It’s so good to be home. I finally made it back home after being gone for 2 weeks. I got to sleep in my bed last night and I slept so good. Although I spent 2 hours last night writing a blog and then it all disappeared. So this is the second time I’m writing this blog. Oh well. What can I do?
Anyway, this past month has been so full and exciting. It started out with me going to visit some old friends who live in Central Florida. It was so good to see them and catch up. We had a great time reminiscing of all the fun things we’ve done together. My heart was so happy to see them and sad when I had to leave their house.
The second weekend of August, I had another fundraiser. I had a Pancake Breakfast and it went so well. I want to thank everyone who came out to help and support me. I was so encouraged and blessed. I hope everyone had a good time and enjoyed the food and raffles.
Now let’s get to Training Camp. Training Camp (TC) was amazing! It was 10 days of fun, connection, camping, dance parties, food from all over the world, worship, learning so many things, bucket showers, porta potties and it was so hot the first 5 days. I have met some of the most amazing, kind and caring people, from my 48 squad mates to all the staff and leaders. I even got to connect with some of the people from the other 2 squads that were there the 10 days. I feel so blessed to have met all of these people. These people are all world changers and I look forward to all God has planned for each of us.
Our days began with exercise almost each morning at 7am. For those of you who know me, you know that I’m not a morning person, so waking up at 6am almost everyday was tough, but I did it, even though I didn’t sleep well at night. Then we had personal time and breakfast at 8:30am. Each day was a different day, meaning we ate food and had to wear different things based on the theme of the day. We had Asia day, Latin America day, Eastern Europe day, Travel day, Africa day, India day, Adventure day, Market day and Welcome home day. I really enjoyed that we got to eat different foods from each country but it was strange 2 of the days. For Africa and India day we did not get any plates or utensils so we just ate with our hands. We got a platter of food in the middle of the table and 8 people ate out of it with just our hands. Also for those same days, we had to wear clothes that covered our shoulders, knees and ankles. For India day, we also had to eat with our head covered. I think this was all great preparation for the months to come. We also had to wash dishes everyday and it always became a big dance party. It was so fun! I really miss eating with everyone.
We had worship and sessions everyday. I really enjoyed all of them and learned so much. Here are some of the things we learned about:
• Surrender
• Mission, Intimacy and Community and how they all work together
• Being an effective missionary
• Giving and receiving Feedback/Healthy Communication
• The role of the Holy Spirit
• Emotions and how to deal with them
• Trust and Truth
• Shame
• Sin and Sanctification
• Identity
• Blogging and Storytelling
• Staying engaged in your life/Being present
• Hearing the voice of God
• Pathways to experiencing God
• Forgiveness
• Evangelism
• The power of the Holy Spirit
• Discipleship
• Unity & Diversity
• Prayer
• Walking in the Spirit
• Children’s Ministry
What I really loved was that we didn’t just learn about all of these topics, we put it into practice. So we learned about emotions and forgiveness and then we took time to deal with those. We learned about hearing God’s voice and then we got together into our teams and practiced. We learned about evangelism and then we went out into the neighborhood and evangelized.
We had different field scenarios to prepare us for things that will actually happen on the Race, like for a day, half of our team “lost their bags” so we had to partner up with someone and share their stuff. It was a little crazy at first but everyone was so kind and giving and it turned out fine in the end. I’ve never met such kind, loving and giving people in my life. It was so beautiful to see such unity and people caring for one another. Another thing we had to do was take bucket showers. Honestly, it was a little tough and weird in the beginning but I actually started enjoying them because us ladies would chat and have a great time in the showers. Every time someone needed something, someone else would share what they had.
I just love our squad of 49 people and I am especially excited about my team of 7 people. So our whole squad of 49 is going to each country together but they split us up into 7 teams of 7 and these are the people we will be living with and doing ministry with. We are each going to a different ministry in the country we are all in. Then every couple months we will all get together to debrief and connect. My team is called Agua Viva, Living Water. We are such a diverse group and it’s so beautiful to see each persons gifts and talents. They all love Jesus and people so much! I am so thankful for each one of them. I believe that we will move mountains. The amount of faith in our group is incredible. We don’t have to be super strong or super equipped to move mountains. We just have to believe and say to this mountain to move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for us. We can do all things because Christ strengthens us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The hardest thing for me was the camping part; sleeping outside, bugs, the heat and humidity, packing and unpacking all in a hurry and not knowing where we are sleeping the next night. We slept in our own tents only about half the nights. The other days we slept elsewhere; in someone else’s tent when our “luggage was lost,” at a campground under a tarp in our sleeping bags, in an “airport” when we had a 12 hour layover and in a community tent with about 11 or 12 other people. Honestly, it was tough but I made it through and have come to love this community of people so much. We were all in this together and it was very encouraging to me.
A really cool thing that happened was that my knee was healed. We did the hike that we all needed to complete on the 3rd day and I ran some of it. That night, I stepped into a hole and my bad knee bent backwards. It was very painful. So my knee was pretty messed up that day. Then the next day, we had to do some crazy exercise as part of a field scenario and my knee did not have time to recover. I stepped in a hole twice that morning and after that second time, my knee was hurting ready bad. I had some ladies pray for my knee and after they prayed, it stopped hurting. It was incredible!! I was so thankful and praise God for the miracle He did! I was able to walk downhill without it hurting and I even ran a little to test it. It was healed!
Another cool thing that happened was that 4 of us got picked to lead our whole squad in a field scenario. I was really nervous and stressed about it but we all worked together so good and planned everything out so well. They really encouraged me and so did some of the leaders. I really learned a lot from that experience and look forward to learning more about leading and seeing where God takes that. Also, I was actually chosen as the treasurer for our team so I’ve got some learning to do about money conversion and keeping track of our expenses.
On Day 7, we had a check-in. They wanted to know how everyone was doing so far. This is how I was doing and how I felt:
• Encouraged
• Empowered
• Exhausted
• Noticed I was talking negative about my physical circumstances (heat, camping, cold bucket showers, super busy schedule, packing and unpacking, not sleeping well)
• Had some anxiety but kept going. Didn’t quit.
• Kept reminding myself of the positives but also didn’t ignore how I actually felt.
• Didn’t really struggle emotionally because of all the healing I experienced this past year and a half after my divorce.
• Love my team and look forward to getting to know them better.
Our 10 days ended so beautifully. We had 8 people from our squad get baptized. It was so emotional and powerful. I can’t wait to get together again with everyone at launch and then head out into the World with these loving, powerful, caring and fun people!
After Training Camp, I drove up to Nashville to visit some friends and enjoy the fall weather. I had so much fun catching up with everyone and realized how much I missed living in Nashville. There’s just something about that city, the people, the weather, the food, I just love it all. As I was driving around, I was checking myself to see how I felt. I expected to feel really sad or upset but I honestly didn’t. I don’t know why I thought I should feel those things. As much as I miss living in Nashville, I’m so glad to be where God has me now. I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m enjoying this season of my life very much.
