Wow, I have been all over the country in the past few weeks. Three weeks ago, I drove from California to Ohio. On the way, I experienced the extreme heat in Nevada, the beautiful rock formations in Utah, the marvelous mountains in Colorado, the lush pastures in Nebraska, not much in Iowa, the skyscrapers in Chicago, and the embrace of home in Ohio. I did all that to bring a few belongings I had left home, then prepared to go to Training Camp in Atlanta.
Training Camp; Woah! Training camp was an 11-day amazing, humbling, exhilarating, sometimes exhausting growing experience. I opted to go a day early for what is known as a “Story Teller Workshop”, where they teach us how to create better videos and help us to tap into writing more.
This year, for the first time the workshop attendees, which for the first time were all females, were invited to Seth Barnes house (the founder of the World Race). Upon arriving all 11 of us walked into his house to drop off our bags and to be greeted by his friends. Instantly Mrs. Lisa Black said, “Power, I feel the power”, then her husband, Mr. Gary Black said, “Wow, it’s crazy, I can see all their gifts”. No one said anything else, we just walked outside to gather sticks and chairs to sit around the bonfire. Mr. Barnes opened up then Mr. Black walked up to me and read my past, spoke into my life, and confirmed something God revealed to me two days prior. I was blown away. He didn’t stop there He went around and did the same for the rest of the ladies there. So much freedom took place around that fire. It was the best way to start training and it showed us all we were right where we were supposed to be if for some reason we questioned it before.
The next day the rest of our squads arrived. There were two squads (A and Z), each with about 20 racers, I am on Z squadddddd.
Now, it was time for training to truly begin. We were assigned our camping areas, got acquainted with the bucket showers, and had to get comfortable using porter potties (yuck). However, the reality is that it could be so much worse. In some countries, the bathroom will be a hole in the ground with a water hose to clean off with.
There was so much that happened at training camp that it is kind of hard to write about it all. Each morning we woke up early to pack up our big packs and take down our tents, except for maybe 4 days. There were different scenarios that they were teaching us, so one day they “lost” half of our packs at the airport and we had to buddy up and share for a night. We were invited into “our host’s church” to stay for a night, so we all sleep inside as a big community. We encountered a horrible storm, so they let us stay in again.
That night I got caught in the showers during the storm and it was crazy. I had a teammate come see if I was in there and she left me her rain jacket, but shortly after she left the storm kicked into full gear. From inside the showers it looked as if I couldn’t face the storm even though I wanted to. I tried to wait it out, but it continued to get worse, so my aunt began to pray and just then I saw a light. It wasn’t the lightning, this light was steady and here comes that same teammate drenched in rain saying, “Alycia, come with me!” She was my lifesaver that night.
That storm taught me a valuable lesson though. The storm may look bad going into it with a limited view, but once you are in the midst of it, you realize it isn’t that bad. It is a storm, yes, but storms come and go, they don’t last forever. So, don’t let a storm stop you from getting to where you are trying to go.
Each day had a similar structure but altered slightly day by day. Each day we learned about a new country and their culture by eating their food and abiding by their cultural norms. This was exciting, enlightening, and frightening at times. I ate a cricket! The rest of the day we had worship, sessions, more sessions, squad team building, and if we were lucky we had an hour or two of personal time.
We were taught about the different perspectives of life around the world and how to best relate to them from their point of view. Although we are on a mission, our main priority is to love people where they are and do our best to open while learning from them and sharing what we have to offer.
The information we learned was so vital, but it was a lot to process at times. We had a market day where the staff simulated what the market is like in other countries to prepare us. That day was wild. We had a two-mile timed fitness hike wearing our big packs, the course was rather rigorous, but I made it! We ended camp with squad wars, where we competed against each other in games and a dance-off; so much fun!
At the end of the training, our squad was split up into teams of five for the field and I was also asked to be one of the Beauty for Ashes coordinators. Beauty for Ashes is a women’s ministry that helps women tell their stories. I am both honored and excited by this opportunity. My team on the other hand is me and four other amazing ladies. I was scared about it at first because I hadn’t fostered any real relationships with my teammates prior to us being put together, but I know that God is going to use us to help each other grow and I am looking forward to it, both the good times and the more difficult ones.
My biggest struggle other than the porter potties was the fact that we were in 24/7 community which was rough for me. I am so used to being in my own bubble. This is something that I have been praying for God to help me grow in though, so please stand with me in prayer about this.
I did my best, to sum up, training camp, but there was so much that took place, I would write a mini-book trying to share it all. It was amazing though and I am looking forward to running my race at God’s pace! I hope more than anything you continue to stick out the journey with me!
My next goal deadline is September 30, I have $4,480 left to raise for this next goal. I will be selling shirts, keys for the journey, baked goods, and doing five-dollar Friday’s! Make sure to reach out to place your orders soon. I will be writing a blog soon about all the details. If you would like to donate you can click the “Donate” button above. I could use all the help I can get and even more than that I could use your prayers! I thank you in advance for all of your support!
