Training camp. Man oh man, what a crazy, amazing, fun, horrible, interesting, busy 10 days. If you ask me what I thought about training camp, I can’t really give you a short answer because I thought a lot of different things about it….clearly. I’m going to try to spare you every last detail, but guys, just so much happened! So if you really want the whole story (this post DEFINITELY doesn’t summarize it all because I would be here for another 10 days just writing it all out) let me know, and I will tell you everything! It should take less than 10 days for me to speak it out loud to you 😉
Let me paint you a quick picture of the living conditions.
We slept in our tents every night, and let’s just say Georgia was not kind to us in the weather department. SO. COLD. And if you know me even a little bit, I do NOT like being cold. Give me all of the sweating and all of the 100 degree days, but please don’t make me be cold (someone tell me why I’ve lived in SD my whole life???) Hot is uncomfortable; cold hurts. It was in the 40s every night, which doesn’t sound that bad, but yes I might somewhat be a baby in the cold, and we were outside for all meals and a lot of other activities too. Good thing I’m headed to HOT countries next year! Let the sweating begin.
Bucket showers. Cold water bucket showers. Hence why this girl only washed her hair twice and took a baby wipe “shower” twice. Nope nope nope to the bucket showers in that cold of weather. I asked my sister if I smelled when I got home and she said it wasn’t a bad smell, just a distinct one, so not too shabby ehh? I’ll take “distinct” after 10 days in the woods.
Porta-potties.
Food based on continents/countries we will be in which was mostly good, though I need some help when it comes to eating with chopsticks, and I definitely wasn’t a fan of 8 people eating off one tray with no utensils or plates cause the food they gave us was not food you’d normally eat with your hands. Also probably why like 75% of our squad including me got a cold the last few days of TC. One of the food days was Adventure Day where I had the option to try a Century Egg (look it up if you don’t know) but I definitely passed. Maybe I’ll be more adventurous when I’m actually in country.
Re-wearing the same outfits over and over and over and looking like a dweeb with my basketball shorts over my leggings and my socks with chacos, but this dweeb was cold and really didn’t care about style. Or makeup. Or hair. It was nice. You should all try it sometime.
The 2.2 mile hike with your full pack in less than 38 minutes. Don’t worry everyone, Jessica gets competitive and she kicks it into high gear when she knows she is being timed so she ran down hills when she didn’t have to and passed with plenty of time to spare and a new personal record! I know you were all worried.
A typical day at TC went as follows:
Breakfast, Worship, Session, Squad time, Lunch, Session, Squad time, Field Scenario, Dinner (but actually supper), Worship, Session, Bed Time
**Some days were drastically different than this, but this was the typical day.
Now for the stuff you actually want to know. I met the rest of my squad (R squad – 33 people) and also found out who would be on my small team of six. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty overwhelming to meet so many people all at once, but it was also pretty cool to get connected to 32 other people who also love Jesus and want to share his love around the world. These are some amazing people, and I am pumped to learn from them; I already see so many qualities in these people that will challenge me to grow in my faith.
So what did I learn? Oh goodness, the sheer amount of information thrown at us *shakes head*. I am so glad I took notes and wrote down pretty much everything we did or I don’t even know how I would remember a single thing. Not only did I meet 32 other people, but we were packing up our tents and packs half the days we were there, doing field scenarios (sleeping in the “airport”, having half of our packs with our tents and sleeping gear “lost” at the airport, shopping in the local “marketplace”), trying to keep warm, trying new foods, and then also taking part in multiple sessions a day where we learned about forgiveness, Spiritual warfare, the ladder of legalism, shame, missions, living in community, Sabbath rest, identity, sharing the Gospel, empowerment of the Holy Spirit, travel insurance, World Race expectations, storytelling, pursuing intimacy, and yep that’s not even close to all of the topics.
Training Camp was a lot to take in, and I found out a lot about myself. I have this tendancy to compare myself to other people, both on a physical level and on a spiritual level, and to be perfectly honest, I struggled with this so much during those 10 days. Though it was amazing to be with so many people who love Jesus, it was slightly intimidating. It’s so easy for me to look at the people who just radiate “nice” and wonder how in the world I could ever measure up to that. No, I’m not a mean person and I do truly care, but I’m not really the type of person that everyone is drawn to and immediately loves. I started to really question how God could actually use me to share his love because looking around at my team, there is always someone who is nicer or more approachable than me or who seems to love and know God a whole lot more than I do. Who am I kidding?! I don’t have a missionary personality!
Now I know that’s total crap because if you follow Jesus, you’re a missionary whether you like it or not, and obviously not every single person is super nice and super approachable with a super perfect personality. Obviously God can use anyone, and he has a specific purpose for each person, but the thought of not being cut out for this definitely crossed my mind. “They know God wayyy better than me” or “I don’t have any gifts or abilities to actually help people” were lies I allowed to linger in my mind throughout TC.
But I made the decision at Training Camp to choose to see myself how God sees me – which means no more bashing my hair or my face or anything else I don’t like about my body and also no more bashing my gifts, my personality, and ultimately the person God created ME to be. Even if my going on this trip means that one person comes to know Christ, then wouldn’t that be totally worth it?!?! Absolutely! I don’t want to miss out on God’s plan for my life because I’m too busy telling Him that His creation of me wasn’t good enough.
In addition to identity, God highlighted some other areas of my life where I still need to do a lot of searching and a lot of growing, and for that I am so thankful. TC was not the easiest 10 days of my life – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – but it was good. I came away with better skills in packing and setting up tents but also with a desire to know God more.
Training Camp down, World Race here I come!
