What an experience the 10 days of Training Camp was. Probably one of the hardest 10 days of my life physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually but in the end it was so awesome and so rewarding. There isn’t one word or a phrase that I could use to describe the whole experience, but I am going to do my best.
The first day we arrived we finally got to put names and faces together after only seeing and talking to each other through Facebook and the occasional snapchat. A little overwhelming but at the same time I could already feel the genuine love and acceptance each of us had for each other.
So, we as Americans value first impressions as you already know. So I was trying to act like a macho man and try to get everybody to think I was independent until it was time to put up our tents. So I got the tent poles out and tried to pretend like I knew what I was doing, but in reality I had never set up a tent by myself in my life, so first impressions got thrown out the window pretty quickly…
We also learned who our teams were the first day and as the days went on I learned more about the 5 other people I will be doing life with and one word came to mind: different. We are all completely different and come from different backgrounds with different families, but our love for one another and our mission for the whole thing is the same. I will introduce you to my team in an upcoming blog post, so stay tuned!
So we had three main topics that we focused around. I am not going to go to much into detail about what we learned because I do not want to spoil anything for upcoming racers going through training camp. But, our 3 main topics were-
1. Missional Living
2. Intimacy With God
3. Community
What is Missional Living?
It is how we should be living our lives everyday. You don’t have to be in India or Africa to be a missionary, you are a missionary right now wherever you are sitting down reading this blog post.
“The goal is to become activated in being and bringing the kingdom of God.”
You can bring the Kingdom of God to the people you are surrounded by daily.
CHALLENGE:
Before you continue reading this blog I need you to do 2 things.
1. Call or tell somebody you are close to that Jesus loves them.
2. With the same person you are calling/talking to I want you to ask them if you can pray for them and then do so. If they say no, then pray for them after you hang up.
DO NOT MOVE ON TO THE REST OF THIS BLOG IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE THOSE 2 THINGS.
(Plays Jeopardy music in the background)
Okay, be real with yourself. Did you do it? I know some of you tried to skip that part and your conscience is going to be eating at you tonight. This is your last chance to do it!
(More Jeopardy music in the background)
If you just completed the challenge, then you are doing some missional living. Make this apart of your daily routine. Go out and talk to people about Jesus. Go love on people. Go Gospeling (its like Christmas caroling but instead of singing, you spread the Gospel) in your neighborhood.
2. What does Intimacy with God look like?
Well there is many ways that you can be intimate with God, and my takeaway from training camp is that everybody has there own unique way of being intimate with God. Here are some tips and tricks that might help you out if you are struggling with this.
Don’t put God in a box. You might think that you have it all figured out and you have your one way of being intimate with God, but there is more. Try new things, there is always more of God you can experience and He is waiting for you to crack open your shell and experience more of Him.
Some things you might want to give a go to:
A. Painting, drawing, dancing, music. God likes to reveal himself through many different things. Personally I never thought I could connect with God through these things, but as I was painting a picture of the ocean and a compass in the middle I could feel Him saying that my waves that have been crashing down on me are taken care of. He is guiding the waves around me and helping me push through to see Him on the other side. Don’t knock it till you try it.
B. Go out of your way to do something for someone else. Jesus always put others before Himself and I have found in my own life that this is a great way to connect with Jesus. Write an encouragement letter to somebody. Call someone and just ask how there day is going. Who knows, you might be the only thing positive they hear that day.
C. Go out in nature and just sit and listen for God. In Genesis it talks about all the things God created and to just sit in those things comes an overwhelming amount of peace knowing you are sitting in Gods work.
3. My community.
Guys, I am telling you that community is the most important thing ever besides your personal relationship with God. You cannot go through life on your own. I love all of my people I am about to do life with for 9 months and I am so excited. My team and my squad is amazing. In my next blog post I will put some pictures of who I will be doing life with and the people I have met.
My last challenge to you:
Find your community. Do not isolate yourself. And once you find your community, hold on tight to them. Do life with them. Invest yourself into them.
So as you can tell, I have learned a lot these past couple weeks and there is a lot I left out of this post, such as having to use port-a-potties, bucket showers, and sleeping in a “airport” as well as my camping site getting flooded. If you want to know more, I would LOVE to meet up with you and talk more about my experience at Training Camp!
I am currently a little under $6,000 funded. I need your help! My next fundraising deadline is August 22nd and I have to be at $10,000. Thank you for all who have supported me so far. I am planning a dinner/pool party so I will keep you updated with that!
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Leave comments with any questions you have for me! Also, if there are certain things you would like me to blog about, I am so up for suggestions, so leave those in the comments too! I love you all and thank you for partnering with me on this journey!
