Hey guys!!
Sorry it has been a while!! But this is a long one about training camp and the hike that changed me.
I’ll be posting a separate one about my trip to the Dominican Republic tomorrow!
[ Let me just clarify something. The World Race is NOT the same thing as the show you watch on TV called The Amazing Race! I have had a lot of people ask me if I will be on TV. The answer is no. Hahaha. The World Race is not a Race of any kind. There is no competition or finish line. We are going out to spread the gospel and help people and live a life of Jesus’ disciples. (Now that that’s out of the way, I can’t wait for you to read the rest! ]
Wow what a week! Can you imagine a place where crickets, chicken gizzards, or Pap (a traditional African porridge ground maize or other grain) isn’t rejected as a meal, bucket showers become the norm, monsoon like storms come in a blink of an eye, and every one lives off the stuff they can carry on their backs, and your family just got 45 new members. Now imagine that 200+ 18-21 year olds willingly and joyfully signed up for that experience! That’s right, for the last 9 days my new family (my squad [Gap P]) and I have been at THE WORLD RACE, GAP YEAR, TRAINING CAMP!!!!!
When I showed up the Adventures in Missions (AIM) campus at 4:26 on June 6th I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was I was going to be getting out of my comfort zone, learning something about the next 9 months of my life, and that I was to wear yellow (our squads color). So as I get out of the car with my yellow shirt and bandanna, I am slightly overwhelmed with the combination of that wonderful Georgia heat and the sound of screams from squad mates meeting one another for the first time. There was so much joy and excitement, it was infectious. But, at the same time you could tell no one really knew what we were getting ourselves into…
Through a sea of purple, blue, and red I finally spotted some of my people in highlighter yellow looking about as over whelmed as I was. We eventually made our way down to our camp site and set up our tents. There was definitely a since of “I have no clue what the next week will look like but we’re just so excited to finally be here!”
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The next several days was just that. Unexpected and unimaginably amazing!
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So I’m going to break down what we learned over those crazy days. Our entire training camp is based around the idea that to do the race and to do it successfully you must have a balance between mission, intimacy, and community. Every day, several times a day, over 200 eager young people would crowd in the only air conditioned room on campus, to hear one of the AIM staff or a guest speaker talk about the race.
Our first thing we worked on was Ministry, which was probably one the coolest things we learned. We focused on what it mean to respect a culture we are ministering to, how to not disrupt the work that the host missionary’s do on a day to day basis, the importance of say “Jesus loves you” instead of “I love you” because we are short term but Jesus is forever, and the different types of ministry. We worked with a program called Beauty for Ashes, a woman’s ministry. We also got to learn more about children’s ministry and how to teach them games and songs when we don’t speak the same language.
Our community training was mainly learned and practiced through straight up living together. We would do “Simulated Sleeping Scenarios”. They would “lose half of the squad’s packs in the airport” and we would share all of our stuff, and sleep in community tents. Those where some of my favorite times at camp!
Our last section of training was community. We learned about listening prayer, how to be vulnerable with our team and with the people we are missioning and so much more. But nothing affected me as much as the hike did!
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I had to leave from camp a day early because I was going on a mission trip to the Dominica republic with my church. So on my last full day we had the hike. I would say I’m a decently fit person. But I am not in my best shape so the idea of a 2.2 mile hike, in 38 mins, with full gear on, in Georgia, in 93 degree heat scared me half to death. We had to finish it as a team or we would have to do it over again. I was determined not to make my entire team (who all of which were easily cable of doing this hike) have to do it all over again for me. But I had let fear take over. I let the voice inside my head, which I suppress, rise up, and tell me I wasn’t good enough to do this. And the fear was all over my face.
Then Elijah looked at me and said “Gwyn, look at your face right now, how would your wyld life girls say if they saw you?”
As a team we had talked earlier that one of the things I do as a wyld life leader is to help my girls overcome things. I had told them how last summer, a camp one of my girls didn’t want to do the ropes course because she was afraid of heights. * side note: heights terrify me * but I didn’t want her to miss out so I was telling her how fun they are and that I would go with her if it would make her feel safer. So I did and the entire time I kept smiling, even though I was wanting to cry on the inside myself. She made it all the way through and was so proud. So I decided that I was gunna put a smile on and do this for them, because Elijah was right, if they saw my face right then they would be discouraged to.
At we started out it was clear I was a lot slower than my team. The small amount of energy I had mustered up was dwindling. I got even more discouraged than I was before we started. I got upset and then the worst thing, I got mad with myself. I hated that I couldn’t keep up. I hated that my knees were hurting and I had rolled my ankle going down the first hill. I was mad at myself because I didn’t feel good enough.
Looking back I should have stopped before I did because I stared to get light headed and got little spots in my vision. I couldn’t feel any aspect of my body. But every time my team mate David or my Team Trainer Jace would ask me if I wanted to stop I would lie and say I was fine. Just after we got up the biggest hill for the second time Jace finally told me we were going to stop. I didn’t want to but I needed to. I felt like my body had given up on me. I was suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion.
We sat there for what felt like 2 hours. I watched my tea pass by on their way to finish and cried. I had let them down and I felt ashamed and I thought they would be mad at me. They had us walk down to the finish line where were met by people cheering, but they didn’t know we were out because we didn’t finish. I used the last of my energy to past the large group of cheerleaders and once I passed them I stared to just collapse on myself. I was so mad, hot, disappointed, weak I just wanted to fall on the ground and stay there.
But something caught me. It was two of my teammates. It was David and Elijah. One literally supported all of my weight while the other took my pack off my back. They guided me over to the shaded pavilion and started to pour water on me to cool me down. I didn’t want to look at them I felt so bad, because I knew that they were going to have to do the entire thing over again. I kept trying to apologize and they kept saying “you did amazing” “you did so well” “it okay, that as really hard” “we are glad you are okay” and I hated every second of lying there, helpless. Not being allowed to get up. Having people pour water all over me to cool me down.
I hated it until our squad mentor told David and Elijah that she would take over and they could go shower and both of them said that they were all right and wanted to stay with me. My broth and I don’t always get along so I was so surprised they would say this. I didn’t know why they weren’t mad at me for not finishing, not until that moment. When they said they would rather stay with me, I knew they were my family and my brothers. It took about 2 hours for me to get cooled down. And every second of it, one of my squad mates was with me.
We were told that for every team that didn’t finish we would be going again the next morning. All that day I was chugging water like it was my job. I was praying and getting in the right mindset. I was gunna crush that hike the next morning. I was ready.
The next morning came and there was something different in the air. It was 6 o’clock in the morning. God had set a raging fire in the heart of every person there. We were ready. They had told us that there was a change, instead of having to get every member of your team through under the time, they would average all of the scores. So the rest of my team decided that they were gunna go as fast as they could so they could cover the time just in case some of us didn’t finish under the time. But I was ready, I wanted to make it under time. That was my goal.
Jace ran right next to me the entire time. He was pacing me. We would run then walk and run and walk some more. He played some T-Swift and some worship music. But the atmosphere was different. Even though there were teams that could have slept an extra 2 hours, but they had lined the course, cheering on everyone. People that had already completed it were running again with some of their squad mates. There was such love in the air and it was infectious. I found myself cheering for people I didn’t know.
We passed the spot where I had stopped the day before and Jace asked me “where are we right now?” I looked around and realized this is where my mind and body had given up on me. I remembered how beaten down and mad I felt, not even 24 hours before. I got so excited. Every single step I took past where I had to stop was like a trophy or and I love you from God. Every breath was me shouting praise to God for giving us the strength to do hard things. The light inside of me got bigger and bigger.
As we were about 3/4 of the way done, I started to hear music. One of the people cheering us on had a speaker in his hand. And we got closer I realized it was the song Unstoppable God. I heard the lyrics “Unstoppable God, Let your glory go on and on, impossible things, in your name they shall be done… Nothing shall be impossible, your kingdom reigns unstoppable, we’ll shout your praise forevermore, Jesus our God unstoppable” The line that says “impossible things, in your name they shall be done” really got me. Yesterday this hike was imposable to me. I was letting the enemy win. I was doing it with fear and not joy. I was doing it to get it done and now it was a testament to my faith.
I asked Jace if we could run the rest, he looked so surprised and asked if I was sure. I said I wanted to give everything I could give to the lord and we started to run. I didn’t even have to focus on breathing I was signing Unstoppable God the entire way. God made us in his image. We are unstoppable. We finished and I was so happy. I sat for a bit but then got up and went back to finish out the race with some of my squad mates. Later I found out, I didn’t need the extra time my team mate got for me. I made it in 5 minutes early.
Something as simple as a hike made the biggest impact on me. It made me fully realize. These are my people. This is my family. And I truly can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Aslan’s Army!! My amazing and wonderful TEAM & FAMILY!
Nick, Luke, Me, Elijah, Tamara, Katie, David
Our first day!
My amazing squad
Our campsite!
