Picture this: You’re on a plane heading for Atlanta. You’re about to meet 38 people who you’ve only talked to on GroupMe or through Facebook. All you have with you is a backpack with your clothes, a tent, sleeping pad, and a few other miscellaneous items. What emotions might you start to feel on this 2 hour plane ride? For me those emotions were fear and angst. All at once they started to flood in. I was scared that my team wasn’t going to like me. I was worried that I was going to be too much or that I wasn’t going to be enough. For a second I wondered what I had gotten myself into. As I waited for my pack to come around on the baggage belt all I could do was listen to worship music to calm myself and my mind down.
Pretty soon my emotions were met by my teammates. As I slowly started to meet the teammates I would soon grow to love, and new people upon new people were arriving, my emotions changed from fear and angst to excitement and joy. The memories from my past mission experience slowly came back and I remembered why I was doing this. As we got to our campgrounds in the pouring rain all I could feel was overflowing excitement. I was meeting some amazing people, experiencing new things, and having the time of my life. By the time we had gotten to our first session I knew I was right where I belonged.
Each day was a little bit of the same routine, but was also mixed with variety. One of my favorite varieties was the food. We had different cultural days where we had to abide by the way that culture ate their food, dressed, spoke to one another, and of course the food that they ate. Some of the days included South America, Europe, Africa, India, Travel Day, Adventure Day, and of course American. The food was pretty good, except the day we ate crickets (they actually weren’t as bad as I thought though). It was so cool to have a little taste of what we might experience on the field.
Every day we had sessions and worship and a little bit of team time. The sessions were great and jam packed full of information, so much information that i’m still trying to process it all today. The worship was just absolutely amazing. Worship and music are one of the best ways that I connect with the Lord. There is nothing like being in a room full of about 200 other people all singing and worshiping God together. It was incredible! What was also just as great was every moment I got to spend with my team. From the icebreaker games we played, to the late late night conversations and story telling, to praying with and for one another, I loved every moment I got to spend with those weirdos.
Some other things we did included a market place activity where the adventures staff simulated what a market place might be like in the countries we are going to. It was a little crazy and overwhelming, but overall cool to experience. Another activity we did was a women’s hike where all the ladies had to trek about 2.5 miles with our packs on in under 38 minutes. Our team had an evangelism day where we went out into Gainesville and took to the streets. It was cool to see the way God worked in and through our team during those moments. We also had the famous squad wars where we participated in a series of games as a squad against the other 3 squads. Needless to say one of the greatest moments of training camp for me was when we won #squadwars2k19.
It can be hard to describe every moment from 10 days down in one blog post. But in just 10 days I grew closer to 38 people than I ever have before and they quickly became my family. In just 10 days I knew that this is what God wanted me to do without a doubt in my mind. In just 10 days I grew to know more about myself and about God. If this is what can happen in just 10 days, I can’t wait to see what 11 months brings.
**If you want to help me become fully funded, I need about $4,000 to meet my next goal by July 19th. I cannot do this journey without you! You can donate directly at the link above this blog post, if you feel led to do so. Thank you & God Bless!
Check out my first team-“Wildfire Beep Boops”
Also, if you want to see more from training camp, check out this video below…
