First impressions can be huge… it’s a chance to pick how people are going to see you for a little while (or a long while) until they get to know you. It’s like fishing: you pick the bait you want to be to attract the fish you want to catch.
For my whole life, I have been really good at pretending to be different kinds of bait and getting different types of fish to bite, hoping they would hold on long enough for me to get them in the boat and have them stay around. Now I was entering a new pond; a pond I had never been in with fish I didn’t really know how to catch.
As I was on my flight heading to Georgia, thinking of ways to get people and staff to like me, I felt God. I didn’t feel him in a light passing that I could just brush off, but I felt HIM hit me in the chest hard. I felt him say, “Stop treating your brothers and sisters like animals that you have to win!” And to be honest it was like taking a cold bucket shower at camp (yes we took bucket showers). The reality hit me and I saw that I was always looking to put on a mask and perform a show just so people would like me. I was about to treat my family the same way I treated a fish, and they deserve so much more.
Now for the next 58 minutes of flight time, I was sitting in my seat feeling a little guilty, a little nervous, but mostly super excited! I felt so much more peace with a plan to walk into a camp (not a pond) and present myself as myself (not bait) and let the love and community of my brothers and sisters come and go as they wanted (not force them in a boat.)
I thought that this would maybe go south on me, that only one or two people would like me and everyone else not like me that much, but I was ready and content to do what God was telling me to do. That van ride to camp, when I was feeling like it was going to go south on me, now almost makes me want to laugh that I was feeling that way! I have never met so many people who have given so much love to me in such a short time. I was only at camp for a couple of hours before I knew I would be missing these people after training camp and before launch, and without a doubt, my family grew by 12 brothers and 40 sisters… yep there are a lot more girls than guys.
I had an amazing time with all of them, whether it was eating chicken curry with our hands out of one bowl, hiking in the middle of the Georgia heat, or sitting in the ‘air conditioned’ training center for a lesson. My squad (K Squad) consist of all 45 of us, but my team is me and 4 other people. 3 of those other people are girls, named Abby, Leah, and Mikayla, The 4th member is a guy named Ryan.
Abby is a great person to look up to for me, she takes amazing notes during lessons and is a great student of the word. Leah is one of the wisest and most insightful people I’ve met out of any age, yet she is only 19. Mikayla has an infectious laugh and is always able to have a good and strong conversation. Of course Ryan is awesome. I will admit I was scared when I first met him… I didn’t think he would like me or we just wouldn’t have anything in common, but I quickly found out that wasn’t true. We ate slices of pizza in one bite, had awesome talks in the mornings, and represented our whole squad together in a challenge called David and Goliath! I miss Ryan, and I’m so excited to spend a year of my life with him traveling around the world. My team (a.k.a. my family) is all super high spirited and we are all super close. We are a smaller team than most, but we function and move just as well (if not better!) than the rest. By the end of my 11 day training camp, I had made friends for life times. I was 100% genuine me, and people loved me in that way. I learned so much about God and how to show him to others around the world. Now I cant wait for September 1st!!!
Want to hear more about my adventures and encounters at World Race Gap Year Training? Send me an email, call me, text me, heck even send me a pigeon! I’d love to tell you all about it! Thank you for your support, and stay tuned for more posts!
P.s. I don’t know how pigeon messages really work so be warned you might not get a pigeon back!!!
