We are a month out from launch and about a month since training camp started so it’s a good time to catch you up through another blog. My experiences at training camp are somewhat indescribable but I’ll do my best to turn my thoughts into words.
so what is training camp anyways? Training camp is 10 days of tenting in the sticky summer heat at the Adventures in Missions headquarters in Gainesville, Georgia. With bugs the size of your hand crawling around livin’ life but also freaking you out constantly. I’d like to say I got used to it but I really didn’t.
During these 10 days, racers attend sessions that equip us for life on the field as well as the crucial final weeks before their launch. Worship is some of the best I have ever experienced, so trust me when I say music can and will change your perspective. Some of my best/hardest heart wrecking times were during worship.
Bucket showers are pretty self-explanatory but for those who might be confused: a 5-gallon bucket + cup + water = boom! you got a true WR (World Race) shower. Since there are 200+ girls & only 8 stalls, it took almost two hours sometimes to get through the lines. But it’s true when they tell you friendships are formed in the shower lines!
so what was training camp like for me as an individual? My training camp experience started a day early! I had the opportunity to attend the storyteller workshop where I joined with 30 other racers to learn the basics of storytelling — how to tell WR stories through photography, videography, and blogs! Over the next 10 days, we were greeted with the AIM staff teaching us in daily sessions, leading us in squad time and being a listening ear for all the debriefs and late-night processing of the day. These people are rockstars & I love ’em like family.
Over the next week, I experienced a depth of spiritual highs and lows in the shortest period of time I had never been through before. I struggled with my place in the squad, wondering if this was truly where God wanted me. I victoried over past misbeliefs I had about the Lord, but most importantly, a new passion and desire for closeness with Jesus was ignited like never before.
My team, “team Jaimasi,” (God’s grace/Christ has the victory) is made up of eight spunky women of God… Angela, Maddy, Kinzie, Emily, Bernadette, Cassi, & Kendel, I’m so ready to know you. I can’t wait to love you to the core & do life with you for the next 9 months!
One of my favorite things about training camp was worship. One song that I can’t get out of my head is ‘Defender’ by UPPERROOM. I’ve been living by this line lately;
“When I thought I lost me, you knew where I left me.
You picked up all my pieces, and put me back together,
you are the defender of my heart.”
The Father showed me His heart in these words — tender for His kids, but still a warrior fighting on our behalf.
Stay tuned for more blogs from this time in the muggy forest of Georgia which go deeper into my journey with God and the lessons I am already learning even before the race has begun. Love always!
