I recently got back from Training Camp for the World Race in Gainesville, Georgia. How do I even begin to describe this experience? It was probably the toughest, yet most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It was filled with love, laughter, tears, and all my doubts and fears were washed away with the peace that surpasses understanding. That being said, I was sick pretty much the entire Training Camp. I was healthy when I got on the plane to Georgia, I was healthy on the bus ride there, and then as soon as we got to our campsite and started putting up our tents on the first night, my throat started to feel scratchy and I developed a dry cough. I thought nothing of it and was grateful I put some cough drops in my daypack just in case I needed them.
Day 2, the first full day of Training Camp, I was excited to start the day filled with worship, sessions, and getting to know my squadmates better. However, by the end of the day, that cough and scratchy throat had developed into a sore throat, a horse voice, a headache, a stuffed up nose, and a cough. By Day 3, the second full day of camp, I could tell my symptoms had progressed to the point of an infection and I needed to get antibiotics and see a doctor. I talked to my squad leader Casey about how I wasn’t feeling well and might need to see a doctor, but my main concern was the timed 3 miles in 50 min. hike that would take place that day. Would I feel well enough to run and walk the hike? What would happen if I couldn’t complete it that day? Would I be able to continue on with my squad?
I hadn’t had a serious thought cross my mind about leaving Training Camp because I was sick since I had such a peace about being there that I knew that this is where God wanted me to be, even if I wasn’t feeling well. I explained to Casey that I would like to see a doctor, but I didn’t want to give up and go home. She told me that she would be able to get someone to drive me to a doctor that day, but I had to decide right then whether I would try the timed 3 mile hike that day or not. She said my options with that were to try it that day and just see how I do and I would have 2 tries to make the time, or I could sit out the hike that day and I would only have 1 try to make it the next day. I thought it over for a few seconds and said yes I will try the hike that day because I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel the next day, and yes that I would also like to see a doctor that day if possible. Casey told me to take it easy for the hike and not to push myself so I wouldn’t overdo it and she would ask someone to set up a ride for me to a local clinic.
Going into Day 3, I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be capable to make the 3 mile hike in 50 mins. because even though I had been practicing for months, being sick I felt weak carrying my big pack just walking up and down the hills on the Adventures in Missions campus and my nose was very stuffy and my head was a little spacey. Even with all of that, I decided to give it a try so I at least have two chances of making the time in 50 mins. because I still wanted more than anything to launch with my squad in August. I prayed about the hike a LOT and several of my squadmates prayed for me to feel better as well.
When we got to the Pavilion that day, our squad’s starting point of the 3 miles in 50 mins. hike, our serve team, Squad Mobilizer, Squad Mentor, and Squad Leader told us to break up into groups of 3 to 5 people and for the people who were least confident making the time to go first. I turned to someone near me and said, “Want to go second?” And she agreed. Then we found 3 more squadmates and we were actually told that we would be starting first.
After a deep breath and a last minute huddle prayer, we set out at 1:30pm just speed-walking and taking it easy. We got up the big hill and made it to the first person cheering us on just off the Adventures campus when I started dragging behind a little and my group started picking up speed on the mostly flat road outside of the campus. My new friend Kelli saw that I was lagging behind a little and she came back to walk with me. I told her that she didn’t have to worry about me, she could stay with the others and focus on making the time, I just needed to take it a little slower. Kelli was one of the first of my squadmates to show me unconditional love that week when she told me, “No. I’m staying with you. If I wasn’t feeling well, I’d want someone to walk with me too.” I gratefully thanked her and we kept walking together. Once we made it to the halfway point, 2 of the people we had left with and a few other squadmates from behind had long since passed us, but Kelli stayed with me and my friend Kimberly had since fallen back into step with us too. A little ways passed the halfway mark someone asked who had left the earliest in our group and we called out, “1:30!” to him. He told us we had to pick up the pace in order to make the time, but we were close to the Adventures campus and the finish line.
We tried jogging down a tiny hill, but it was pretty tiring so we went back to speed-walking a little faster than we had been. At some point, Kelli and I lost Kimberly, who had fallen behind us, and Kelli told me to keep going so she could check on Kimberly. I hoped Kimberly was okay, but I knew that if I stopped walking towards the finish line to go back for her now, I would never make it. Kelli came back to me about 2 minutes later and told me that she had tried to get Kimberly to run so they could both catch up to me, but Kimberly was having a rough time and just needed to walk the rest at her own pace. I hoped she was okay, but shortly after I looked down at my watch and we realized that we had 2 minutes left to make our time!
Kelli turned to me and said, “We’re going to have to run down the big hill. We can do this! This is the hardest thing you’re ever going to have to do, and then it will be over.” I agreed and despite my body protesting the heat and my sickness, I pushed aside all my doubt and started running with Kelli. Kelli encouraged me every step of the way. She said, “We can do this!” when I started to protest that I didn’t think I could keep running. She reminded me how close were were to the end. Suddenly we passed someone just by the Training Center and she yelled to us, “You finished!” so we slowed to a walk to cool down.
We thought we had made it and it was finally over when we walked around some trees and realized there was ONE MORE MARKER TO GO!! I looked down at my watch and back to Kelli with panic on my face and yelled to her, “We have 30 seconds!!” We sprinted the last 100-200 feet to the finish line, shouting to squadmates ahead of us to make way when we ran past them to make our time. As soon as we crossed the finish line, they told us to hand them our index cards with our starting time so they could mark down our end time. “You made it!” our squad mentor Ashley yelled and we grinned with relief.
My time: Exactly 3 miles in 50 mins!
I took off my pack and started pouring water over my head since I was starting to feel overheated. Ashley realized that I wasn’t feeling well and she offered to pour the water for me so it didn’t get on my shirt and she told me that she needed to get my neck too to cool down a pressure point. I agreed and the cold water made me feel instantly cooler so I could sit with my other squadmates that had already finished. My friend Allison offered to get me cold water from the water jugs so I could sit and rest and I was so grateful. As soon as she came back and I had a little water, I asked her if she had made the time. Allison said yes she made it with a few minutes to spare. Filled with emotion, I hugged her and cried and said, “We’re going on the World Race!”
That was truly a defining moment for me. I have been preparing for months and talking about the World Race for over a year, but until I crossed that finish line and made the time for the timed hike, I wasn’t quite sure if I would be able to handle the rigor that the World Race required. I have said that God will equip me, but sometimes thoughts of how this is my first mission trip, my first time out of the country, how I’m not as in shape as I’d like to be, how I don’t know all the languages in the countries I will be ministering in, I’m not the best as evangelizing or speaking in front of people, and a bunch of other thoughts swirl in my head trying to tell me I’m not good enough. But crossing that finish line and being told I made the time, even while I was hot, tired, and not feeling well, I knew that God had shown up for me in a tangible way and wanted me to be on the mission field this August. In that moment, I knew God saw me as worthy and enough, even when I don’t see it myself or feel like I don’t deserve it.
This defining moment showed me how God truly does equip the called and how He used me as a vessel for His glory. I know I didn’t do that hike on my own strength, but only by God’s grace I crossed that finish line just in time. When I started out that day, I felt weak when I had to carry a plastic collapsible chair up half the big hill to the Training Center from the dining tent. By the end of the hike, I had carried a pack that weighed about 30 lbs 3 miles in exactly 50 mins up and down Georgia hills. That is the power of prayer and God’s strength to carry the weak in their time of need. I will no longer doubt God’s power to do the impossible for His glory.
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But the story doesn’t stop there. As soon as I cooled down a little from the hike, my Squad Leader Casey came over and told me that someone would be picking me up to go to the doctor’s soon, so I could ask a squadmate to help me carry my big pack back to the campsite and I should be behind the Training Center with my daypack in a half hour. My friend Bre offered to help, and I was so grateful because I wasn’t sure if I’d have the strength to carry my big pack up the hill again on my own. She carried my big one and I carried my daypack and we talked before I headed back to place where I would be picked up. Someone offered me ice water when I got near the office outside the Training Center and I gladly accepted. This was a luxury that we didn’t typically have at Training Camp, and even the cold water after the hike was a blessing.
A woman named Amy picked me up and told me about the capacity in which she works with Adventures in Missions on the way to the clinic. She was really sweet and funny and kept my mind off of being sick. Inside the clinic, I stood up just about every 2 minutes to take a few more tissues from the tissue box in the clinic to blow my stuffed up nose before Amy suggested that I could just hold onto the box since no one else in the waiting room seemed to need it. I was grateful for her suggestion because I was out of it and wouldn’t have been able to think of that on my own. Then I was called in to a room with a nurse.
The nurse asked me to list my symptoms and then I tried to explain what I was doing in Georgia since my home address is in Jersey. She asked if I had a fever and I said I wasn’t sure, but I was just outside running, so I might be hotter than usual. She checked and told me I had a 101.5 degree fever and said that she’d give me some Tylenol to take. I asked her if I had a sinus infection like I thought I did and she told me I might have strep throat so she would take a swab for that.
The nurse brought me into another room to wait for the doctor. She came in to give me my Tylenol and a cup of ice water. I felt so blessed to be inside with air conditioning and drinking a cup of ice water after running in the summer Georgia heat, all the while knowing the best my other squadmates would be getting is shade, cold water, and an air conditioned room that felt like it had just a fan blowing when all 250-300 of the 6 squads were gathered in that one room. I also saw a Bible had been left on the counter in my room, so I read a chapter or two of Ezekiel while waiting for my results.
The doctor came in and he told me that not only did I have a fever, I had strep throat so I would be contagious 24 hours after starting antibiotics, I had a respiratory infection (similar to a common cold) because my symptoms of that were different from strep, I had a slight rash on my throat that was a result of my sickness and would go away on its own, and I was also allergic to Georgia trees because the pollen was really bad in Georgia this year. I almost laughed out loud when he told me everything I was sick with. God got me through my physical requirement with all of that, and I knew He could do anything for His glory and use everything for good.
Then my doctor started listing off things I could and couldn’t do while I was contagious and I tried not to laugh again. He told me no kissing (wouldn’t be a problem since I have to be single for about a year), I shouldn’t share food or drinks (this actually would be a problem since we are sometimes served our food on a big platter for Training Camp and have to dish out or eat with our hands our food from there), I should try to get a lot of rest (I would be doing physical exercise almost every day and only able to nap on my free time), and take all my medicine at the prescribed time.
This wasn’t my entire experience at Training Camp, but this is a snapshot of a day that really captures how I felt about Training Camp. It was tough and it wasn’t always easy, but every second of it was worth it for me. The World Race isn’t for everyone and we actually had 4 original squadmates leave partway through Training Camp because God was calling them elsewhere or they had to work through some things in their life right now and the Race wouldn’t be the right place for them to process through that. However, I had peace about being there the moment worship started on that first night, and nothing was able to rock that peace, not even sickness, the heat, or exhaustion. I knew that this is where God wanted me to be and I felt confident in my calling to the World Race, no matter what life threw at me. Instead of letting my situation get me down, I kept going, kept trying, kept striving to be fully present and do what God wanted me to do and be where God wanted me to be. The hardest part for me was losing my voice and not being able to sing my praises to God during worship, but God taught me how to worship Him in other ways, silently, living my faith by example, praying, reading my Bible, encouraging others, being fully present, and not letting my circumstances get me down.
I took this opportunity to be glad that I got sick now while doing World Race stuff so I will be more prepared for when I get sick on the Race, to experience a mini-culture shock at all the options in Rite Aid after only a few days away from the “real world,” to learn that it’s okay to accept help from others when my squadmates offered to help me out in different ways, to go to God first in prayer rather than feeling sorry for myself in my situation, all the while experiencing genuine love. Love from God, love from my squadmates, and love from my squad leaders, mentors, coaches, and our serve team.
Our Serve Team including our Mobilizer, Squad Mentor, Squad Leaders, and Squad Coaches
I have never experienced community quite like this. I have many Christian friends and family members who are always here for me, but I have never had to live with them, eat with them, do everything with them, and spend all my free time with them 24/7. This is what my squadmates and I experienced with one another at Training Camp. It’s not always easy, but I do believe that we truly came together as a body of Christ and helped serve one another whenever possible in whatever way God has gifted us. So when I say that I only spent 10 full days with these 50 people on my squad and we came out as a family, I truly mean it. To the rest of the world 10 days might not seem like a long time. But to us, it felt like both only a few days, and also 2 months at the same time. I am so blessed to have these people in my life whom I will live and serve with for the next 11 months of my life starting in August. I can’t wait to see what plans God has for us and what we will do and experience together as a family.
K-Squad and some of our Serve Team at Squad Wars
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As an update, I have currently raised $10,828 out of $17,361 and I have all my gear!! Wahoo!! Thank you all so much for your generosity, prayer, encouragement, for subscribing to my blog, and for helping me out in any way to get me to where I am! I am currently working towards my $13,000 goal, which means I only need to raise $2,172 more in my portal to get there and $6,533 in my portal to be fully funded! God is so good! Since I have passed my $10,000 goal, I will be able to launch with my squad in August! If you have helped in any way, it truly means the world to me.
If you would like to help me out financially, I actually have a more pressing financial goal since I just started my last 4 shots and they are not covered by insurance. I was able to cover my 1st Rabies series shot yesterday with some donations and my own money, but I still need to raise:
$365 before Monday, June 27th for my 2nd Rabies series shot
and
$635 before Monday, July 18th for my 3rd Rabies shot and my Required Yellow Fever shot
If you would like to help me out with either of these goals, please know that this would be a check or cash donation directly to me and not through my blog portal or addressed to Adventures in Missions. These donations also won’t be tax-deductible since they are going directly to me for the purpose of vaccinations and not through Adventures in Missions. However, this is a big need of mine, and it would be an invaluable way to help me to be able to serve on the field starting in August. If you would like to help out with this, please click on the blue “contact” button on the left side of this screen and send me an email, or if you know me personally and have other ways of getting in contact with me, call me, text me, email me, Facebook message me, talk to me in person, or get in touch with me whatever way you usually contact me!
Thank you for prayerfully considering helping me out in this way! Also, if you are not able to give financially, prayer would be appreciated that I would reach these vaccination goals, that I would reach my $13,000 goal either before I leave or by the September due date, and especially prayer for our first country, Cote d’Ivoire, because we were officially told that this will be our first country in August and it’s a very spiritually dark place in Africa.
Sending love and prayers to all my friends, family, and supporters for wherever you are in your own lives right now! You all mean the world to me!
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