Idk why I wait last minute to do almost anything but, here is a summary of what I experienced at training camp. Disclosure: Words cannot begin to suffice the revelations that God revealed to me through both my teammates and just by simply keeping an open line of communication with him.
On the first day of training camp my first exception was that I wouldn’t fit in well with my squad because I felt that I was too reserved/introverted. Surprisingly right after setting up my tent I was greeting almost everyone that showed up (laughing emoji). I didint know that they were putting all the guys together on teams so that worked out perfectly. Despite having to take bucket showers and having a hard time drying clothes, training camp wasn’t all that bad. On the first night of worship I was so overwhelmed by how everyone was signing in one accord that I began to sing myself, for the first time since I was a kid. Since then the rest of training camp one of the things I would really look forward to was worship. Each day was a different culture day so some days we could wear shorts some days we had to wear pants; and the food was always good despite it being different everyday. I was never one to be picky about food, however eating with our hands on village day was a new one for me, cant say I enjoyed it (laughing emoji). Also each day since like day 2 they would put us in a different scenario. One of those scenarios which I think was on day 3 or 4, they put my squad and another squad all together in the training building with all the lights on and airport noises to simulate a long layover time. We had to sleep through all of this with just our air mattresses for comfort. This was the WORST sleep of my life because at 2am I woke up and couldn’t move my right arm or the right side of my neck with ought excruciating pain!! I neglected to pack icy hot so for about 4 days I was just going through the motions of loosing up my neck and arm. Sleeping on my side combined with the hard concrete floor and a not so thick air mattress led to this predicament. For real tho the pain was so intense I almost shed tears (laughing emoji). Despite that experience I really felt that my intimacy with God was growing by LEAPS and I was really connecting with my teammates (whom I now call brothers). Then came day 5 (Dramatic Pause), the half way point. I woke up about 6 am, I was inside the community tent that they put me and the rest of my team in (another scenario), which was actually pretty nice. We were laughing so much that night we made the rest of our squad mad and Ben. However when I woke up that morning I checked my phone and came to find out that a friend of mine from school killed himself. Right in that moment so many waves of emotions hit me I had to go to the bathroom and ball my eyes out. I was filled with such deep sorrow and anger. I was not angry at God but I was angry at myself, I kept telling myself that I should’ve paid more attention, I should’ve reached out, I should’ve done this I should’ve done that. From that point on until morning devotionals (like 830 am) I cut myself off from my teammates, I texted them in the group chat about what happened but never said a word. That’s when Phillip and Ben mustered up the courage to tell our team leader (who’s name is also Elijah) during devotionals, about what happened. Elijah talked to me then and there alone and I just broke down in front of him, this was the first step in destroying the walls I surrounded my broken spirit with. After devotionals at around 915-10am ish, we were staring to begin worship in the training center. I was ready to stay despite how I was still feeling when Kate (our squad leader) pulled me aside to her office in the back. She discussed with me about what happened and asked me if I felt the need to isolate myself to properly morn. I was faced with two decisions, to isolate myself or, to surround myself with brothers and sisters of like mind that would lift me up in my state of brokenness. I chose the right choice, to surround myself. Not only because God was telling me to but I knew that If I were to have isolated myself, I would have let the enemy grab an even greater foothold in my mind; ultimately destroying it. As I walked back into worship, a vision eventually came into my mind as i was worshiping. I was surrounded by 4 concrete walls that continued to multiply as far as I could see, and in my hand was a sledge hammer. I started to swing that hammer, one swing at a time as I tore down the walls facing me. Not 5 minutes later, one of the female singers, i forget her name, stopped singing to say that she was seeing this vision, a vision of us holding a hammer and tearing down the walls that were in front of us. I started to cry right there. I’m usually not one to cry but training camp week, God opened up the flood gates. During worship Caleb also came to me and said that he had this vision of me on my knees with two angels surrounding me fighting off demons that were trying to attack me, and in my hands were two staffs that I were using to defend myself. Phillip also said a prayer over me that really connected with me so much I was shaking and weeping in front of him. This was all in ONE worship morning. After worship ended me and my teammates along with two of our team leaders and the leader of all the guys at training camp, sat in one circle to talk about worship. This is when I really opened up to everyone about what happened, how I was feeling, and how God was talking to me. They were proud that I even had the courage to open up to them this way and were in awe about how God was speaking to me, we all grew even closer after day 5. By the end of the day I was feeling so renewed by the joy of the Lord, truly, words do not suffice. The rest of training camp was filled with adventure and bonds being formed and intimacy with God being increased. One of those adventures/experiences was the 2 mile hike we all had to complete in an allotted time frame with ALL of our gear on our backs. Me and most of my team’s goal was to finish before everyone else so we could go back and encourage them to press on, which we did, and our whole team made it in the allotted time. There’s a lot more that happened during training camp, ESPECIALLY during worship, but, that’s a vague recap of what I experienced. If I would have wrote this earlier I would probably have much more to say in a more orderly fashion (laughing emoji). But thanks for reading
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