Training camp was not easy. I didn’t bring a second pair of shorts and it was hot and humid and there were too many early morning exercise periods; basically every morning we had to be up, camp totally packed up, and we had to be at some meeting point by 7. Showers were cold and available only by buckets we had to fill and carry ourselves. And few. There were about 80 girls sharing 6 stalls. That meant that every so often (2 or 3 days) i was able to snag a quick rinse. On top of that there were random dress codes; and it was hot. We had timed hikes fully packed and other physically timed activities, like: “in order to get your tent your squad needs to do 100 squats × the number of people on your squad”; which meant we had to do 4900 squats. In a time limit.
I often went to bed with nothing but a quick baby-wipe shower and an underware change.
Now here i was at the airport on my way back from training camp and i still had eleven hours to go before my plane would be taking off.
“Wow! I never heard such things!” the lady beside me said. Her head was wrapped in a black cloth carefully embroidered with gold beads on one side, “i want to know this god!”
She’d asked me why i was here in atlanta and i’d told her about my training camp and my upcoming year of volunteer ministry. She couldn’t comprehend trusting God for money without any gaurantees. I told her it wasn’t easy but that i believed if this was God’s plan then He would provide.
She proceed to ask me about what countries i would visit. “Thats my country!” She exclaimed when i got to ethiopia. “Your team can come to my restaurant in my country and my brothers will give you food and room no charge!”
Then she insisted to buy me lunch. And after buying me lunch she pushed a twenty dollar bill into my hand. “My heart is touched by what youre doing,” she said. “We believe we should help people – our scriptures tell us to! But often we just live our lives. I want to help you and be part of what you’re doing!”
We talked a little bit about our beliefs. “You send me the information about this,” she said when i told her about Jesus’ claims.
Before we parted i acknowledged to her what i’d told her i believed: that God would provide for me, “Today you were Jesus to me,” i said. “Thank you so much!”
