Training camp was one of the most eye opening experiences for my faith I think I’ve ever had! I learned how to use listening prayer and distinguish God’s voice from my own. My team and I grew through easy and hard times. Sessions taught us how to write sermons, how to properly talk to someone who’s been abused or trafficked, and how deep the power of forgiveness reaches if you let it. I can’t share every amazing moment, session, and bonding experience that I had or else I would have a 200 paragraph blog post! However, I’ll give you some of my favorites of each category. Get ready for what training camp looked like through my eyes!
To start, I landed in Georgia on the 6th of July. To say I was ecstatic would have been an understatement! For me, there were no words to describe the conglomeration of feelings. There was excitement, nervousness, and a twinge of fear as I picked up my 30-pound bag at the carousel. In the main terminal area, I could see the green shirts of my squad sitting together. I took a deep breath and introduced myself to the group. I met friends from my own squad and from other squads going to different countries for their routes. There was a smile that just wouldn’t leave my face.
Flash forward to the 10th, after some cultural meals, too many sessions to count, and amazing worship my squad, and especially my team, got hit with some upsetting news. Two girls from our squad decided that they weren’t called to the race this year. One of those girls had been on my team, Emmy. Upon hearing the news, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I had been anticipating that the girls that I met on the first day would be living the nine months of the World Race with me. We, as a team, understood her reasoning but it was still hard. I, personally, felt like I was missing something from the team until I realized that Emmy’s still a part of this team even if she’s not traveling with us. She will always be a sister in my heart.
A few days later, we had a session that really opened up my heart to God. We talked about 7 different pathways we can get to God (there’s way more, but those are the ones we concentrated on.). Each hit me in a different way. Some I was expecting to absolutely love, others I was expecting to just like, and others I thought I’d never connect with. The seven pathways I learned about were aesthetic, experiencial, activist, contemplative, student, relational, and naturalist. I knew that I’d love naturalist, experiencial, and relational. I was skeptical about the others. However, by the end, I found God in each one I experienced.
Next, an amazing moment happened only a day later. We were talking about listening prayer (taking time to sit in silence and listen for God’s voice) and feeling the holy spirit moving in ourselves and other people. Our speaker then told everyone to stand and find someone to pray for. Outside our squad. I felt very worried since I don’t enjoy large crowds moving around me. I locked eyes with a guy named Zac. He was from a different squad so we prayed over each other and, when we were done, we sat down. I didn’t think anything of it. It didn’t hit me like I had heard in other sessions.
When session was coming to a close though, the speaker started praying for all the squads and I started crying. I was praying that I could give a word from God or recieve a word from someone else. While I was crying, I saw this sky full of stars in my mind and shooting stars were streaking all the way across. Shooting stars have always been a big thing in my faith so that’s all I thought it was about. God showing me one of my favorite things to comfort me. When we were dismissed, Zac came up to me. He asked if I was ok because it was pretty obvious that I had been crying. I explained that I usually cry when I feel the spirit moving. “Well,” He started, looking a little awkward. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I need to tell you that you’re a meteor.” I think he said something after that but my mind was moving at a mile a minute. “A meteor?” I asked. He nodded. “Yeah. Why?” I explained to him that, during prayer, I saw this sky full of stars with these shooting stars streaking across and what it meant to me. It was an amazing moment that God had placed in my life to show that He does listen, sometimes all we need to do is be still, and when we hear Him we need to have the boldness to go out and speak. If I forgot about what those stars meant to me or Zac decided against speaking to me, we never would have had that cool experience!
Finally, as an update to everyone. I got baptized for the second time at training camp! I decided to get baptized to declare to my squad family that I’m fully dedicated to my huge step in my faith. I asked two girls from my team to baptize me and I’m so happy that I did. Fairly quickly after, a huge storm system moved in, dumping heavy rain drops from the sky that almost stung my skin. I was so excited because one of my favorite songs was playing through my head as I was getting baptized. “Hear the word, roaring as thunder with a new future to tell. For the dry season is over. There is a cloud beginning to swell. To the sky, heavy with blessing, lift your eyes offer your heart. Jesus Christ opened the heavens. Now we receive the kingdom of God. We receive your rain.” There is a Cloud, Elevation Worship. So the fact that this HUGE rain storm came right after getting baptized meant a lot to me. (It really was huge. There was lightning every 10 seconds at least with large rumbles of thunder to follow. It was amazing!)
To summarize, I’ve learned an unmeasurable amount of information, felt God in so many new ways, and created a new group that I’m proud to call family. Each moment was a blessing, in easy times and difficult times. The Lord has so much more in store and I can’t wait to explore!
