may have prompted something a lot bigger that week. Maybe God was quite literally trying to turn me into a thug (as Sara Santiago pointed out to me later that week! haha)
The very next day, I woke up to some serious pain. I figured it was from all the small portions of food we were being served or the strange diet we were getting accustomed to for the field. I kept saying to myself, “this isn’t so bad, it will go away once you get your hands on breakfast.” WRONG.
That morning was Africa day, and to practice what is customary culturally, the women had to eat on the floor. As I was grabbing every wall and flat surface around me to lower myself to said floor, it really started to settle in. My friend, Krystal, could tell I was losing it pretty quickly. She peeled a hard boiled egg for me as I was gazing straight ahead into nowhere to distract myself from the pain.
Then it hit me, I was going to throw up. It was here, it was now, and I needed to get the heck out of this building.
I quickly walked out of the building to the side steps and tried to collect myself as “Hakuna Matata” was drifting its melody out the front door. Over the course of the next hour, many from my team came to check on me (thanks Paige!) and brought me some of their snacks (which is a HUGE sacrifice at TC!), but I finally realized it was getting worse and decided to head to the “sick room” above the lodge.
Only shortly after settling in, I finally threw up…. Thirteen times. Okay. Yeah. NO.
After realizing my temp was over 100, I was immediately sent to Urgent Care.
I was in so much pain, that I actually left for the hospital in my sweats, sockos (chacos and socks), a shirt that said “same shirt, different day” and my hair in a mess, since after all it has now been 4 days since my last shower. I didn’t even grab my phone, my bag, my anything. I was out.
Long story short, we found out it was appendicitis and colonitis. The doctor at urgent care didn’t even charge us because she immediately sent me to the emergency room down the street. Luckily, I had my husband, and Clay, our squad logistics leader, with me.
After IVs, cat scans, urine tests, blood tests and the like, I was on the waiting list for emergency trauma surgery. Woo! I ended up getting my appendectomy at midnight and left the hospital at 2:00 pm the very same day.
[looking rough… good preparation for the Race, I believe!]
As I sit here behind my keyboard I am still asking God, “why did this have to happen during training camp?” I’ve heard many answers to that question from people this past week such as, “Better now in the USA than overseas,” or “Maybe God is testing you,” all of them which could be true. I’m even blown away by the fact that my insurance expired on October 31st, and that God was aware of my financial circumstances. No matter the reason, I am under full assurance knowing that everything went smoothly because of the prayers of everyone. People were praying for my surgery from all over, and it went perfectly. THANK YOU to everyone who lifted me up in prayer on October 25th!
Though half of training camp was altered around my surgery, all of it was really life giving, overwhelming and good for both Bryce and I. We got to experience what life will be like on the field, we got to know our 60 new squad members as family and we got to experience Jesus on a deeper level.
Training camp really taught us that our status, our failures, our education, our successes, our worst days, our best days and our secrets mean absolutely NOTHING to Jesus. He doesn’t even see those things, even though we carry it around with us everyday, as if those things matter. He doesn’t care if we think we fall short of what he designed, of what he planned for us… because we don’t! He loves us the way we are for who we are.
Training camp taught us to know why we are here, and to live like we know why we are here.
God is so ready to send out a generation of believers to bring restorative hope to this world. Bryce and I may be the ones writing this blog, but that doesn’t make us any different than you, or your brother or sister in Christ. God is calling us all out there to bring light back into this world. God WINS, I think we really need to remind ourselves and remind others that this world has already been overcome, there is a lot more winning in our future!
As we prepare to launch for our trip, (in 9.5 weeks!!) we are $980 short of our goal to leave. We ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with us to help make this mission trip possible. Our overall goal is $34,000, and we are about 56% funded. If you would love to meet up for coffee to discuss more before donating, by all means please let us know we would be happy to! If you would like to donate online, just click the “Donate!” button on the top of this page.
Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, we feel so blessed!
