This is all starting to get so real for me. Training camp is a mere ten days away and I could not be more nervous excited about it! Training camp is definitely one of the scariest/nerve wracking things about this whole experience for me. I’m really nervous about meeting my squad in real life for the first time, but I also couldn’t be more ready for it. This is the first step towards being on my own in the real world. In just three short months I will be doing things that I never could have imagined and I won’t be able to turn to my friends and family for the support I’m used to getting from them. My squad will be my new family and I will need to be able to trust and rely on them for everything. From what I’ve learned so far, N Squad is an incredibly loving and caring group of individuals who are just as excited about this whole endeavor as I am. They are constantly pushing to ensure that we are all as close to God as we can be and learning and growing in our faith even before we leave. This is so incredibly encouraging to me if this is what I can expect to get from them for the entire eleven months we will spend together.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I’ll be missing while I’m gone. I’ll probably miss a few of my closest friend’s weddings, family holidays, birthdays, just sitting on the couch on Tumblr with Rachel, watching Disney movies with Ashley, Catch-Phrase game nights, baking with my mom and sister, or talking about (or disagreeing about) politics with my dad and tons of other little things. These are all things that probably wouldn’t mean much to other people, but I’ll miss them. However, I am so excited for all the new experiences I’ll have. I’ll get to form new friendships, experience so many different cultures, try tons of new foods, listen to different languages, use so many types of public transportation (if you know me at all you know this is one of the most exciting parts of the whole trip for me!), go on tons of adventures, and most of all, experience God in so many new and different ways. I have always been the kind of person who worships God within certain parameters. I read my Bible when I’m alone, I don’t do anything charismatic when I worship at Church, I only sing the words on the projector, nothing more nothing less, I wait for other people to bring up their faith before I speak about my own. I think that this experience will change me so much, especially how I view and worship God. He is so much bigger than I could ever imagine and He can do so many things with me that I never would have thought possible. I just have to trust that everything I’ll miss is worth it, which I’m sure it will be. So I guess that even though I’m extremely nervous for camp, I can’t wait to meet all my fellow N Squad members and start to form those new relationships with them. You guys better get ready!
