- Part 1- (Before) Anticipation
Training Camp! The anticipation is giving me a complete mix of feelings. So many questions and thoughts coming into my mind so quickly and yet leaving just as quickly not even giving me time to write them down. One minute feeling excited and another feeling worry. Time fly’s! Thinking back to September when starting this whole process and getting to here is crazy. It seemed so far away at first and then realizing I leave so soon to training camp. Where I will be meeting my entire squad for the first time. Putting names to faces, finding out our teams, meeting everyone who has been emailing me, helping me, and learning what and how to prepare even more now until launch.
Mentally, physically, and emotionally preparing for this was quite the task. Making sure I had all the right gear, shots/vaccines, reaching my first fundraising goal, preparing for the required fitness requirement, and of course packing!
Going through all this and thinking of training camp right around the corner is an exciting one because it’s the start of an amazing journey.
- Part 2- (During) Flexibility is Key
So, at training camp!
What’s going on, what am I doing, what am I learning, how’s it going?
New place, new experience, and new people. I’m already making connections and getting to know my other squad mates. I can already see how great each one of them is. Each one bringing diversity to the squad and being open to teach and learn from each other. There is a type of eagerness and flexibility that were naturally falling into without even knowing. It’s quite amazing!
Participating in some great worship that connects us with the Lord in this unexplainable way where you just feel so free. Where you’re not worried about the people around you and what they’re doing or if their watching you. Feeling comfortable enough to be yourself in the way you truly worship the Lord (letting go). It’s a beautiful thing to see the many different ways to worship!
The teachings we had challenged your thinking and brought questions that I had not thought of before, and learning new things from different cultural perspectives and being reminded of Gods truths and promises. Learning about the different cultural lenses that we can use to help relate to different cultures to connect.
Making connections! I personally do better one on one rather than big group settings. Big groups are very intimidating for me and I tend to hide in these situations. So, this right off the bat was a stretching situation for me. I’m not going to lie it was a little tuff for me to connect with people. Even though I am enjoying very much in getting to know people on my squad. I also realize I’m getting overwhelmed already in this short time. I am weirdly drained and craving time alone. The introvert in me is coming out and is demanding alone time to recharge. Thankfully I got an opportunity to spend some time alone in which helped me recharge. Leading me to have some really good intentional one on one conversations with some of my squad mates.
Again, my time at training camp was a whirlwind of things. A lot of different things learned but it mainly taught me about flexibility. In how to worship, look at scripture, bringing kingdom in a way that is different than what culture shows us, tells us how to do things, and what is expected.
The word that could sum up most of this is FLEXIBILITY!
(Colossians 3:1-25) (Ephesians 4:11-16)
- Part 3- (After) Reflection
Training camp came and went super-fast! I went in originally thinking obviously that I was just going to be learning what we were going to be doing on the field, what to expect, learning about different cultures, and how to connect with them. That was not all…. I learned so much more! I learned so much about myself and things that the Lord showed me that I need to overcome (fear and control), work through, and encouraged me in other areas (to have hope and an open heart). Two words the Lord gave me during my time at training camp was “Radiance” and “Hope”. I can’t wait to see what more is revealed behind these two words.
