Training Camp. 10 days of living in tents in the hot, humid Georgia weather. 10 days of eating foreign food that I didn’t necessarily want to try. 10 days of taking cold bucket showers. 10 days of intense biblical teaching and worship. 10 days of living in community with the amazing people I will be spending the next 11 months with.
We all arrived at training camp near Gainesville, GA on August 8th. The first time that I met most of these people was while we were all setting up our tents in what was to be our campsite for the majority of the week. I went around trying to guess people’s names based on the few pictures I had seen of them beforehand. We met our amazing squad mentor, Amy, our wonderful coaches, Mike and Charlene, and our fabulous alumni squad leaders, Alex and Landry. Our squad (Z squad) was there at the same time as one other (A squad) who are leaving on a different route at the same time as us. There are 20 people in each squad (quite a bit smaller than most training camps, apparently).
About 2-3 times a day, we had training sessions in which they would take us through numerous different areas, whether it be spiritual, missional, practical, or logistical (the insurance session was the worst haha). The speakers were amazing, all so passionate about what they were teaching.
After some sessions we would have squad time in which we would split up Z and A squads and do more squad-specific training. There were 3 meals a day all based on one area of the world. We had to eat with chopsticks on Asia day, and with our hands on India and Africa days. I had never realized how much rice is eaten all around the world, but I had better be getting ready to eat it a lot over the next 11 months. I even managed to put down a cricket (not as bad as it sounds).
They had a couple of *realistic* field scenarios for us to work out over the week, including: the airport losing half our bags, finding food to eat in a busy Indian marketplace, and even getting to sleep inside (with AC) for a night.
My squad is wonderful! There is a lot of diversity, but also so much UNITY. It’s amazing how quickly 20 strangers can become family. After a couple days of team building exercises, our leadership divided us up into 4 teams of 5 people. I could not have asked for a better team! These are the 5 people I will be doing life with for the first however many months of the World Race. Our first initials put together spell the word AMAZE, so we are team ‘AMAZEd by You.’ From left to right: Ana, myself, Zach, Amanda, and Maia. Go follow all of their blogs as well to stay up to date with what’s happening on our team!
Near the end of camp, we had an ATL (Ask the Lord) day in which we split up into our teams and went around Gainesville and did what we felt the Holy Spirit leading us to do. We ended up going to an assisted living home, where our group was sent to the memory care center. I got to get out my guitar and lead worship for all of these people who, in the words of their caretaker, “can’t tell you their own husband’s name, but still know all of these old hymns.” I think one of God’s most amazing creations is music. There’s something about it that just connects people to each other and to God. It was so beautiful to see all those residents worshipping their creator.
One thing that God taught me at training camp was to use the gifts He has given me to glorify Him. Pride is a sin that I’ve struggled with my whole life. I am aware of all the things that I am good at, and rather than be thankful, I have consistently let my pride get the best of me. Recently, I’ve been trying to be a lot more humble. But what God taught me at training camp was that it’s not about trying. It’s about abiding. I have a God-given talent for music. Why would He have given me that talent if He didn’t want me to use it for His glory?
About a few days into training camp, I decided to get out my guitar to play some worship music. I was going to go somewhere private, but people were asking me to play for everyone. I was a little uncomfortable doing so because I knew people would be complimenting me, and I didn’t want it to be about me, but about God. The day at the assisted living home, I didn’t even want to bring my guitar for that very reason, but my team, knowing it was one of the gifts God wants to use in me, convinced me to bring it. They ended up asking if we wanted to do music with the residents, and I sheepishly told them I had a guitar. A different day, we were doing sabbath and I ended up playing my guitar and singing worship music for almost 3 hours (I lost track of time) in the training center. People from my squad came and went and just worshipped together.
Both of those times God kept the focus off of me and put a spotlight on Himself, and for that I was so grateful. It took all the pressure off of me, because I wasn’t trying to please people or trying to please God. I was simply worshipping the One who deserves all of my praise, and He used me through that to lead other people in worship.
I was appointed, along with my good friend April Knab, to be our squad Worship Coordinator. When I first heard that was a leadership position, I felt God nudging me in that direction, but I didn’t want to. The devil knows my weakness well, and I battled thoughts that would lead me in the wrong direction. While for a lot of people those thoughts may be about them not being good enough. But I knew I was good enough; that was the issue. I was so worried about being too prideful that I was afraid to step into the role that God so obviously wanted me in. But I committed to praying about it and by the time I was officially offered the role, I was at peace about it. I am now so excited to serve my squad as Worship Coordinator!
The main thing that stands out to me from all of our teaching is this phrase: “Born to be Loved.” 1 John 4:19 says “We love because He first loved us.” Wow! I’ve heard this verse a million times growing up. It was one of the first verses I memorized in AWANA. But until last week at training camp, I don’t think I’d ever grasped how truly profound that verse is. We were born to be loved. It’s not about me trying my best to love God (thankfully, because I’m not very good at it). It’s about Him loving me, and me responding to that perfect love. His love always takes the initiative. I don’t ever have to do anything to make God love me because He created me to be unconditionally loved by Him. I am sooooo grateful that we have a God who loves us like that. The greatest commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. How am I supposed to do that, unless I am ABIDING in His perfect love?
Going forward, you can be praying for continued unity among our squad and that God would be using us in amazing ways to further His kingdom. And individually, I ask that you would be praying that God would overwhelm me with His love and that I would be so filled that it would spill over to everyone around me. I want to be a walking example of the relentless love of our glorious Creator. And I am praying for you, that you would know that you are born to be LOVED. I want God to use my story to reach those of you back at home reading my blogs, that you would be able to see God working and the Kingdom growing!
God bless you,
Ethan
