Opening note:
I just want to say one day I will get used to the blogging so please just hang in there with me. Also if you are the lady I sat next to on the flight to Atlanta back in August, I know you came up with a great way of starting my next blog but I can’t remember it. I think it went something like “Hello blog..” but I can’t remember currently. It was funny though.
Unusual becoming the usual:
Most of my summer days went like this: Alarm goes off, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack a lunch, say bye to family, work nine am to five pm, dinner, look at my to do list, do somethings on the to do list, sleep, and repeat. That was my day for the most part it changed, sometimes, there was planning fundraising events, taking extra shifts because someone needed my help, and some fun family events in there as well. Then I got off a flight in Atlanta, Georgia, for my training camp, and everything changed.
Now I was around more than 54 people that were almost complete strangers. Some I had formed a relationship with online before I had left. There was no alarm that was annoying and loud to wake me in the morning, no work, no running water (except the hose to fill up your bucket for baths), no phone, no fundraising, and thankfully no to do list. There were tents and hammocks almost everywhere. There were porta potties, sinks you had to pump water out of, bucket showers, and some strange yet amazing food. It was all so new and although I was a little nervous I became excited to see what was going to happen next.
Every day was different in its own way. They put up one schedule for everyone to look at for the ten day camp. Then they told us how we wouldn’t always go by that schedule and that the times on the schedule could also be changed at certain times. So I didn’t look at the schedule until the last three days of camp. They would tell us when we needed to be somewhere and if we needed to bring something with us. There were some things that were pretty consistent every day, so it wasn’t too hard to keep up with it.
The squad I am in grew both spiritually and physically at training camp. We went to services together, and learned the importance of being vulnerable with each other. We saw healing, the importance and power of prayer. We all had our own personal struggles to sort through as well. Physically we worked as teams to finish and complete a three mile hike. Encouraging each other not to give up and to keep going. We grew to become a family so fast it was almost like it happened over night. It was so overwhelming and exciting, I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. There was so much that happened in such a short amount of time that it was hard to process it.
Coming home I see how my lifestyle at training camp became the usual instead of the unusual. I came home to a bed, AC, running water, family I grew up with, a normal shower, American food, a phone and so much more. Then I noticed the longing for sleeping outside with the stars insight, bucket showers, the new found family I had begun to love so dearly, the unplanned days, and everything else that I had found to be so unusual at first.
Over all training camp was amazing. Sorry there isn’t a lot of information on all the different events, but some things need to stay a secret so that future racers can have their own experience without having expectations from someone else’s blog. I just feel I need to point this out so I am going to. God did an amazing job putting together not only my squad but the team of seven I break off into when our squad splits up. He answered prayer by putting all of us on the same team. Late last year a few of us girls prayed for God to provide guys who had a heart for God and were true honorable men. Meeting all of them at training camp and getting to know them it became obvious that God heard our prayers, I am so thankful for them. Then there are the girls. The Lord knew what He was doing when He put us together. They are all so amazing and different in their own ways. So I just want to thank the Lord for providing me with this amazing group of new brothers and sisters.
To everyone who has helped me during this journey, thank you. You have all been so supportive of this trip, whether it has been in prayer or financially. It has all made a difference. I pray for you all and that God will bless you, for you have blessed me.
God bless you,
Amber Barton
