Hello people!! Whether you stumbled here just out of some random curiosity or if you are just one of my pals, all are welcome and I am so happy that you are here!! A little over a week ago I got home from my training camp for the race. I would love to share three major things that I had learned while I was living in the great wilderness of Gainesville Georgia!
1. COMMUNITY IS KEY
Camp was weird, because it was like feeling the worst you have ever felt mixed with feeling the most amazing. By this I mean, you are uncomfortable. You are sleeping in a tent, you have to hike to get to your bucket shower, there is noooo indoor plumbing, it is either so hot and humid you constantly feel sticky or it is pouring rain and you realize you forgot to put down your rainfly at your campsite so all your stuff gets soaking wet. and I mean I don’t think that the average american would voluntarily live like that everyday. I sure wouldn’t. Well… At first I thought that… It was about day three when you get used to smelling bad and not showering a whole lot and just being cool with it. Also by day 3 you have started to form relationships with your team, and squad. I am on a team of 7 girls. Alex, Brittany, Kenzie, Katie, Cierra, and Acacia. You. Guys. It was so cool. As soon as we started to get to know each other. It clicked. we clicked. Instantly becoming best friends, and becoming family. And then there is our squad, there is 45 of us, and like my team, we had just clicked. It was like God opened up the clouds and there was light for the first time. It was my first experience for how the Church was actually supposed to function. Completely led by the Holy Spirit. One of my favorite parts of camp was when we were all playing a game on the back patio and all of a sudden it starts to pour rain and we all decide to run out in it. We started dancing and singing and the next thing I know we are all worshipping together, singing “Oh how he loves us” Hands in the air, shouting, dancing. It was beautiful, spontaneous, just as the Lord has intended. It showed me that community is essential in our walk with Jesus. Within a community chasing after Jesus is when mountains move, people are healed, the dead are raised. It got me to a place where I would live in the outdoors and be sticky and sweaty every single day just to be able to be a part of a community like that.
2. Walking in the spirit
I will be honest… After days 1 and 2 I was seriously doubting God, I had no idea what I was doing at training camp, feeling so out of place, alone, and terrified. I kept asking him if he was sure I was supposed to be there. I hadn’t talked to anyone about how I had been feeling, and then in worship that night on the second day, I was still feeling so doubtful. I was overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. Then this girl, her name tag said Abigail, came and started to pray over me. She said that Lord had given her a word for me. The Lord told her I was placed there for a reason, that I was not lost, that he was proud of me. It was so simple yet so so so powerful. Ever since that moment in camp, the Lord had completely taken away my doubt, fear, and anxiety. I started to finally step into what he had been calling me to. I felt his presence like never before. And yet, it wasn’t like this big heavy overwhelming presence. It was filled with light and joy and laughter. It carried me through training camp. When things at camp got hard and tiring the Lord reminded me of his Joy. He then guided me with each step, he was showing me how to walk in his spirit. Fear, doubt, and anxiety are not from the Lord. He revealed that to me more and more everyday. Dang, Jesus is so good. Walking in the spirit is so important, each day I try my best to put my faith in the Lord, he guides my steps and fills me with his joy!!
3. Saying yes to God
I have realized something for myself, I always thought the hardest thing about being a christian would be to say no to the worldly things, say no to sin. Don’t get me wrong because that is most definitely hard because it is in our nature to sin. However, something harder for me is, saying yes to God. I have learned in my life that I am broken without jesus and I will sin because that is the world I am born into, but God cares less about my sin and more about relationship with me, and the more I press in the more I become like him. So sin in this case is not the problem, it’s saying yes. It’s obedience. At camp I had gotten to a point where I relied completely on him for comfort because there was no comfort in things like sleeping in my tent or my ever so refreshing bucket showers. I was learning what dependency on the Lord really looked like. I started to walk with him more intricately and paid close attention to the details, he began to ask me to do things, to pray over people and certain things, I was branching out and taking leaps of faith, but then he would ask me to do a little more risky things. I would get scared and back off and not do it, I didn’t want to step completely out of my comfort zone yet… But when I finally would give in, and say yes, it was so rewarding. Missions is all about saying yes to God, it is about having full faith in the Lord. It’s about saying “Okay God, what do you want to do today” not “God please give me this” or just halfway walking with him. It’s not about testing the waters, but jumping in all the way. And I am here for it. I am saying YES to Jesus and that is all I want to do for the rest of my life.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. I would normally apologize to you for it being messy, and having a few grammatical errors but Jesus loves me with all my mess and all my errors. Again, thanks for reading my blog, thanks for being an audience to which I can pour my heart out to!
The end!!
But wait there’s more!!! I am still fundraising and would absolutely love your support!! You are more than welcome to donate through my blog OR feel free to contact me through the contact info through my blog! If you are not able to support me financially but still want to get involved then lets talk!! I always need prayer and the kingdom needs it even more and I wanna do life with you!! 
This is my sister kate baptizing me at the end of training camp! I chose to do this to show my commitment and surrender to the Lord!!
