Training camp was 12 days of blood, sweat, tears, and laughter (and spiders) completely off the grid and disconnected from society (social media) and I know I’m not alone when I say I’m still processing all of it. Different days had different themes such as Africa Day, India, Latin America, Adventure Day, etc. and this determined the culturally acceptable clothing we wore each day and the foods we ate. It was great.
Our last night, we were driving home from Seth Barnes’s house (the President of Adventures in Missions) and a hush fell over the car. This hush was probably a mixture of food-comas from stuffing our face with dessert for the first time in two weeks, sleep deprivation, and mental exhaustion, but it prompted a mini reflection opportunity, and someone in my car of 5 asked everyone what word they would use to describe Training Camp. So many emotions and choice words came to mind (such as tiring, overwhelming, porta-potties, coffee-withdrawals, ant bites, poison ivy, etc.), but looking back, I knew I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Janine: Exhilarating
Verb; to enliven; invigorate; stimulate or to make cheerful or merry
Forever the optimist, I HONESTLY LOVED TRAINING CAMP. It was strange and uncomfortable and exciting and fresh and insightful and real and I should be using commas but I could ramble on forever about it! To be honest, I went into these past two weeks thinking I was going to be the black sheep of the group, the one who would fail Trivia on scripture, the one who didn’t go to a Bible College, the one with a past, and the one who continues to mess up. On the contrary, I have never felt more like myself. Everyone was so vulnerable and transparent and LOVING. I mean, that’s what life with Jesus is so it shouldn’t have been surprising. I quickly became comfortable participating and diving in and the more I learned and experienced the more I felt like God had called me to this mission and this squad for a purpose and it set my energy on fire.
Carla Dunn: Stinky
Adjective; foul-smelling
Carla was one of the few girls on my squad that I had communicated with before training camp and the first friend I made when I arrived, so naturally, it was easy to be deep, philosophical, and brutally honest with her as far as 12 day friendships go… Well, her word choice sure was HONEST. Training Camp was STINKY. With nearly 200 World Racers using the same porta-potties and only having buckets of water to bathe with, things got smelly fast. We had to share sleeping quarters multiple nights (and finally starting doing it just because we were too lazy to set up both of our tents) and had to start the morning with a 7:00AM workout/run almost every day. We are living out of what can fit on our backs and didn’t have a laundry machine, so we were wearing the same sweaty clothes every day. We tried to bite our tongues when we wanted to complain and remind ourselves we have given up our comforts (and reputations) in order to glorify the Lord (but I’m still not convinced my feet will ever smell the same again).
JT: Community
Noun; a group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists
Honestly I’m not a huge fan of Webster’s definition for “community” because this word means so much more to all 49 of the individuals on my squad after this week. God meant for us to do life together… in community! We are family, and we are meant to encourage each other and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11)! Before coming to training camp, I distinctly remember sitting in Disney Springs with my friend Tim, who asked me if I was nervous to go on the mission trip. I told him the thing I was most nervous about was meeting my squad- the people I would be living and learning with. WELL, crisis averted, because they are PHENOMENAL.
Also, I couldn’t talk about my WR community without mentioning my TEAM! There is a lot of WR lingo out there, so let me break it down:
SQUAD= the 49 people launching in August and going on the same route/countries each month; we will most likely be meeting together to debrief at the end of each month and crossing borders/sleeping in airports together. We are W Squad. I love them. “Dubs up!”
TEAM= small groups of 7 who will be living in the specific locations and doing specific ministry work together day in and day out until we get new teams (about every 3 or 4 months). I LOVE MY TEAM and I am so hyped to get started with them!
Plants and Pillars: Tate Cook, Carla Dunn, Brad Ratkowski, Cristin Ratkowski , Jack Twitty, & Daniel Best. We are all about as different as could be and I’m so excited to see how God uses our spiritual gifts to serve “the least of these.” Subscribe to their blogs and see the incredible things we are doing through their different perspectives!
Matt Cotov: Powerful
Adjective; having great power, authority, or influence; mighty
We learned so much this week and had our eyes opened to the power of the Holy Spirit. Squadmates were healed before our eyes and people received words and images/pictures from the Lord. I really tried to have an open mind this week and I practically begged God to speak to me in an audible voice, but then I would peek my little eye open and look around the room to see if anyone else was in my boat. I kept thinking of Mark 9:24 where the boy’s father says, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” At one point I even snuck off to the back to find our Squad Mentor and asked for her to pray for me to overcome feelings of doubt regarding healing powers. IT WAS JUST SO NEW TO ME. Sure, when my friends or family get sick I say, “I’ll pray for you,” and I keep them in my prayers to God, but to see it right there happen before your very eyes… it was quite literally supernatural! God is on the move, and it shook me. These countries better get ready!
Jolee Bosserman: Revitalize
Verb; imbue (something) with new life and vitality
I think my entire squad left training camp feeling revitalized. We grew so much in a short amount of time, we experienced the Father’s love and the love of each other, we learned that we were capable of more than we could have imagined, and we feel encouraged and ready to live out God’s mission, and we were ready to sleep in a real bed and take showers for six short weeks before launch!
