I am a little late on writing my training camp blog, but I just got home a few days ago and have needed a lot of time to process what happened during training camp. From what I had read about training camp and watched on vlogs, I thought TC was going to be all about getting to know our squad and team, time spent in worship and studies in the word, and more about what field time would look like. I wasn’t nervous at all. I was filled with only excitement. Although I was right about all of those things being at training camp, I was also very wrong about what it would actually look like. If I could describe TC in one word, it would be ‘Stretching.’
We had more sessions than I can count. I honestly felt like I was back in college in a lecture hall again. Sitting still for hours is way harder than I remember. The sessions felt long at some times, but with them came opportunities to hear amazing speakers, learn so much information that will help us in different cultures on the Race, pray with our squad and teammates, worship with an amazing community, and experience some things I had never experienced. It was weird and challenging, but really really sweet.
Some things I learned at training camp: sorry for the length, but this is the short version!
- I love camping more than I did before training camp. But I will always hate porta potties.
Training camp was 11 days of sleeping in a tent in the summer heat, (we got to sleep inside two times though. One night for a storm and one night for a host home activity), taking refreshing bucket showers just to start sweating immediately after, using way more baby wipes than I have ever used in my life, and using the dreadful porta potties. Being outdoors, sleeping on a sleeping pad in a tent, and brushing my teeth outside next to a tree is something I hope we get to do a lot on the field (not all my squad mates will agree). There is something really freeing and exciting about having all of your belongings in a pack that you can carry around on your back.
- Strangers can quickly become best friends.
I’ve always loved meeting new people from all over, whether it was when I was studying abroad in Australia, staying in hostels in nearly every place I have traveled to, or talking with people that were new to our college ministry. Connecting with people isn’t a difficult thing for me, but as far as having a close group of friends, I only have a few. I’m more comfortable being around smaller groups of people, rather than large groups, where I will normally step back and observe from a distance. But I got to experience raw community this week, even being among 20+ people. I was vulnerable with people I had only known for a short period of time and I realized that that’s what makes real relationships. This week I got to talk to everyone on my squad, people from squad A, speakers, mentors, and more. Now for the next year I get to do life with so many new people who I know are going to be life long friends.
- It’s okay to tell people you need space. Alone time is good and necessary.
Most of the people in my life know that being in high-energy situations or around large groups of people takes away everything from me. After a short amount of time, I will start to observe from a distance and become very quiet. I need to be alone to regain my energy. This week I found out that some people feel the same way and some feel the opposite. When we got a day for Sabbath, I practically ran away from everyone and was so excited to be alone. Yes, that was one of my favorite days. After finding out our teams and getting to talk/get to know each other, I was happy to hear that some of them need alone time to refresh and recharge as well. On the field it is going to be hard to be alone a lot of the time, but at least I have people in my corner that also share this need.
- Speaking of Sabbath…Sabbath is something I need in my life and everyone should put it into practice.
Almost half way into training camp we had a day planned just for Sabbath. This was my favorite day, besides Women’s Day. We woke up early, like we always do, grabbed some breakfast and then sat with our squad to talk about what this would look like. At home, with a busy schedule and working full time I don’t set aside time for a Sabbath. Maybe an hour or so a day to read in the word, but not actually taking the time to talk with God. We got about 3 hours to ourselves, whatever that looked like for each person, and 3 hours or so for team Sabbath, if you wanted. I needed alone time if I wanted to function like a somewhat normal human being for the rest of training camp, so after we talked about Sabbath I practically sprinted out of the building. I took our almost 7 hours and went into the woods, set up my hammock and just stayed in that spot. I took a nap, skipped lunch (accidently), talked to God about all that had happened so far, and took in all of His beauty that was in front of me. It was such a sweet reminder of how good God is in all that He does for us. I had also read through Ruth. “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). When I got to the part where Ruth clings to Naomi, I had heard something in front of me and I looked up to see a doe and her fawn walking in the woods. That was pretty sweet.
Sabbath will look different for everyone. “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation (Gen. 2:2-3).” No matter what it looks like for you, practice Sabbath. It is needed more than you may think.
- God meets you where you are, in your brokenness.
We are human, sinful, imperfect, and broken. We can’t go a minute without messing up, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t live into what God has for us. There is nothing we can do to make God love us. He sent His only son to die on the cross, FOR US. No we didn’t deserve it, but we can say yes to relationship with Him and all that comes with that. I didn’t grow up in church and with that I thought that I had to be a certain way or know a certain amount of things before you could go to church. If only someone told me sooner that God accepts you just as you are. Let me repeat that…JUST. AS. YOU. ARE. You don’t have to know everything about the bible to be “accepted.” You don’t have to “fix” yourself before talking to God. He is ready for you, with open arms, to experience His love right now. God the Father loves you and His love is the truest most real love you will ever possibly experience.
- Experiencing new things you don’t understand fully is good.
There were a few things at training camp that I had experienced for the first time. It was weird and uncomfortable, but I could also see how God was using these experiences to grow my faith and trust in Him. One night we had a speaker who had talked about healing. He asked anyone if they had pain in their back, neck, etc. He then asked for people to surround these people and pray for them. A few of the girls from my team came over to me and prayed for my back. After they all prayed we just stood there, not sure what to do. We all realized none of us had done anything like this and that this was completely new. We found someone who worked for AIM and went outside to ask questions and digest the whole healing topic. Can you do this wrong? What if it doesn’t work? What if you’re praying for healing for someone in the field and it doesn’t work? What do you say to comfort those who don’t receive healing? What if someone questions God for healing others and not them? So many questions ran through our heads. All of us know that there are amazing stories of Jesus healing in the Bible, so why wouldn’t these things be able to happen here and now? God tells us that we will do immeasurably more. He can do far greater things than we could ever imagine or think. The testimonies of those from that night were sweet to hear, but also hard to wrap my head around because nothing happened for me. After talking about this with more people in the next few days and being able to process what all had happened, I am excited that I got to experience this and I am curious to see what else God has in store for me. Ultimately if you’re struggling with diving into unknown topics on a deeper level, ask God questions because He will reveal the answers.
- There are so many stories that need to be heard. They are all different and they are all worth listening to.
Training camp is 10 days long, but because I signed up for the Storyteller workshop it was 11 for me and a few other girls. This first day gave us a glimpse of how we are able to share stories with people through videography, photography, and writing throughout our time on the race. This workshop was not exactly what I thought it would be because we were not only given tools and information to help us on the race, but we were also given some time to create our own story to share with the group. Since photography is my area of interest, I got to use that as my platform to share a teammates story. Photographs can be very powerful and I want to show people that everyone has a story. Everyone’s story will be different, but they all matter. Jesus was constantly going out of his way to show people how much they are loved. When they didn’t know their worth, He would show them. It says in Matthew 18:12, “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Jesus sees you, loves you, listens to you, and fought for you. Listening to each story and showing people that they are loved is something I am excited to do now, during the race, and everyday after that.
- God isn’t going to sound like we expect him to. He can speak through me or through other people; I just have to be open to listening.
This is something I knew, but didn’t fully understand because we’re human and we like to question everything. One of my teammates and I were talking about this one day because we had a session that was called “Listening to God.” We all know it’s a lot easier to pray and talk to God, then to hear God. I can admit I am not someone who would admit to hearing God a lot. I don’t walk around saying yes God told me this last night or God told me to tell you this. Not that any of that is weird or wrong, but again it’s just something I am not familiar with. At training camp, a handful of people came up to me telling me that God had a word for me or that they felt God needed me to hear these words. Every time this happen I couldn’t help but smile. God clearly spoke through these people and I could hear Him talking loud and clear. God will speak to you and it could sound like you or He can use other people to tell you thing and open your eyes to the things He has for you.
Thank you all for reading and thank you for the love and support!
Also, check out a video from training camp that my amazing squad mate Adi put together!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-h6Xh8c2j4
Until all have heard,
Kristen
