There are two words that pretty much sum up all of the training camp experience. Those words are crickets and tears.
Crickets represent everything adventurous and out of my comfort zone, while tears represent the new relationships that were formed and the way God invaded my heart and spoke to me in new ways.
Crickets. Training camp was a lot of things. The ten days stretched me mentally, physically, and spiritually. Everyday was a new adventure. Here are some of those things that could be put under the “cricket” category: hiking, sleeping in tents, and sometimes just on the ground, or in a hammock (really wherever you could fall asleep), eating food from all over the world, eating with our hands, not shaving my legs for ten days, drinking cold instant coffee (it will get the job done), feeling like I was on a game show when I heard the words “you have thirty minutes to pack up everything!”, taking bucket showers (or not showering at all), abiding by cultural norms, porter potties allll the time, and did I say I ate a cricket?! All of these things stretched me mentally and physically and gave me a glimpse of some of the things I will have to do while on the race.
Tears. This one is a little harder for me to list and explain. Tears encompass everything else: from meeting my squad, to figuring out my team, to fear, to realizing I will be gone for a year, to crying, to worshipping upon worshipping upon worshipping, to hearing my father speak to me and comfort me in the times of doubt, to being overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus, to talking about things I thought I had forgotten and buried so deep inside of me, to freeing myself from those things, to praying at three a.m., to hearing others speak and give wisdom, to feeling loved, to truly realizing my identity is in Christ and there is nothing I can do to earn that, to God confirming this is where he is calling me, and to the unknown that only He knows. When I first got to training camp, I did not know what to expect, only things I had heard and read about, but truly all of those things were a whirlwind to my mind and it wasn’t till I actually got to experience training camp that I realized what God was going to do. My squad is awesome. I absolutely love them and have confidence that these are the people God wanted me to spend this year with. My team is amazing. I could not have picked better girls to do life with more closely this year. We are all different ages, come from different backgrounds, have different gifts, but have a passion for sharing Jesus’s love. We are sweet, but powerful. I can not wait to see what all God is going to do through my team.
Fear. The devil often uses fear to draw me away from what God is calling me to. The first part of training camp, fear started to creep in. I just felt afraid, but I could not pin point exactly what it was. Was it the fact that I was truly realizing for the first time I was going to be gone for a whole year? Did I feel inadequate? What if I am not strong enough? What if I really can’t do this? Was it the fact that I was meeting the people that I was going to spend a year with? It was probably all of these things. As the week went on and I continued praying and spending time with the Lord, the fear started to slowly subside. At times I am nervous and a little anxious at what is to come in this next year, but I am no longer fearful like I was. As I was worshipping one night, I felt God looking into my eyes. As I am looking into my Father’s eyes, I am completely whole and free and my identity is known and complete. After this the fear was gone. When I start to doubt or question or fear seems unbearable, I go back to that place and in an instant I am overcome by the love God has for me. I have faith in what He is going to do throughout this year. I know it is going to be SO good!! With that being said, I am confident that this is where God has me in this next year. There might be a lot of things not planned and out of my control, so much is unknown, but I know although it may seem unknown to me, it’s known to God, and that is enough.
Above is my team!! These girls are absolutely amazing!!! I cannot wait to walk alongside these girls and to see what all the Lord is going to do through this team. On the left: Shannon, Bry, me, Megan, Mallory, Cassie, and Elise.
Please continue praying for us! Pray that our hearts would be focused on doing the will of God, that He would increase and that we would decrease, for boldness and confidence, for the hearts of those the Lord is preparing for us to encounter in Chile and that we would seek those out, that we would not let distractions hinder us from doing the Lord’s work, and most of all pray that Christ is magnified through this team and our journey this next year!
Our team name is “7TENS”…. Not only does this name describe seven fierce, good looking (straight 10’s) girls, but girls who are chasing the Lord and resting in our identity as a daughter of the King. Song of Solomon says it best, “I am my beloved’s, and His desire is for me.”(7:10)
Of course we took a break to watch the solar eclipse! 😀
…Next stop CHILE 😉
LOVE YOU ALL! XOXO
-Calli
