Training Camp. Wow. So much that happened with few words to describe it. A phrase we heard often and could sum up the week: Expect no expectations. The planner in me cringes at that thought, but I’ve learned to embrace it!
I’ll try my best to paint the picture of my week at camp, but making no promises you’ll fully understand how incredible it was.
FOOD FOR THE WEEK:
Day One: Sub for dinner after arrival
Day Two: Asia- Cold noodles, cold noodles, & white fish with cole slaw
Day Three: Europe- biscuits and jam, sausage and potatoes, Beef Stroganoff
Day Four: Africa- Cold french fries and boiled eggs, corn mush and spinach leaves, raw chicken to cook as a squad at our campout
Day Five: Central America- Enchiladas, Tacos, World Market set-up to buy whatever we wanted (we got to choose from the leftovers of previous days food)
Day Six: India-Egg stuff with sausage and curry in it? (Cliff bar courtesy of Candace so I wouldn’t starve), Team outing for dinner-Longhorns, Publix & Starbucks!
Day Seven: America!- Egg/Sausage casserole, Hamburgers,
Total weight loss during Training Camp: 6 Pounds!
Day 1 (Saturday-Arrival): The ride down was full of expectations, excitement, anxiety, nervousness- like the first day back at grade school. Am I going to make friends? Will they think I’m weird? How am I going to jump into striking up a conversation with a perfect stranger? I usually have to warm up to the crowd before jumping in, but there was no time for that here.
Naomi (my awesome carpool buddy) and I pulled up into the jumbled mess of what they called parking, and literally as soon as my feet hit the Georgia mud I instantly made a connection with a girl from my squad. Ha, that wasn’t so bad! It was a sign from God that I’d be okay. We jumped in head first, putting our sorority recruitment faces on and talking to complete strangers. I’m glad I did because the people I started to meet were incredible. From everywhere around the country…and even Canada 🙂 People from similar backgrounds and people from not so similar backgrounds. We were all there for the same reason. We had all been called there to go on this incredible journey and we were going to do it together.
We pitched our tents and got settled, only soon afterwards being told we had to have everything packed up the next morning by 7am. You can imagine the look I wanted to show on my face. I am not a morning person, and I wouldn’t mind not having to talk to anyone before 10am…That, also, will have to change.
Day Two (Sunday): The next morning I woke up, after an awful nights sleep on the freezing cold ground, and I remember sitting there in my sleeping bag thinking, “There’s no way. I can’t do this. How did I think I could do this?” Grumpy, cold, and tired we learned of our first exercise assignment…Take a 30 minute hike…with your pack and daypack on. Needless to say, I will be taking HALF of what I took to training camp on the race.
The next couple of days (Sunday/Monday) were full of great sessions taught by Ron Walborn (Dean, Alliance Theological Seminary) He talked about Bounded Set vs. Centered Set: Freedom from Religion, Spiritual Formation- 1 Corinthians 3:17-18, Letting Walls Down, “Real Christians” & “Good Christians”, Do’s & Don’ts of bounded set religion, embracing your relationship with the Lord, the discipline of honesty James 5:16, Grieving the Seasons, Pre-Regeneration/Regeneration John 6:44, 1 Thess 5:23-24, 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, empowerment in the Lord- Luke 4:17-19, John 20:22, Acts 1-2, 4:31, 8:14-17, Discovering Spiritual Instincts: Trying to connect with God in a way you are wired to- (Aesthetic Instinct, The Experiential, The Activist, Contemplative, The Student, The Relational, The Naturalist)
I highly recommend downloading some of his stuff from iTunes or at www.180church.tv/ron Some awesome stuff!
In the afternoon (Sunday), we were told to choose a partner. Then that partner’s luggage was “lost” in the African airport. Not the best news we could have heard after a long, cold, and wet day. I had an awesome partner, Candace, who tried to make the best of it even though she couldn’t get to her stuff for a whole 24 hours. I know God chose the right person to have their stuff taken, because, honestly, if I would of had my stuff “lost” I would of had a mental/emotional breakdown on spot.
That night we tried to split up my belongings as best we could, but there’s only so much we could do with one of everything. I got my sleeping bag and sleeping pad and Candace used my pillow, hammock to wrap up in, and sleeping bag sheet. A few hours into the night, we are both yin-yanged on my sleeping pad and shivering into the sleepless night. When we “woke up” the next morning this is how our conversation went- Candace: “I don’t think I ever fell asleep.” Me: “Yeahhhhh, me either. This sucks.” After packing up all my stuff by 7am, we then had to go on a 30 minute run. (I can laugh about all of this now)
I will admit, the first couple of days were miserable. It was freezing, it rained, my shoes were wet and my feet were pruney. Ew. I was questioning why I was there. What was I doing? Could I even do this? Am I suppose to be here? Am I the only one feeling this way? At Monday night’s worship, I gave everything up to Him and I prayed, and prayed, and prayed for an attitude change and to have some confirmation that I was suppose to be there. He gave it to me. When I woke up on the fourth day, everything had changed. I felt so renewed and ready to go! Not all my questions were answered, but there was a sense of peace that made me not even worry or question.
Day Four: After some team building that morning, I was told by one of our leaders that I needed to met at the main hall at noon for a “leadership activity”. Huh? A leadership activity? Me? That’s weird. I was surprised and anxious to see what this meant. Here goes the questions again. Why me? I haven’t done anything since I got here to make me stand out. Was this a test? But why a test? What makes them think I’ll be a good leader? Let’s just say I was a little on the confused side.
My “leadership activity” consisted of two other of my squad mates (John & Summer) and me planning a campout for our whole squad. This was exciting! I’m a planner. I could do this. We were guided to the location deep in the woods of where we’d be sleeping that night. Under the stars. No tents. Starting our own fire. Cooking our own dinner. Sleeping with the bugs. This could have gone one of two ways. We could roll our eyes, stomp our feet and take the leadership role to our heads -OR- We could put on our leadership panties, put a smile on our faces, and exude positive attitudes towards our squad mates when delivering the news about that nights sleeping arrangements. We chose the second option.
Once we hiked out to our campsite for the night, the squad got to work starting the fire, preparing the food, and setting up camp for the night. Luckily we have a certified chef (Myles) on our squad who can prepare a mean pineapple chicken. Although we had to wait about 4 hours to eat, it was definitely worth the wait! While we waited for the food to get done, we did a few squad activities to get to know each other better and had worship around the campfire. Despite the creepy looking critters, the strange noises, and the scorpions crawling on everyones sleeping bags, I think everyone had a pretty good time!
Day Five/Six: Wednesday and Thursday were full of team activities and team formations. They were putting us in situations with different people to see how we worked together. Some groups were a piece of cake, while others, were hair pulling frustrating. Some groups, I was the voice, other groups, I completely shut down. These team formation activities would eventually lead to our final team for the first few months of the race.
Day Six: Thursday afternoon we were put into a team formation and were told that this was going to be our final team unless they felt a need to change it after the activity. I think this came as a surprise to my team. There were some opposite emotions and questions as to why they put us 6 girls together, but ultimately this was in the hands of God and this is something they had been praying about all week. So i trusted our leaders.
Later that day, I was pulled aside along with 6 other of my squad mates. We met in a cabin with all the other squads chosen 7, where Bill Swan went on to tell us that we were chosen to be our squads team leaders. I’m not the kind of person who would ever volunteer for a leadership role. If they would of asked my team, “Who here wants to be team leader?” My hand would of never went up. Not because I don’t think I could do the job, but because maybe someone else would do a better job. I didn’t campaign for this position. Our squad leaders thought, talked and prayed about it and believed I would do a good job. My squad mates voiced to our leaders that they would be able to follow me, so why am I doubting myself as a leader?
I am humbled by this position and will give my best to my team. There will be those moments of doubt, but I know that I was chosen to lead this team because it is what they need for this season. I am prepared for the ups and downs of what leadership has and I am excited to see what I gain from it. I want to exude positivity to my team because we are all here for the same reason: to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to love on those around us. To spread the excitement and joy we have because we know our Savior. A Savior who is bigger than any fears, tears, disappointments, or mistakes. A God of all creation. A God who can make blind men see and lame men walk. A God who loves his children and wants a relationship with us. We’re all here because we know Him and want to spread the good news. I am excited to see what my team will do through Him on the race. He will use us in ways we can’t even imagine right now.
TEAM GLADIATORS:
We wanted a name that sounded masculine, since we are a team of all girls. I think Gladiators was literally the first name tossed out there and it stuck!
Gladiator: Someone who is armed with a sword or weapon to fight to the death. -Okay, so that’s a little extreme right? BUT makes sense if we are talking about going out and fighting for the Lord. Putting on our armor of God to face any schemes or struggles we are faced with. We are armed with our swords (The Spirit-the word of God) and will do our best to conquer the hearts and souls of the people we encounter through the name of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 6:10-18
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Myself- Nashville, TN
Amanda Patchin- Boise, Idaho, http://amandapatchin.theworldrace.org
Lindsay Westerfield- Baton Rouge, Louisiana, http://lindsaywesterfield.theworldrace.org
Lindsay Sherburn- Mishawaka, Indiana, http://lindsaysherburn.theworldrace.org
Naomi Demmon- Davenport, Iowa, http://naomidemmon.theworldrace.org
LeAnn Wright- Waynesburg, Kentucky, http://leannwright.theworldrace.org
After we found out our final teams on Thursday afternoon, we got to have free time off campus! The first time all week. It was amazing. We went to LongHorn Steakhouse and ordered a feast for kings. Appetizers, main courses, and four…yes four…desserts. We didn’t stop there. We hit up the local Publix to grab a few snacks/drinks we had missed out on all week. Then went over to Starbucks to get coffee since we had been deprived of it all week 🙂 You would have thought we hadn’t ate for weeks.
Worship that night was incredible. There was singing, shouting, dancing, crying, laughing. The atmosphere was like no other I’d ever experienced before. It was contagious. You could probably see the joy illuminating from that pavilion from outer space. It was fun. Worship was fun and exciting. The Holy Spirit was moving throughout that whole place. I felt like I could run a marathon. I wish you could have been there.
Day Seven: Our final full day at camp. Where did the time go? I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay another week! Even with the not so awesome food and strenuous group activities and exercises. BUT today was squad wars and boy were we ready to take it on! I had never felt so good in orange. Geared up and pumped up we headed to the pavilion to destroy the competition! There were dance offs, lemon eating and egg smashing games, and the passing of the orange.
We went into squad wars dead last. And when I say dead last…I mean, we had 150 points compared to everyone else 1,000+ points. But somehow we rose to the occasion and we WON SQUAD WARS!!! What do winners do? Obviously, we run and jump in the freezing lake!
Last Day (Departure): Although we were all exhausted and missed home, we were all sad to leave. We had become family with perfect strangers in just seven days. We had formed bonds and experienced this week together. Bitter sweet since we will all be reunited in just one month to embark on this incredible journey together. There’s no telling what we’ll do, what we’ll see, or what we’ll learn. Our worlds will be turned upside down and we will learn so much. And we’ll be doing it together. These people will be my family for a lifetime.
I’m excited to say that I am SO ready to leave in July. I’m ready to embark on this incredible journey God has laid out for me and I can’t wait to share it with such amazing people.
A worship song that we sang almost every night and one that can put my thoughts and prayers into words is “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United. It’s a song so powerful, it brought me to tears each time we sang it. It calms the fears and the anxieties that I may have about leaving in a month and brings peace to my soul.
Verse #1
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown, where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep, my faith will stand
Chorus:
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours, and You are mine
Verse #2
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed, and You won’t start now
Chorus:
So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours, and You are mine
Bridge:
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior x 7
Ending:
I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours, and You are mine
I am Yours, and You are mine
I am Yours, and You are mine
I am Yours, and You are mine
