(Twice now I’ve written out a blog only for it to get lost in the internet before it get’s posted… third time’s the charm…)
So let me share a little more about training camp (I can’t give too much detail in case future racers read, and we wouldn’t want to spoil it for them now would we). The week was kind of split into three sections:
- Firstly, we spent time shrinking our world down to us as individuals, dealing with the baggage that we each have and handing it over to God. This was a time of learning (or re-learning) that we are not slaves to sin, nor to the law, nor to the flesh, but that our identity is one of FREEDOM in Christ (a little more on that to come).
- Secondly, we then expanded our world to think about community, and to think about what it means to be and to take the Kingdom of God. This included some challenges, some team building, getting to know each other more, and ultimately, being put into teams (more on this below too).
- Thirdly, we expanded our world out to think of the people in various situations around the world, many of whom we may encounter this year. This was a powerful time, although I can’t go into detail about it, that included giving up our preconceptions of people and learning that we need to try and put ourselves in their shoes and understand them without our cultural assumptions.
- We also experienced different cultural foods and protocols each day, shifted our camping spot to a variety of scenarios at least every other day, and became a family. Even though it was only really 9 days family is definitely the right word to describe the sense of community and togetherness we have as a group.
So without too much further ado, let me introduce my team, including a couple of brief stories about namings.
Our team leader is Sara Norton (top middle), behind me is Peter Dinh, next to him is Jessica Fischbach, then there’s me, next to me is Raquel Bagnal (who is also our finance person), and next to her is Ann Duncan. You can learn more about each of them by clicking on their names which will take you to their respective blogs.
When it came to team names we were all told to go away and think and pray about what ours should be, trying to link it in some way to what we wanted to do with / be in the year, something to do with mission. Anyway, at one point I was chatting with someone about a joke team including turning it into an acronym to make it sound more plausible. So on the day of team name deciding we sat down together and with a member of WR staff to discuss. One of the team suggested the name Enduring Hope, and mentioned about how the word Hope was important to them and how it would be great to include it, which we all agreed. So Sara asks if I could turn it into an acronym, and somehow (God), out of nowhere it pops into my mind. When I’d done it the day before on my own it had taken a couple of minutes but this time it was instant, and I believe God was totally in it. Helping Others Pursue Eternity.
So we are Team H.O.P.E. and our mission is to Help Others Pursue Eternity.
What’s cool is that in my last year with Youth for Christ I was on the Hope Team, so I know God is doing something with this. One more detail to end with. Despite their being two Peters on our squad, they decided that we were both best suited to be in the same team. Which could cause confusion when it comes to speaking to each other in team. So I decided that I wanted to try something I’ve thought of before – going by middle name, Francis. This has half caught on within my squad (it’s not something I’m doing back at home but it seems to make sense – a new era of life, a new journey, a new name), but I was asked by a squad leader what it means, which I honestly didn’t know. So she went and looked it up and came back the next day to tell me what it means. Francis means Free Man. It means Freedom. So after a week or so of training and pursuing freedom I managed to make a massively significant name change without realising it. For this, and other reasons, I know that God was really working in us at training camp, and so am encouraged about how He will work in us over the coming year.
I’ll leave it there for now (this blog is already too long, but it’s been a little while since I posted last and every time I’ve tried I’ve lost the post…), but I look forward to updating you as I go (I’m pretty much all kitted out and ready to go now), it’s very exciting. Keep well and I hope you’ve been able to sign up to receive my updates during the year. God bless.
