If you are a new racer, please don’t read this until after training camp, seriously, you want to have an authentic time at camp!!!
I honestly don’t have adequate words to describe how amazing training camp was. So, here is my attempt at trying.
On the way to training camp, I had every emotion you could think of, happy, scared, nervous, excited, overwhelmed, and joyful. I went into this place knowing faces, but not knowing people. That changed very quickly. Over the past few months/years I started becoming introverted because I was scared people were not going to like me or that they were going to judge me for being… well, myself. I got there scared out of my mind no one would like me and that I was going to be alone this whole time. These 10 days I went from figuring out who people were to having 42 new brothers and sisters. I can not describe how amazing these people are. Like seriously, you need to meet them. During the first few lessons, we were talking about identity. This is something I struggled with, I knew that I had started becoming an introvert because of fear of people not liking me. They told us break into group and talk about ourselves. Who we were and who God wanted us to be. (This is the first of MANY times I cried) In my group I shared how I felt about not being my true self and how I wanted to be happy with who I was. After sharing these things with people I had just met like 40 hours ago,I honestly was scared again, but then the leader, Mrs. Carolyn, had the other three girls share something they liked about me. I was completely amazed that these girls had anything to say. It was then that I stared to open up more and be me. Over the next few lessons I started dancing terribly to the music they had playing, but loving every minute of it. Over the next few days, there were many lessons and SO many walls that I never knew I had built up were being torn down. The worship was so amazing and authentic, the first night of worship the song “You Make Me Brave” was sung and while singing, I just started crying, so much in fact my friend leaned over and asked if I was okay. This was the song I was listening to when my mom told me that my Mema(great-grandmother) had passed. God has funny, but awesome ways of moving your heart. We would wake up every morning at 7am and workout as a family. The third day we had our 3 mile hike. I. was. terrified. But then AGAIN God put His hand on it and said, “I got this, fam.” and gave us THE MOST PERFECT weather possible. I passed the hike test with 9 minutes left on the time! WOO! Towards the middle of the week, the guys went on their “man hike” and left us girls to grow as sisters. One of our team building exercises involved a “travel day” and people being “disabled,” one of the girls on my team was “so ill she couldn’t walk,” there were others too, but I stepped in to carry her. Let me tell you a little something about Georgia. It is not flat. Where we had to go, involved two fairly large hills. It was hard, but we made it. This activity actually taught me a lot. We will go through a lot of ups and downs in life, but if we do it with “baggage,” it’s going to be hard. God was telling me, “leg go and let Me carry you” The hills stayed right where they were, but God is carrying the weight. The holy spirit was so obviously present, there aren’t even words. One night we had a lesson ‘listening prayer’ (message me if you have questions) and then the teacher called up volunteers. I had no idea what was about to come, so obviously I raised my hand. hah. Then he said, we are going to have a time of prayer for these four people(me being one). I shrank in fear no one was going to hear anything from God about me and that I was going to be embarrassed standing up there. Once again, God moved so mightily, I don’t have words. I heard words that night that I needed to hear so badly and words that meant so much. Afterwards the worship team came up and said they had also had a listening prayer time for every racer there and they wrote down what they heard when they prayed out names to God. I got my letter, read it,and just started crying. At that moment, I was shattered, but then I was made new. It was times like this that I knew this is exactly where I am supposed to be. I felt so at peace with where I was and my new brothers and sisters. Okay, changing the subject just a little (I told you that I was terrible at writing.. haha). If you know anything about me, I am terrified of frogs and bugs and just really outside. haha. We were told that we would be having a camp out this night and we would be sleeping outside, on the ground, surrounded by nothing but trees. Like I said, God works in funny ways. That night was probably one of my favorite nights. I had the opportunity to help lead worship with some other squad mates, and then we spent five hours, yes, five hours sitting around the camp fire, all just sharing our testimonies and how we got to The World Race. It was such a humbling experience being able to get to know the real people God blessed me with. After that night, I wasn’t even able to sleep in my tent. I didn’t want to. I slept in my awesome hammock(HammIck), thanks Mrs. Ott. and the “airport”(super cold), and when half of our stuff was “lost in baggage claim” I slept with Maddy, this super awesome girl who happily shared her stuff with me and let me sleep in her tent with her. God really changed me these 10 days, and I am so glad about it.
#teamredeemed
Towards the end of TC, we got teams. I LOVE MY TEAM SO MUCH!!!!! I was put on an all girls team. Their names are, Ellen, Clara, Erin, Lexii, and Lizzie. These girls are my new sisters and best friends! (we likes each other so much, we are going to move to Costa Rica together (; ) I seriously love them so much it’s crazy. I can’t wait to share the ups and downs with them.
Things I learned
- I actually am a crier
- Regular toilets are the bomb.com
- I am a new person because of God
- A watch is really important
- Baby wipes will save your life
- Where is your note card?
- Bucket showers are okay.. I guess
- Open your eyes
- Abba, I belong to you
- God loves me because He just does
- I love worshiping God(in all the ways, not just music)
- It’s okay to get up and dance
- Sleeping outside is not a huge deal
- I love people no matter how they pronounce “hammock”
- Your past is not who you are, it is a chapter in you book called life
- Without ups and downs in your life, you wouldn’t have beautiful mountains to look at
- I have 42 AMAZING new family members
- Lesley is awesome
- #datejesus
- So are all of the workers at AIM
- This is where God has called me
- My 5 news sisters are the best
- There are probably 20 things I am missing from this list
- God is AWESOME
- I. Can’t. Wait. To. GO!
