My goodness. What an insane 10 days. I know what you’re wondering: How was Training Camp?! What did you even do?! Did you love it?! So I’m going to attempt to answer those questions as best I can. But bear with me, there is so much to be processed that it’s hard to put the past 10 days into words. I want to tell you everything possible!!! But I know that probably isn’t going to happen. So here I go.
Brief overview:
-I met the phenomenal squad I’ll be traveling the world with and gained 32 new best friends
-“Intense” camping (s/o to Chelsea) through cold, wind, and rain
-Ice cold bucket showers in said cold and wind
-Cultural days to celebrate and embrace the lifestyle and food of the cultures we’ll be experiencing
-Hills on hills on hills
-Awesome worship led by a seriously gifted band
-Encountering God in new ways and hearing His voice speak truth
-Lots of sessions hearing from incredible leaders and people on-fire for the Lord
-Lots of laughs, tears, and puns
All the things:
First of all, we serve such an incredible, never-ending, all-consuming God. I love His surprises, His comfort, His love, and His patience as I try to become more like Him. Being in love with Him is such an amazing adventure. I got to dive even deeper into that love this week. He taught me that I have no control, and that nothing is about me. I can see Him training me to have an “others-centered” mindset, and it is so fun! I had many exciting encounters with God this week. Sometimes He places people in our lives and opens doors you didn’t even expect. I want to share two experiences with you all:
1. Training Camp is no joke. They focus on training you emotionally, physically, and spiritually. By physically, I mean lots of hiking and hills and workouts and all that fun stuff. A few days in, after our fitness hike (that I passed! Wooo!) I was sore. We were in the middle of an hour long worship session and I was getting tired and kind of just wanted to sit. Then God brought an image to my mind. It was Jesus, bleeding, shaking, hanging on the cross. “I was in a lot of pain and discomfort as I was dying for your sins on the cross,” He said. And dang, I have never felt more convicted. If Jesus can die a death like that for me, to display His love for me on that cross, I can give Him my all and praise Him to show Him my love for Him.
2. One night we all took one hour “night watch” shifts as a field scenario. So from 12-1 one morning, I sat with two other members of my squad and we worshiped and prayed. As I was reading, I was brought to Psalm 71. This is a familiar passage to me, as it talks about God being stable in our lives and working through our inabilities. My devotion next to that talked about being called into positions that we felt inadequate for. And that when faced with such situations, we shouldn’t ask “Can I do this?” but rather, “Can God do this through me?”. It brought me so much peace. And what was even cooler was that next day I was asked to be the Team Leader for my team!
There is a lot of World Race lingo. Here are a few of the big ones before I explain more:
Squad: the 34 people I will be traveling with all year! These people are AMAZING and I couldn’t be happier to travel with them. They pour out so much life and passion and I am so excited that He placed us all together. It’s crazy how you can go from strangers to family in just 10 days!! We will travel from country to country together and meet up 5 times throughout the year. We are “E squad” and no big deal, but we WON SQUAD WARS!!!
Team: the group 6 people I will be with in each country! Our team is “Voyaging Daughters” and let me tell you, these ladies are PHENOMENAL. God has big plans for each of them and I can’t wait to do life with them.
Team leaders: Each team has a team leader, which I got chosen to be! These will change periodically, but I am excited to serve alongside these amazing girls and serve the people we come in contact with along the way!
So much more happened that I want to share with you, but I know I’ve already rambled too long. If you want to hear about the time we spent the night in an “airport”, went through the marketplace, or had to make a shelter for 35 people out of tarps and string, I’d love to share them with you!
Bottom line: God is good. His children are amazing. I’m so pumped to spread His word to the nations in two short months!!
