The first night I got to training camp, I crawled into my tent and cried. I’ve never been a camper. I’d never pitched a tent prior to the night before I left for camp, and even after that I wasn’t completely sure I was doing it correctly! I’m not girly girly, but I’ve never really been “out-doorsy” at all, to be honest! I love nature, don’t get me wrong, but surviving without the comforts of a home, a bed, toilets, showers, etc just never really appealed to me in the least. I love being comfortable and clean! Who doesn’t? How am I supposed to go an entire year without any of those luxuries?!
However, I quickly adapted to the life that we were forced to live at camp: sleeping in tents on sleeping pads that would sometimes deflate in the middle of the night, in sleeping bags, sometimes with two or three or more other people in the tent with you! Being forced to take “baby wipe baths” because it was so frigidly cold that the open stall, bucket shower option we had available wasn’t worth it to be temporarily clean.
We were given communal plates of food that we were to divvy up between ourselves and 7 other people, which meant pretty small portions of food for most of the 10 days. We had to succumb to different cultural norms each day of camp – learning interesting facts and ways of life about countries and cultures we would be experiencing in just a few short weeks. Ex: Women having to cover their heads and everyone eating with their hands on India day!
Side note — Most interesting day: Africa! Women had to make sure the men had food and were seated at tables before getting food for themselves and eating it while sitting on the floor. Men, while walking together, usually held hands. These were things that we practiced so that we will be ready and not completely in shock when we enter in to these different lands!
We had exercise every morning (which I actually really looked forward to each day) and we even had physical tests that we had to pass to be eligible to participate on this mission trip. We had seminars to go to multiple times a day, team building activities, and my favorite part: worship every morning and every evening with great sermons from some incredible, God-fearing leaders.
Note: When I say worship, I mean, all-out worship, not holding anything back, soul-bearing, full-out singing and crying out to the Lord to show us Himself; to make His presence and His guidance known. I’ve never experienced worship to this level before and I must say, I was overwhelmed at first but then completely consumed and in love with the way I was able to show passion for my God without any restraints.
All-in-all, it was 10 days of physical trials, emotional trials, tears, laughs, frustrations, rejoices, new friendships, spiritual renewals, hugs, prayers, breaking, healing, and so much more.
Training camp was difficult, yes, but I met and fell in love with my new family for 2016, and all of the exercises and seminars we were put through made me so very excited for my new adventure beginning in January.
I hope you’ll continue this journey with me as I go deeper, learn more, and experience all that I am supposed to be experiencing this next year.
