A few days ago I arrived home from Gainesville, GA where I was for a ten day training camp experience in order to get prepared to go on the World Race Gap Year mission trip I am about to embark on. It was such a hard ten days that challenged me emotionally, physically, and spiritually pushing me to grow more than I ever thought possible. It forced me to think in a way that I never had, to step out of my comfort zone, and to just live in the now. It stretched me to be comfortable living in the uncomfortable and pushed me to try new things. It was an amazing week filled to the brim with learning how to experience and actually experiencing things we might experience on the race.
The week was organized into three different categories, missional living, intimacy with God, and community. In order to achieve the World Race Gap Year goal of “becoming activated in being and bringing the Kingdom of God” we, as a squad, must embrace and live out these three things in a balanced way.
The first three days of camp our sessions and activities revolved around missional living. This was more practical training and scenarios to help us become more prepared for the ministries we will encounter in the field. We learned how to truly live out the life of a missionary and that it is a lifestyle, something that can’t be turned on and off.
The next three days were spent feeding ourselves as we “lived” in the intimacy with God circle. These three days were so difficult in such a good way. They pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to take God out of the “box” I had placed him in as I experienced him in many different ways. We were taught in our sessions about how to approach and truly begin digging into the Word, how to love ourselves as the Lord loves us, how to hear the Lord speak and truly know it is him, the different “pathways to God,” the role of the Holy Spirit, and so much more. These three days required a lot of soul searching and jumping outside of my comfort zone. They were very emotional, yet so so good.
The final three days were spent talking about what it means to live in community. Over the next nine months, I will be living on the same squad of 45 people and with the same team of 6 (including me). We will ALWAYS be together and never alone which is so great, but also will come with some challenges. Over this time we did some training on giving feedback to help one another grow, we talked about self-governance and boundaries, and tools for leading yourself.
Another important aspect of the week was the FOOD. We ate a whole lot of beans, rice, and chicken, but were also given some crickets, curry, chicken gizzards, duck eggs, goat, etc. Each day was themed in the culture of a continent, region, or other “type of day” we might encounter (travel day or adventure day) and therefore, the food we were served and how we ate it was dependent upon the culture we were in. We rarely got plates and forks meaning we often had to eat with our hands.
Through the course of the week, we mostly stayed in our own tents at our campsite, but three of the nights we were presented with sleeping scenarios to help us get in a community mindset and to prepare us for events that may happen in the field. For example, one night some of us lost our luggage and had to work together to make sure everyone had a place to sleep and the essentials such as deodorant and toothpaste. We also had an opportunity to sleep in the “airport” as we probably will on long travel days.
Overall, this week was stretching in such a good way. I wasn’t always comfortable and I most definitely found myself overwhelmed often, but I grew so much. It left me with a lot to work on over the next month and a half before launch, but it also made me so excited to experience what the Lord has for me in the field.
In the next few weeks I will be sharing some more specific stories of the ways the Lord worked in me and through me over the course of training camp, but in the meantime, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
