Training camp was sweaty, incredible, exhausting, and pulled me closer to Jesus than I ever have been before. I loved every minute of every day.
Everyday looked very different. Each day was designated as a certain country- for example, day one was “Asia day”, so we ate food we would eat in Asia for all three meals that day. There was also Central America day, Africa day, Village day, South America day, Travel day, Coming home day (so we ate American food), and Adventure day. On Adventure day, we were served ~different~ foods and they told us what we were eating AFTER we ate it. So I have officially eaten crickets and chicken gizzards. crickets taste like sunflower seeds and gizzards taste like super crunchy bacon.
Here’s the schedule of every day, which shows how much we did.
We had a few sessions every day where we learned an incredible amount. Some of the topics of sessions include:
-Missional living
-The cost of being a disciple
-Building positive cultural cross relationships
-Learning about other cultures and appreciating the differences
-Evangelism
-Grace
-Women’s ministry
-Intimacy with God and being genuine in your relationship
-Learning how we connect with the Lord (because it is different between people)
-Forgiveness
-Roadblocks to growing your relationship with God
-Prophesy
-Communication (how we communicate with other people and how to be honoring and respectful)
-and a few others. I can’t even begin to say how much I have learned and grown.
We slept in tents the whole time, I ended up sleeping in my eno (hammock) for the second week. No one looked at their phone all day everyday (because we didn’t have them), which was awesome. Everyone was present at all times and never distracted. No one ever looked in a mirror when we woke up. We just all knew we were all sweaty and no one cares what you look like. I woke up at 5:45am everyday to take a cold bucket shower. A five gallon bucket with a cup in it in a stall outside. A lot of people weren’t a big fan of this one, but I personally loved it. Bucket showers really show that we don’t need NEARLY the amount of water we usually use for showers. Also everyone was constantly insanely sweaty and smelly, so dumping a bucket of cold water on yourself was so fantastic.
PEOPLE. WHO WAS THERE?
There were roughly 280 people ages 18-20 at training camp. These are all the people going on World Race gap year this year. These people are separated into SIX different routes (squads) with about 50 people on each squad. It was so cool to meet people from other squads- easily some of the most amazing and inspiring people I have ever met in my life. If you ever feel like you’re losing hope in this generation, you would be pleased to know that if you met these people, your hope would be fully restored. My heart hurts to know that I may never see some of these people from other routes again.
But I’ve got-
—-My Squad!!—-
Wow. My squad. I love them all with all my heart.
Who is my squad? Great question. My squad is about 50 people including myself. These are the people that are traveling to the same countries as me and we will all be traveling together.
My squad is full of people who are so genuine, good, full of life and laughter, and filled with the love of God and want to grow the Kingdom. I am so extremely honored to be a part of this group and be able to call them friends. I admire them all and they inspire me.
This was awesome:
One day during squad time, we talked about how we are a body of Christ. We, as a squad, are a church and we lift each other up. So we did something to bring us closer and make better connections with each other.
All 48 of us stood in a line and one by one we went down the line to each person, looked them in the eyes and said “I have said yes to the Lord and I have also said yes to you”. Meaning, I have said yes to the Lord to go on this journey to grow the Kingdom, and I have also said yes to being a part of a church with you to love you and call you higher and take part of this journey with you. It was so moving and very much brought us all closer. I will never forget looking into each of my 47 squad-mates eyes, grabbing their hand, and saying those words to them.
—–MY TEAM—–
My team is a group of myself and six other girls. Teams are WITHIN your squad. so we have seven teams within our squad. These are the people you will be doing everything with. Living with, doing ministry with, and doing processing with. We will be calling each other higher to God and encouraging each other.
My teammates names are Emily Baumgartner, Brie Keel, Lucy Jackson, Grace Davis, Emily Olsen, and Lexi Lyle. They are all women of God and are INCREDIBLE. Beautifully unique. I cannot wait to serve alongside them and learn more about them.
WORSHIP
Every night we would worship after a long hard day. Every day it was amazing and the most impactful worship I’ve ever experienced.
The first night was overwhelming in all the best ways. Standing there in the middle of a packed room of 280 young people who love Jesus and are shouting at the top of their lungs to live worship. Every person in that room genuinely wanted to be there and didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. This to me is the definition of incredible and awe-inspiring.
Growing my relationship with Jesus
Throughout these two weeks, I have learned so much about myself and my relationship with Jesus. I learned how I connect with Him best. How to grow my relationship with Him. I have been praying for quite some time for a closer relationship and I surely have learned how to work on that. Training camp has inspired me, and has ignited a passion inside of me. I am closer to God now than I ever have been and it’s only going to get better. Thank you, God for this time. For this opportunity!!
I felt the Holy Spirit in ways I didn’t know I could.
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It would be impossible for me to type everything we did in this post, but I wish it wasn’t.
We did the fitness hike, a 2.2 mile hike with our big packs, which are about 40lbs. My team and I jogged most of it and did it in 25 minutes!
and this is me, sweaty as usual!
Something that will be an extra challenge that I’m insanely excited about:
I’m serving as a logistics coordinator for my squad! It’s me and two other people that will be working together on the field to make arrangements for places for our whole squad to go, finding housing for staff and coaches on the field, managing finances, and determining all visa requirements and ensuring all border crossings go smoothly and safely.
I’ll be taking a training class both online and at launch for this position.
Big stuff, right? I’m excited. And I know this will be a challenge in a great way.
The last night before we went home, we had worship and I couldn’t help but cry. I was so full of joy. All I could do was thank God for giving me this opportunity and for me being able to be there for two weeks with all of these people. MAN, my heart is so full!!
Leaving and Home
The ride home was interesting. My friend and I stopped at a rest stop in Kings Mtn., NC, and her car wouldn’t start. We were there for about an hour and a half until someone could finally jump the car to start. Thank you, God, for an exciting life and for keeping us safe.
Being home feels strange. It’s only been eleven days, but that just shows how impactful training camp was. My friend said it like this, “We have changed so much, but we’re coming home to a place where nothing has changed at all”. I miss everyone I met. I miss meeting new people every day and hearing their stories and how God has worked in their life. I miss being around people who are so genuine and filled with the love of God where everyone is so caring and will pray over anyone who needs it. The support these people provide is straight from God. I’ve never experienced anything like what training camp was.
Feeling
Again, MAN my heart is so full!! I am so incredibly thankful, inspired, full of love, and eager. Eager to continue getting to know God, eager to launch, eager to spread His love and plant His seeds! I hope I never lose this feeling. This feeling training camp has given me has changed me. This feeling training camp has given me has ignited a passion stronger than I’ve ever had.
Seven weeks until we leave for Swaziland.
Thank you for reading!! I’m almost to $6,000 out of $15,800 for fundraising! My $10,000 goal is August 24th! Thank you for your support, love, and prayers.
-Clarissa Cappadona
