Training camp…
I’m not sure where to begin. It was a pretty incredible week. On
Saturday May 21st I packed up my giant 85 liter bag with my clothes,
tent, sleeping bag and pad, hammock, and snacks and headed up to training
camp. I made the 2 hour drive to
Copperhill, Tennessee where camp was being held for the next 9 days. As I entered the camp it really became real. This wasn’t something I was still waiting
the past 9 months for. It was real and
the wait was finally over whether I wanted it to be or not. Butterflies entered my stomach as I kept
driving past other racers walking to check-in with their huge packs on their
backs, small bags on their front, and stuff in every hand…welcome to the world
race. I finally parked and grabbed my
roughly 40 pounds of gear and headed towards the check-in table. Then we were grouped up and sent to the far
side of the field to set up camp, for what I thought would be the week. I set up my tent and unloaded my bag…only to
be told that night everything needed to be packed up and ready to go at 7
am.
spiritually, mentally physically. It was
probably one of the hardest weeks I’ve ever had to go through, but it was still
good, necessary, and needed. I thought I
had prepared myself for what was to come at camp. I knew they wouldn’t feed us very much and
what they would feed us was going to be strange, so I brought lots of snacks. I knew it would be a challenging week, so
when it got hard I would just think only a few more days. But there was so much more to those 9 days that
no one could prepare you for. What I didn’t
expect is how much they would challenge us during those 9 days. They challenged us to confront what was
holding us back from what God wanted us to experience now, and over the next
year. They also challenged us to be real
with ourselves and real with others. They
challenged us to abandon all our comforts and realize the next year would not
be easy. During the entire 9 days we
were never given a schedule, which was very hard for me for the first few
days. They would only tell us what we
were about to do in the moment, and then after that was over we would be told
what was next. We survived the week on
little sleep, few calories, and very few showers. The days went by slowly and the 9 days felt like we were there for
weeks. But looking back it was all so
good.
Here are a few things that I learned over 9 days at camp.
- African food isn’t too bad; it’s like a thick
paste that tastes like grits - Asian food will be the best
- Worship is more than just the songs we sing at
church, it can be Pinocchio - Authentic community is something we all need and
crave - 58 people can become extremely close in 9 days
- Showers aren’t that necessary
- A trip to the lake counts as a shower
- Lives will be transformed and freedom will
happen - Changing clothes is only necessary every few
days - God speaks when you are willing and ready to
listen - Next year definitely won’t be easy
- Sleeping under a tarp isn’t too bad except for
the barking dog that kept us up all night - Dub squad rocks!
- I think my stomach will be hungry more times
than full next year - A good nights rest is hard to come by
- Schedules are good, but not always needed
- Almost drowning in the middle of a lake is
definitely a good team building exercise - American food will definitely be craved next
year - Our stories will be shaped and transformed next
year - The Holy Spirit will rock our world
- “men get skinny, women get fluffy”
- American comforts aren’t necessary
- Having a mattress isn’t necessary, just a place
to sleep - I have the best team anyone could ask for
