Well I’m officially home. 10 days of bucket showers, bugs, dirt, and smelly clothes are officially behind me. 10 days of vulnerability, growing with my new family, getting to know my teammates, dancing and singing praise, and eating crickets are not only behind me but also a small glimpse into what is to come in the next year.
July 6th all of my new family showed up to training camp pumped and ready to see what God had in store. We got checked in and found out our teams immediately. I was shaking from the inside out not knowing who God had in store for my team for the next 9 months. I finally built up enough courage to turn the paper over and see and I was shocked. I was on an all girl team…LOL WHAT. My first thought was “is this a joke?” welp. It was not a joke. But I am so thankful that God placed me on this specific team so I can grow and mature with these beautiful women over the next 9 months.
We spent many days in sessions learning all kinds of things to help prepare us for the field, singing many worship songs, and acting out real life scenarios so we could be training for things to come up. It was an amazing experience and only got me more excited each day.
We also had many team bonding times. This was very hard for me at first. I was filled with doubts and questions and nervousness but I gave vulnerability a shot and I’m glad I did. Our squad mentor Kate was my rock all week. Helping me through some hard stuff, pouring into my life, asking me hard questions…she really cared about me and what I had to say.
One night in particular, I finally found Jesus. Now, you’re probably reading that like “um…haven’t you already found him? Isn’t that why you’re leaving for 9 months to serve the least of these?” Well yeah, I have found him but in this moment I knew exactly why God had put me on this earth. It was in the middle of a down pour of rain and a crazy storm — I mean SO MUCH rain and thunder and lightening. It wasn’t safe for my squad to sleep in tents so we were going to be staying in the lobby of the lodge (one of the staff buildings) for the night. Everyone was excited. A few of us…about 10 people, ceased the moment and ran to the side of the lodge in a massive mud puddle. I’m talking belly flops, roll down the hill, swim a lil kinda mud puddle. It was awesome. I ran down the hill absolutely over the moon to throw mud around and act like a child again. In that moment — standing in the middle of a mud puddle I found Jesus. I was created for that moment.
I chose to live in that moment. I chose happiness, silliness, craziness, and joy with dirt in my hair, mud in my ears, my clothes stained a tint of orange that would never wash away. God gave me that mud puddle to assure me that He is my source of joy and peace.
He made all of us for a moment of pure bliss. Maybe your moment isn’t as messy as mine, maybe your moment is in selling a house wearing your best business suit. Maybe you haven’t had your moment yet. But I knew in that moment that I was created by a creator who wants me to choose joy in life, he wants me to know and understand the joy he has when he gains a new child, he created all of us for a purpose. I will never forget that moment.
