I had an amazing time at Training Camp. I was very nervous to go and meet the people I would be spending a solid year with. However, I instantly fell in love with my Z squad. Right off the bat I knew Z squad is where I was meant to be. We all got along really well and had a lot of good squad bonding time around the campfire. Z Squad is made up of 45 people between the ages of 21 and 35. We will all be traveling to the same countries however, while in country we will be splitting up into teams of 6-7 people. Then our whole squad will meet up at the end of the month to debrief and get ready for the next month.
The beginning of the week was really about squad bonding time then the last couple days were about team bonding. I am on Team Meno! We are a team of 4 girls and 3 boys, Derek, Micah, Chris, Carrie, Heather, Amy and me! We chose the name Meno because it is the Greek word meaning to remain, to abide, to stay. And we based it on John Chapter 15 especially verse 5 which says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.”
I love my team! As soon as we found out we would be a team all 7 of us piled in my tiny Toyota Corolla and had a blast getting to know each other. Please keep my team in your prayers as we travel together and do life together for 11 months!
One of my favorite parts of Training Camp was the scenarios they created for us. For one our squad of 45 people split in half and put all of our belongings on 2 tarps. Then the leaders announced that the airlines had lost one of the tarps of luggage and we could not touch our belongings for 24 hours. All my stuff was on that tarp! So we all partnered up and that night had to share everything. It reminded us all that none of “our” stuff is truly ours. It was amazing to see how generous everyone was and how we all worked together to get through that cold and long night!
We also learned that our route has changed. Here is our new schedule:
- January- Zambia
- February- Malawi
- March- Estonia
- April- Latvia
- May- Lithuania
- June- China
- July- Mongolia
- August- Thailand
- September- Cambodia
- October- Vietnam
- November- Nepal
We are very excited that we will be the first World Race squad to go to Mongolia!
In January we will meet in Atlanta, Georgia on January 5th and meet up with Z squad and then we fly out to Zambia Africa on January 9th and start our World Race!!!! I am very excited that on January 6th and 7th my family will be able to come to Atlanta and meet my team and have our final goodbyes.
Wow, this is really becoming real. I cannot believe it is only 2 months away!
