I moved to Georgia!
It’s been a week since we got here, and it’s been busy but also very very good and I can’t wait to share more about it 🙂
The first couple days were mostly spent with our teams, getting to know them better and doing some team builders in between teachings about surrender and counting the cost of discipleship (I’ll have a blog on that later). My team is absolutely amazing, and I love each of them so much !
Now that it’s been a week here, we’ve gotten into more of a routine. Each day we need to be ready by 7:45 and in the pavilion for breakfast. I’ve started waking up at 6:30 and been able to get some quiet time alone with God before the day starts, which is a habit I’ve wanted to have for a long time. Then we have breakfast in our cohorts (more on that later) at 8 and at 9 we do devos all together led by one of our squad leaders.
After spending an hour in the Word, my squad walks up to our indoor meeting point where we get to see the morning worship and teaching live-streamed from the training center downstairs. Each squad on campus (there’s four) takes turns getting to do in-person worship, and our first turn was yesterday, which was great. Afterward, we hear about the day’s schedule and announcements from the best Squad Mentor ever, Madie!!
Lunch is around 12:30, and we’ve heard a lot about training camp meals, but so far my squad has been loving the food. We’ve had tacos, sloppy joe’s, fried rice, and so much more and it’s only been a week ! We finish eating pretty fast so mealtimes have also been a fun time of getting to know my squad better – we tend to talk a LOT about our home states and the differences between them.
In the afternoons we might have a teaching around 1:30 and then we do some chores around the camp, but after that, it’s all free time. We usually hang out in the pavilion becuase it’s shaded (the Georgia heat is no joke) and sit and talk, take pictures, braid hair, play spikeball, make friendship bracelets, and (my favorite!) worship together.
Squad D has a LOT of talented singers and musicians so one of my favorite things so far has been the spontaneous worship sessions we have. Some of the girls even songwrite and have come up with lyrics on the spot for us all to sing together and I love it so much; I’ve never worshipped like this and it’s been amazing.
In the evenings we have dinner at 5:30, then usually team time. Team time is different each day, but some examples of things we do are gratitude, bible study, fun, or feedback. After that, it’s just more free time with the squad and then back to the tents for bed (which has been surprisingly pretty good so far!)
Of course, this is all happening with restrictions in place because of COVID-19. After everyone arrived on campus, either by driving or flying and wearing masks, each squad was separated into cohorts – a group of two or three teams (the teams each have around 6 racers and an alumni team leader). Each cohort stays at a different campsite for the first two weeks along with one of the squad leaders from each squad and while we do see the other cohort at meals, free time and teachings, we’re not allowed to be within 6 feet of them without a mask, and we have almost no contact with the other squads other than walking by them around campus but from 6 feet away. AIM is being very careful to keep us in little “bubbles” in case there is a case becuase then the virus will be contained within that cohort or even team. Hopefully after the two weeks are over we’ll be able to be with the rest of our squad and we’ll be moving to another campsite to all be together (right now my cohort’s campsite in on a hill and we slide around in our tents all night).
So that’s what’s going on in Georgia right now! I’m learning so much about the Lord and I can’t wait to see what else He’s going to do with this time. With that being said, I’m still fundraising! I only have $1,962 left to raise before I’m fully funded (WOW!!) so thank you so much to everyone who’s donated so far!
You can donate by clicking the donate button at the top of my blog, or you can venmo me at @anjali_joy! And as always, please be keeping me and my squad in prayer as we continue to grow in our faith and fellowship.
