Maybe it was the freezing cold bucket showers, or maybe it was a whole lot of Jesus – but my 10 days at training camp have left me feeling more cleansed and connected to the Lord than I could have ever imagined.
Sitting here writing this post, it is so difficult to put my entire experience of training camp into words. I can be completely honest though in saying I was NOT looking forward to it. Driving 10 hours to spend 10 days sleeping in a tent in the Georgia heat with 38 strangers was not my ideal way to spend part of my summer. Luckily, the good Lord blessed me with broken air conditioning in my car so my parents were finally convinced to let me fly to Georgia instead. Looking back, this was the first of many blessings training camp had given me.
Blessing #2 came the very first night, after my squad of 38 and I had settled into our tents and went to worship. Growing up in a Catholic church, I am used to standing and singing traditional hymns to an organ being played. Walking into worship the first night, I found myself completely out of my element when I saw an entire band on stage with over 200 teens like myself jumping and singing at the top of their lungs to worship songs I had never heard before. The entire night I was covered in goosebumps, in awe of the sense of community and shared love of God. I felt so at home that night, surrounded by my new family.
The days were filled with so much fun and joking with my squad along with educational sessions and important information. To be honest again, the days seemed to mix and jumble together. I mean, waking up at 6:30am every morning, completing a day packed of activities, not going to bed until after 11pm, and NO NAPS, we all seemed to get confused as to which day it was. Each day we were given a different culture to mimic – by dress, customs, and food – and had to maintain that culture throughout the entire day. As a picky eater, the meals were my worst nightmare. Most meals I tried, however I seemed to completely refrain from eating when there was some type of mystery meat on the trays. The next blessings came around 2-3pm each day when we were given a snack. I had personally never tasted anything more delicious than the apples or granola bars they handed to us. At that time, they beat home-cooked meals hands down.
One more blessing I received was lice. What a true blessing! Who knew I would get so excited to have little bugs crawling in my hair. Having lice was actually so fun because along with myself, 19 other girls on my squad had it. We all were able to hang out, do lice treatments together, lice comb each others hair, and laugh about the fact we had 20 cases of lice while other squads only had 1 or 2. This was an experience I will never forget because well, I had never had lice before, and because I got to spend more time getting to know my squad.
I was blessed in so many ways at training camp, but these are just a few. Through my 10 days, I learned some new dance moves, learned to pack light, to take quick and efficient bucket showers, to fit nearly 100 people in a tiny room when theres flash flooding, and to lice comb, but also to love individuals for who they are, to chose to love them, to be intentional, to grow closer to God, and to listen for His voice. I learned that I am loved so dearly by God and that he washes away all of our sins. I am clean again with God by my side. I feel so loved and humbled to be with the squad and leadership I was given. We are all so unique but alike in our passion for the World Race and I now officially cannot wait to launch in September with them by my side. As for now, I am back home in Central PA (lice free) spending my last month of summer with friends and family, learning to appreciate hot showers and water pressure. I am currently working on fundraising to meet my next big deadline to be able to launch fully funded!
Here’s some fun pics!
