So training camp? Right?
I can definitely say that it was hard. We ate weird food with our hands, we slept in the woods, there was a crazy monsoon, and a death defying hike. To say the least I have never experienced something so hard but yet so rewarding. I got to see my squad for the first time and they are AMAZING, getting to know people my age with the same heart that I have is so empowering. Every time I got the opportunity to “buy-in” I did because it wasn’t worth sitting in the corner watching every one else make memories and I wasn’t. I am not going to say that it was easy and painless, because sometimes in the middle of it I felt like I was going to die, but in these moments were I was most UNCOMFORTABLE God showed himself in ways that were incredible.
I want to share one of my stories with you guys today.
STORY #1 The market place
Training camp is basically were alumni racers know what you could go though so they set up all these scenarios so you can experience them before you are on the field, that way you know what to expect. In one of the scenarios my team was given a certain amount of money and we had to go to the market place and buy diner for all 7 of us. Now this doesn’t sound so bad right? well thats what I thought until I saw what we were dealing with.
the WHOLE ENTIRE STAFF was out in traditional clothing selling there ‘homemade goods”, there were kids running all around, there was trash all over the ground, there was a homeless man that was blind, people telling the fire and brimstone version of the gospel, a king that commanded you bow down to him or else, and a whole bunch of local people. Now the area that we were in was kinda small and hard to maneuver around and this made it easy for locals to pickpocket anyone they could find, including me. I will also say that I know when you go to places like this your suppose to were your backpack on your front but I guess I just forgot. Needless to say, my Nalgene almost was almost taken from me.
***If you want you can listen to this video that I made which explains a little more of what I experienced after this in the market place you can. But if you would like to continue to read I am going to write basically what I talked about in the video. Even though you can read the rest of my experience I still recommend that you watch the video, just saying.
One thing that I learned from not only this scenario but all the others is your FIRST reaction is what others remember. So this lady came up to me and she had a musical toy frog, like the things you rub a stick against and they make “du du du” sound. Well she kept on pushing the frog towards me motioning that I should play with it. So I did. I mean it looked like fun and it was, but when I was playing with it, remember they don’t speak english, she just kept on saying “buy it, buy it, buy it” and I said ” No money I don’t have any money” and truly I didn’t but I also said “I just want to play with you” and so she played with it for a little bit and then she let me play with it for a little bit. I just took the time to see her for a bit and if this was really happening then I would have seen her probably every day and played with her. Note: these are the kind of things that make me REAL happy. I mean what if I was the only one that actually was spending time with her in her daily life. I could possibly be the first person to show her who Jesus is. shortly after this, my team had gotten all the food items that we needed so we went to find a spot to eat. When we did locals just kept on coming up to us either wanting to talk or wanting something from us.
Guys I just want to let you know that I didn’t get much alone time while at training camp and I was already kinda tired from this mornings activities. I am not trying to make myself sound like a better person, I just want to remind you that nobody is perfect. So, now that I have let y’all know I am going to fail let me share what happened next. As I said, the locals were finding any chance they could get to talk to you. My team was just getting starting to eat our din din and this one lady came up to us and basically asked if we wanted to go party with her. Of course we all said “no” but a couple of my amazing teammates started trying to tell her about Jesus. To say the least it was hilarious and amazing. I can definitely say that I felt like it was real and we were on the field. At this point we were almost finished with our meals and we had a whole bowl of curry chicken leftover and we were all to full to finish it. Shortly after, a lady came up to me and in all honesty I can’t even remember what she said to me, but y’all I literally picked up the bowl curry chicken and told her “you can have the chicken if you leave us alone.” after I said that she did as I said and I never saw her again. Now I don’t recommend you say this to anyone so please learn from my mistakes.
People, are tongues literally hold life and death, I didn’t actually kill her but I had the chance to at least let her sit and eat with us, but I was to much of a butthead to even say that.
Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
I could of possibly made her feel like she had no self-worth. God calls us to show love and I missed out on just being a light in her life. Thinking back on that moment, that lady didn’t know I was tired and hungry all she saw was that I didn’t want to talk to her.
If someone comes up to you today and starts to talk to you I DARE you to have that conversation with them. Heck if you see someone that looks like they could have had a bad day offer to buy them a cup of coffee and tell them about whats been happening in your week, I DARE you to be a light to a person even when they look like they know who God is.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
