Its official, Y-squad (my squad) won squad wars! And I survived training camp.
The entire week was intentional. From the amount of food we ate, to the kind of food, to how we ate it. Sometimes the girls had their heads covered, we couldn’t use our left hand, or girls ate on the ground after serving the guys who sat at the tables. One morning we were up and all packed up by 7:00am and walked around for 30 minutes carrying our packs, while another day half our group’s packs were “lost by the airlines”. We definitely all were rethinking our packing, that’s for sure.
There were about 300 people at camp: our squad of about 43 people and 4 other squads, squad leaders, squad coaches, and members of the service team. Most, if not all, of the leadership has gone on the race before and were extremely approachable and helpful. They answered our bazillion questions, put our fears at ease, recognized and encouraged each individual’s strengths, and prayed with us.
The first few days were packed full of seminars led by 2 guest speakers from NYACK Alliance Theological Seminary including the dean Dr. Ron Walborn. We were encouraged to ask ourselves tough questions. The thought being if I don’t acknowledge and deal with my own grief, loss, sin etc. then I will be a black hole that’ll take from the people I am supposed to be giving and ministering to. Our history lesson of the societal transition from Theism to Deism, to now Naturalism was followed by talks on grief, how to live intentionally, effective evangelism, listening prayer, and even life between Training Camp and Launch.
Day #2 I wrote: “I am so confused. What am I supposed to expect from this week? I thought, oh, we’ll have a few meetings, meet our group… Yet, I get here and the orange squad is HUGE and super intimidating and one of the group leaders keeps saying, ‘training camp is so great, God really works during the week.’ What? I thought that would happen when I left in January. I didn’t plan on this being a big week…maybe I should have been more worried?”
Needless to say, it wasn’t at all what I had expected but so much better. I expected to spend the week getting to know my squad and learning how to survive in the woods. Instead what I encountered was not only deep and rich friendships but Christ-like grace, humility, and encouragement.
Towards the end of the week we did different team exercises within our squad and learned more about each other and how we work together. After every exercise we would debrief and discuss what worked and what didn’t. On Thursday I was offered the opportunity of being a Team Leader. I gladly and humbly accepted. I have a team of 6 girls, including myself. As team leader I will receive extra training leading up until Launch and also while on the field. I will have extra responsibilities but also extra support and contact from the AIM staff. Within the squad other positions were also filled such as Safety Coordinator and Team Treasurer. There’ll even be the chance for teams to connect AIM with new ministries in each country. I have already been so blessed by my squad as a whole and especially my team of girls.
They reminded us before we left, to “end well.” To “be at home, when you’re at home.” That being said, I have 2 weeks left here in Tennessee and then I’m headed back to Oregon. Please pray for safe travels and maybe I’ll see you soon.
