Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great weekend, mine has been filled with many ups and downs! Right now I am a little over halfway through training camp and overall it’s just been absolutely amazing. I cannot say enough great things about my team and I cannot wait to serve our Lord with them. Getting to training camp was a little rough due to me becoming sick earlier this week. I was able to see a doctor once in Georgia, but the flights to Georgia were awful. I was feeling very defeated and alone. To be honest, I wanted nothing more than to go back home. My throat was in terrible pain and my ears were throbbing from the flights. I had to fly to Dallas and then to Atlanta, so I had flown about 4 hours altogether. I quickly realized that the thoughts I was thinking were not the ones that God wanted me to think. The enemy was testing me, filling my mind with thoughts of fear and contemplation. I was sick, yes, but there was nothing I could do about it. I went and bought some hot tea, bought some cough drops, stuck some tissues up my nose and rolled with it. I made it to training camp and ended up getting a steroid shot and some antibiotics. I am now feeling much better and I’m so glad God gave me the strength to push through that bump in the road. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but on top of being sick, it seemed like everything had just hit me at once. Being all alone in a different state, living halfway across the world for three months with people I haven’t even met, leaving my friends and family. Being sick was the cherry on top. I’ve learned here though, that when we have fears or anxiety, this is the voice of the enemy, not God. God is always with us. He never leaves our side, so what is there to fear? Joshua 1:9 says “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
I just wanted to elaborate on my sickness because I felt that I had a message to share with it, but I’ve actually been doing very great! My team and I leave Sunday night around 9:30 to head to the airport and then we will be staying overnight until our flight to Cambodia! I have already grown to love my team so much. We have only been together for three days, but we all agree that we feel like we’ve known each other for months. We all work very well together and all have something unique about us that we can bring to the table. I am so excited to see how God will be moving us all in these next few months. Overall training camp has been very fun, a bit exhausting, but VERY helpful. I feel closer to God than ever before and the people I’m surrounded by make it THAT much better. The only downside has been that we have not showered yet!! I’m sorry to say that I have been in the same sweats since Thursday. Looking forward to my shower tomorrow though, lol! Another cool thing has been our meals. The World Race has made it a goal to expose us all to foods we might eat while in the countries we are serving in. There are other teams here traveling to other countries, so we have tried different foods from Africa, India, and South America. It’s all been so fascinating!
I will post another update once I am settled in Cambodia. I still can’t believe this is happening! I am SO pumped!! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post 🙂
With love,
Peyton
