Ok so here is my attempt to articulate my experience at Training Camp or what I like to call “World Race Initiation.” I am going to do my best to explain what happened without going into too much detail just incase future world racers check out this blog trying to figure out exactly what goes on at Training Camp. If you are a future world racer let me be the first to tell you that even if you found out everything that happens at Training Camp, you would still not be fully prepared for what the Lord has in store for you. The piece of advice that I got from former racers before I went that I am going to continue to give is this: Just go and be open to ALL that the Lord wants to do in your life and in your squad-mates’ lives.
Now that I have covered that let’s get back to my experience at Training Camp. I went into the week praying for openness not knowing exactly how the Lord was going to show up that week. I also went into the week very anxious about everything – meeting my squad-mates, sleeping conditions, and preparing to leave in September. Boy did He squash that anxiety as soon as I got to the airport and met some of the people that I would be doing life with for 11 months. We all pretty much sat in the airport laughing and in shock that this was actually happening, which for whatever reason put me at ease. The fact that we were all feeling similarly calmed my nerves and made me excited for what was to come.
Basically the first half of Training Camp was experiencing an entire semester of seminary in 3 days. Our guest speaker was Ron Walborn, who is the dean for Alliance Theological Seminary. Most of what he talked about I am still trying to process through but what I did realize is this: I have put our BIG God and the God of IMMEASURABLY MORE in a box for a long time. I have limited the Lord to work in my life in the ways that I am comfortable with and have not let Him simply be who really is. I have put parameters around my faith out of fear of where He will take me if I let Him lose in my life. All I know now is that I am done limiting what the Lord can do in my life and through my life. I am ready to let Him take me to NEW places and do NEW things in my life that I never thought possible.
The last few days were about team building and getting to know the people on our squad better. Let me just take a moment to tell you how truly incredible my squad-mates are. I don’t know what I expected, but these people blew me out of the water. We are all uniquely weird in our own ways. We are from all over the country including Canada. We all love each other extremely well. We laugh together. We cry together. We dance together. We pray for each other. We encourage each other. And we dominate Squad Wars together. In just one week L Squad became a family – a family that I feel privileged to be a part of.
At the end of the week we were put into our teams. YES, the teams that we will be doing life with for 11 months…WHAT! I seriously do not know where to start with the team that I am so pumped to be a part of. I am in a team with 5 other girls and cannot even fathom what we are going to experience together. All I know is that the Lord has some crazy plans for Team Conquerors (Bottom left picture: Ana, Lynda, Me, Emily, Becky, & Alany).
Basically, Training Camp was extremely challenging and yet incredibly life-giving! The Lord showed up and moved in ways that I never thought possible. It made me even more excited to going on this journey and re-confirmed the fact that I am actually doing this! Please please continue to pray for me, L Squad, and Team Conquerors as we all continue to prepare to leave in September! Thanks so much! Love y’all!
All for His glory!
Natalie
