The day before training camp, I was excited and anxious. I felt like I was on the verge of getting sick, work was hectic, I was on a red eye flight, and the weather forecast for Gainesville, Georgia was rain, rain and more rain. A million thoughts were running through my head: Would I like my team? Would my team like me? Will I like the organization?
Now, a day after returning from training camp, I’m so happy to write that yes!, I love my team and Adventures in Missions is a solid organization! Each part of our jam packed day was intentionally filled, with a holistic focus on: physical, emotional, intellectual & spiritual health. We had workouts and our fitness hike, talks and debriefs focused on our emotions, teachings on world race preparation, route specifics, cultural information & logistics and worship & prayer time. And it only rained the first night!
Some highlights:
- One of the most profound moments was when I mustered up the courage to share vulnerably about shame in our small group of girls. It was scary and cathartic all at the same time, to articulate aloud things that had been pushed aside in the recesses of my mind. Shame lies to us by making us believe that we are bad whereas guilt is conviction that we did something bad. In John 8, Jesus said, (paraphrased)”the person with no sin be the judge”, which means we do not get to judge ourselves or other people for sin.
- Another sticking point was: Be where you are and do what you’re doing! They challenged us to be fully present and to create space, for when we’ve reached the end of ourselves, it’s the highest opportunity for us to grow. Also, when times get difficult, don’t think, “I wouldn’t be friends with this person in real life”, because guess what, this is real life!
- We have an updated route (which could change), including France(!) as our first country. We will be serving the Syrian refugees there.
- Bucket showers: My first shower was very skeptical, like how is this going to work when the water is freezing cold, you have one cup and one bucket of water, and there’s a wasp’s nest full of wasps flying around as you shower. I then graduated into a ‘sweet! hurry, get to the showers before a massive line forms and yes, I am clean, this feels so good’ mindset!
- That fitness hike (3.3 miles in 50 min) was killer. It was uphill, under the scorching Georgia sun, and we were loaded with our 30lb packs.
- Impromptu worship times with our team; I loved that one day we camped under a tarp offsite and we were looking out into a beautiful lake, with the trees reflecting into the water, and the sun setting off in the distance. Another time we took one hour shifts praying into the night. It was such a sweet time, the hour of prayer felt like 5 minutes.
- Team dynamics – seeing everyone interact and everyone’s unique personalities and how we got more comfortable with each other
Finally, I’m so happy to share that I am fully funded as of a few weeks ago! If you’d like to contribute towards gear/flight to launch/additional costs which are not covered in the world race amount, you can paypal or venmo me directly! (www.venmo.com/Connie-Kao or paypal.me/kaoconnie)
