My Squad!
Hello to all of my faithful supporters and readers!
I’m writing this evening to give an update about the past 10 days I spent at training camp in preparation for Launch, which is when I head back to Atlanta, GA for a few days of sessions and last minute prep before my squad and I take off for Guatemala!
This summer has been a period of waiting and preparation for the Race, and while it seems so long ago that I finished college, I can’t believe that I begin moving across the world in only 47 days! My heart is thrilled and ready for what God has in store over the next 9 months overseas, but it’s also heavy with last minute things to do, moving two more times before Launch, and of course, leaving my family and friends (and pets).
Training camp was one of the toughest short-term experiences I’ve had in terms of spiritual, emotional, and mental growth, as well as physically demanding. That being said, everything Adventures in Missions (AIM) staff did to break us out of our comfort zones was necessary to prep us for life overseas in unfamiliar cultures.
To give you some perspective, training camp was in Gainesville, GA this past week and a half from July 10th to 20th. My entire squad has 48 young adults on it aged between 18 and 20, and there were 6 squads at training camp, all roughly about the same size (~300 students total). Each squad was given a campsite and we camped in our own tents for the majority of the week.
About every other night we had sleeping simulations, which were scenarios that could potentially happen on the race. The second night we had a “community living” scenario, where our team spent the night sleeping/living in community tents. Each tent was designed for 8-10 people, but held 15-17 of us sleeping and our gear (2 bags per person)…it was a warm night. In another simulation, AIM staff “stole” half of our bags and claimed the airline had lost them en route to our next country. We spent the night sharing tents, gear, and clothes with our teammates whose bags hadn’t been lost until our packs were “found” the following afternoon. In another simulation we spent the night in the air-conditioned training center, which was set up to look and sound like an airport. Our scenario was a 15-hour layover during the middle of the day in Seoul, Korea, where we only had our day packs and needed to sleep while we could. The air conditioning was an immediate relief, but also turned very chilly for those who hadn’t brought warmer clothing. The lights were left on all night with a loud recording of typical airport noises (announcements, background chatter, flights taking off, etc.) It was quite the experience!
Otherwise, camping in the middle of July in Georgia was incredibly humid and warm, but most of the countries on our route will also be really warm. The facilities at training camp were also primitive, in that bathrooms consisted of porta-potties, and showers were “bucket showers” (essentially exactly what it sounds like– a bucket of water with a smaller cup for rinsing).
We ate our meals outdoors under a large pavilion, and had themes for each day relative to countries/continents that different squads were going to. For example, on Asia day we ate rice and eggs for breakfast, miso noodle soup for lunch, and fried rice for dinner. We also followed cultural rules at mealtimes, like not using silverware on Africa day, wearing head coverings on India day, etc. Overall, the food was very interesting, not always preferable, but necessary to cultural assimilation as many cultures deem it rude and insulting to turn down food they have offered you.
During sessions at training camp we were taught by a number of AIM staff on several different topics, such as Old Testament teachings, forgiveness, blogging, evangelism techniques, the cost of discipleship, logistics of the Race, listening to God’s voice, support raising, and many others.
One of the main speakers was a pastor named Deon who grew up in South Africa and is now living in the States, working for AIM, and doing other mission work. His teachings resonated with me the most, specifically on counting the cost of what we are about to take on as a squad. He challenged us to process what it means personally for each of us to count what it will cost us to follow Jesus these next 9 months by holding nothing back. Leaving family and friends is one thing, but making a daily choice (sometimes more than once a day) to die to yourself, pick up your cross, and make the hard decision to pursue Jesus and his desires more than your own hurts. It hurts a lot. And that’s okay because it’s supposed to hurt. God asks us to do hard things– sometimes they’re awkward, or messy, or we don’t understand them, but he asks us to trust him more than ourselves. And for me, that can be exceptionally difficult.
I enjoy being independent, living on my own, working a full-time job, and even having a savings account. I find a lot of security in the work I have done to provide for myself. These past 10 days have made it clear to me that it’s not about how much of myself I give to God, it’s about how much I hold back, because that’s where my security and trust really are.
One of our mentors said that training camp is preparation for the Race, and the Race is preparation for life. I can’t wait to see God continue to work and complete the things he started in me this past week over the next nine months and my time after that!
As always thank you for reading and joining me on my Race! Once I’m overseas I will be blogging 1-2 times a week on ministry and general life on the field, so feel free to subscribe to my blog for automatic updates.
Thank you again, I literally would not be here without each and every one of you!
e
