After a long shower and the use of a flush toilet I can say that I am back and survived training camp.
From July 10-20 I had training camp to prepare us for the race next year in Atlanta Georgia! First thing I want to mention is the humidity and heat. WOW. I have never felt so sweaty and sticky for that amount of time. With it ranging from 70%-90% humidity, I forgot what being dry felt like.
I am going to give y’all (they put their accents on me already) the break down of training camp…
**Everyday mostly followed the break down of: wake up way to early, possibly pack up our tents, morning devotions, morning session, lunch, afternoon activity/session, free time maybe, squad time or team time, followed by dinner, worship, session, free time before bed or getting ready for the night scenario.**
DAY 1: July 19/20
It all started off with about 2 hours of sleep the first night on the fight down. My flight left Calgary midnight of the 19th and I had a layover in Toronto at 3 am! I arrived at the Atlanta airport around 10am on the 20th and then meet up with the rest of the racers around 11. From 11-3 we hung out, got some iHop and started to get to know each other in our squad. (The 6 different gap year routes are called squads; I am route 6- squad V- colour yellow!) From the airport to Gainesville (where the Adventures In Missions home base is) was about an hour and half. Once we got there and signed in, our squad was led down to our campsite. It is by far the best one because it was in the trees, which kept it shaded during the hot days! After we all set up out little 1-2 person tents, we went up to the training centre for worship, followed by rules and a talk. After that we had some free time till it was quite hours which fell at 11pm. Some people from my squad played mafia, which was a great way to get to know everyone. After a long, jam packed over whelming day filled with lots of new faces and adventures, my sleeping pad felt like heaven!
our camp site (photo creds to Gracie!)
DAY 2:
Waking up to about 11 centipedes and spiders of all sorts on top of my tent was a bit of a shock. By 7 we had to have all of our suff (including tent) re-packed up and on the burrito matt (a big tarp that we wrapped our packs up in from the rain.) From 7:30-8 was morning devotions with our teams, my team is amazing and im so excited to grow and learn with them over the 9 months we will be together. With in the squad (of over 50) we are broken down into teams of ~7. I am in Team Esther with 6 other girls!! Today was Asia day, so for breakfast we had eggs and rice. After breakfast we had a squad meeting to introduce the leaders and coaches, as well as played some ice breaker games in our teams. This also included a dance battle that we sadly came in 3rd for, but it was soo much fun. Next we all headed down to the camp site for a quick talk and then they informed us of our sleeping scenario!! -We were going to have a 12 hour layover in the “airport” (aka training centre that was transformed into an airport) tonight and to pack up our matt and sleeping bag and that was it. After dinner and worship (which is beyond incredible) we were allowed into our airport simulation; this included the lights on full all night, the noises of a airport so there was calls and people “missing” their flights all night, the AC on full- which I didn’t mind. This was probably one of the best sleeps I got all week! I just put ear plugs in, used my head band as an eye mask and then curled up in my sleeping bag and I was out in seconds.
TEAM ESTHER:)
back: Sophie, Lexi, Cami, Melissa
front: Gracie, Abby, myself
DAY 3:
Today was Latin America Day! We had the same kinda of set up as yesterday but instead of team building we had a session on why do missions exist? which was really cool to hear and learn as we are heading out in September! Then later on leaned on appreciating cultural differences. This was such a cool day as we learned about Hindu, buddhism and the islamic culture. This I think was really beneficial as it taught us what they believe and how to evangelize to them in their culture norms. We just had a normal night in our own tents tonight.
DAY 4:
Village day today!!! Today we got to eat every meal with our hands:) Lunch was the messiest and the most fun I’ve ever had while eating. We had some sort of potato and lentils and it was the best. We did a couple sessions on evangelism and discipleship and they gave us lots of tools and tricks that we can use when were on the field. The evening session was also amazing and was focused on law and grace.
DAY 5:
AFRICA DAY! That means that shoulder and ankles needed to be covered all day. While the men were off doing the guy hike, us ladies stayed back and got to do a session on sharing and listening to women specifically on the field. This day was very powerful and encouraging as we all got to bond a bit more without the guys. We focused on identity, worth, forgiveness and community. We were also showed other ways of reaching out to women and that is through drawing. In the afternoon the guys came back and we had a scheduled exercise time. The options were dance party, frisbee, yoga and a intense cardio. After not moving for what feels like ages and sitting everyday all day, I decided to do the cardio one. And believe me I couldn’t move for 2 days following. It felt sooo good! After worship and a session, our night scenario was to sleep in community tents. It was so squishy, as there was 12 of us fit into one tent. It wasn’t as hot as I imagined it to be.the community tents (photo by one of my squad leaders: Aly Badinger)
DAY 6:
Today was South American Day. In the morning we had to pack up and be out of the community tents by 7 and do morning devos. We had worship followed by a message that started the day off with how to be intimate with God. The afternoon was probably the most memorable for me as we were learning about the different pathways to God. We got to experience and try them all; Aesthetic pathway, Experiential Pathway, Activist pathway, Contemplative pathway, student pathway, relational pathway and naturalist pathway. The naturalist pathway is where I feel God the most, when I’m outside in nature. it was very fun because we just got to run, climb, roll, jump through the valley to experience the fullness of His creation. We had a normal sleeping scenario tonight. I am starting to get sick of rice and bean at this point… but what can you do, thats going to be my meal for the next 9 months!
DAY 7:
This morning we had to wake up and pack up our stuff and put it on the burrito before devos. Its INDIA day, so we had to wear pants and shoulders covered all day, as well as our heads has to be covered for meals. We ate lots of curry and food with heavy spice, and if you know me you would be thinking that I would be dying… I was. We had a worship in the morning as well in the evening which was a great day to start the day like yesterday. We finished up our sessions on how we can listen to God from yesterday. After our afternoon session we were given our new sleeping scenario for the night, and it was that half of my squads packs were “lost” by the airport. I unfortunately had my bag go “missing.” So this meant that I had to bunk up with someone who had their stuff. Luckily my teammate Sophie had hers and let me crash with her for the night. I slept on top of her sleeping bag and luckily I had my picnic blanket in my day pack that I could use as a pillow/ blanket. This was not one of the better sleeps I had, but still was so much fun and a good bonding moment.
DAY 8:
Almost done camp!! Im so excited, drained, renewed and sad all in one that camp is almost over. The new friendships I’ve made feel like long lost best friends and I can’t wait to launch with them all. VILLAGE DAY. What a day! The highlights of today was dinner. The staff re-created a village scenario where our team was given money that we had to exchange in order to buy from the vendors. We had to barter for dinner in cramped parking lot where there was beggars, people trying to steal our stuff, ask us questions, take us with them, give them food/money, really loud music, vans drive through the middle making us even more crammed that we already were, all in a time frame of 25 minutes. It was overwhelming but also so much fun! My team, we did an amazing job at getting food for dinner, we all spilt off and get a couple dishes and then came back and shared it all as a community. It was a good meal before our “big” fitness hike tomorrow!
in the market (photo by Aly Badinger)
DAY 9:
Today is the day that we all waited for… The fitness hike!!! The distance is 2.2 miles in 38 minutes with our packs on which ranged from 35-45 pounds. I honestly was looking forward to be exploring Georgia a bit and go hiking up a mountain, only to realize it was just around the property. Don’t get me wrong it was still hard and had a big hill in the beginning but just no mountains. Everyone in my squad was so supportive and encouraging it was amazing to be a part of it. I finished with about 12 minutes to spare so I was pretty pleased with that. After we all recovered we stood in line for the showers for about an hour and half before lunch. There was a session from 1-3 and then after that was out camp out night with our squad. So this meant that they gave us dinner that we had to cook our selves over the fire and just hang out and spend time in community. I however was exhausted and wanted to a little nap for 20 minutes, only to wake up an hour later by my teammates shaking my tent.. whoops! After we ate, my squad choreographed our dance for the squad wars that were taking place tomorrow afternoon! This is where our squad battles against the 5 other squads.
(photo by Aly Badinger)
DAY 10:
As hard and physically draining camp has been, I am very sad to leave. But not to sad, because we all realized that we are going to be spending 9 whole months with everyone! Today was American day and boy were we happy. For lunch we got hot dogs and hamburgers! It was heaven in a bun. The afternoon was dedicated to getting ready for the games. This included FACE PAINT and putting on every article of clothing that we had of yellow. The games consisted of all the dances that we’ve all prepared the night before, dodge ball, balloon pop, and one where there was an egg strapped to someone head and the other parter had a pool noddle and tried to break the egg on the opponent head of the other teams. After this, there was a lot of baptisms, which was amazing to see how god was working in these last 10 days in so many people! Finally we had our last worship of TC and let me tell you, there was a lot of joy and tears.
SQUAD V!
I can’t wait to launch in September and continue this journey along side of my new family.
sorry this was so lengthy, but thank you so much for reading it all!:)
