As a lot of you know, I was in Gainsville, GA for training camp for The World Race. Oh and let me tell you that training camp was a huge whirlwind. I have never felt more mixed emotions in my life, but above all, I have never been more faithful. Here’s a very small glimpse of how the Lord worked this week-
First and foremost, the food. Every emotion you could have towards food was had by all 47 of us. Every day the food would be dedicated to a different country. The first was Asia. This food was BOMB. I love Asian food and could eat it forever so I thoroughly enjoyed this. The second day was Latin America Day. Basically, every Hispanic food you could think of was put on those three plates. Day three was Villiage Day, very similar to Africa day with shoulder coverings. There are no words to describe this food. Honestly, because I had no clue what I was eating. Dinner in Africa was good, but all in all 6/10. Day four (or five, honestly all the days started to blur together), we had Travel Day. PB & J’s all day, baby! The next India, with head, shoulder and ankle coverings, and a lot of curry. Let’s just say the spice of India day made those who hadn’t gone to the bathroom in 5 days… have to go to the bathroom. We had an adventure day where, bless his soul, Caelum ate some sort of egg. I kept hearing from people, “100-year-old egg”, I’m praying that wasn’t true for his sake because he ate TWO of them. But I think it paired well with the peanut covered crickets. On the last day, we had America day. Burgers and hot dogs, biscuits and gravy. Basically, everything that’s not great for you, we had, and enjoyed every second of it.
Meeting my squad was so surreal. We all stood around each other and just kept saying, “Holy crap, you’re actually real.”. After talking to each other through a screen for months makes for a wack real-life introduction. Anyways, we all checked in the first day, got our teams and started to head down to the campsite. Now I’ve set up a tent a total of no times in my life. Literally never set up a tent before. This caused me to look incredibly lost and for my new teammate to come over and graciously help me. Praise the Lord for you, Jordan Louise. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d have slept on the dirt. The rest of day one was filled with very new friendships and trying to figure people out. Little did we know we would soon find the daily the bowel movements of at least 8 of our squadmates. The second day was about getting to know everyone. The important stuff like that Nathan had never ridden a horse. Or that Lexi had never been a boy, nor has she moved out of her house. Like I said, the really deep and important stuff. No but really, it gave us a good idea or weird talents that people had or the random facts about one another. Being 3 days post-training camp, I cannot say that those random facts about my squadmates were the most interesting. Those 46 men and women of the Lord are unlike anyone I’ve ever met. They are constantly searching for the Lord to put a fire in their heart. Continuously asking the Lord to break and rebuild them. They lean into the Lord with everything in them. These are things I pray to learn from them. I pray to have the faithfulness and courage that Anna has. She wasn’t every afraid to ask for prayer and when life was falling apart she without fail looked to the Lord and trusted Him every minute. I pray to have knowledge that Katy does. This girl just spits out scripture left and right, no joke. I pray to have the joy that Sophie has. WITHOUT FAIL, always has a smile on her face. I could go on 46 more times, but there isn’t enough space in a blog for me to do so.
To my lady squadmates-
I have yet to see hearts like yours. It’s been ten days and you have already pushed me more than I thought I could ever be pushed. You all clearly possess qualities that come directly from the Lord. Through you ladies, I will strive to be more like the Lord. Your worth, though hard to see at times, is infinite. Not just from the Lord, but from every other squadmate you have. You are LOVED by the Father and again, by every squadmate you have. I cannot wait to do life with all of you and cannot wait to watch the Lord grow in every single one of you. The next nine months we will want to kill each other, there will be fights and disagreements, but that has nothing on the relationship we have already created/will create. I love every encouraging word you bring to one another. I love the faithfulness you all bring. And y’all are NOT afraid to ask for help. We are in this together. None of of signed up tp the do alone. I love and appreicate ever bit of honest feedback, that was given and taken. The strength that all of you enure is amazing. I could sit and write for days on you ladies but again… not enough space in a blog.
To my guys-
Holy crap. Never in my life have I been around such God-fearing men. First, you WILLINGLY signed up to be brothers to 30-something women. That’s somthing in itself. Second, you all posess these gifts from the Lord that I have never seen to be so evanate in a group of men. You all clearly looked to the Lord, listened and obeyed. You were all able to be vulnerable without fail. There are leadership skills thrown in the group all around, no doubt. But most of all, they are really great at the Church Clap. By really good, I mean its incredibly funny watching Sam Haymond do the Church Clap. Anyways, you boys are something else. A lot of you have qualities as men of God that us girls haven’t seen. Thank you for choosing to show up what it looks like tobe a man of the Lord and thank you for be our brothers… and thank you for contantly making us laugh.
Team Fervant-
HONESTLY. God gave me a group of ladies that I wasn’t keen on. I didn’t know any of them and I was quick to make judgement. The Lord told me to knock it off and that’s were I met some of the most RAD ladies in the world. We come from some crazy backgrounds, but as we get to know one another have some crazy similarites too. You are so beautiful and so loved by the King, I JUST WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT AND BE CONFIDENT IN IT. You are all made in Him. Thank you all for being vulnerable and trusting us. Loving you guys for nine months is going to be such a treat
What God taught me-
This is hard. God taught me a lot of things. The first one I can think of is, “shut up and listen”. I tend to talk a lot whether its in my head or out loud and it was really hard for me to hear the Lord speaking to me when He was so clearly there. Like I genuinly got MAD at the Lord, not my best move. At about day three, I was able to hear, “Shut up and listen”. I don’t know about you but my Jesus is straight to the point and kinda sassy. Anyways, I had to learn to shut up, stop listening to my own words and listen to His.
He taught me that misqitos are my worst enemy.
He taught me that I don’t mind bucket showers if they are only twice a week.
He QUICKLY taught me that my quick irritation and frustration towards um everything, won’t fly on the field. He showed me that that’s who I am, but I’m so much more than that.
He showed me what being bold looked like.
The Lord KICKED my booty this last week and a half. He broke a ton of my walls which are in the process of being built up. He has given me community and so much confirmation on where He has me. There are no words to describe how training camp went last week. I was and am still broken. I have a million things to work through, but I’m working and walking in freedom with the Lord and that’s all that I can ask for. I could talk all day about training camp, I really could, but there isn’t enough space in a blog.
