I survived.
Rewind to July 8th, 2016. Imagine a tan Jenna Watson who just got off a flight from the beach in North Carolina. I had arrived in the ATL airport (which by the way is MASSIVE) and I made my way to find some of the people I would be spending a year with. There they were. A huge chunk of people who flew in to get trained on how to travel the world together. There were tons of introductions and small talk and then we left the massive airport for our home away from home for the next 10 days… Gainesville, Georgia.
I felt giddy and excited while I talked to my first friend Teagan on the bus over. I felt like I was getting to go to a camp JUST LIKE the Parent Trap. We got there, met more people, pulled our massive bags with our tents out of the stack of packs and sent up camp in the middle of a parking lot. It was a sea of tents and small talk. Everyone was giddy and expectant for what was to come. What we didn’t expect were the challenges that we would face but the joy and growth that came from these challenges.
Challenges:
1. Bucket showers. Yes. Showering with buckets. Needless to say, I took four showers. I was there 10 days. I smelled SO BAD but so did everyone else.
2. Bathroom=porta potty. 10 days. 300 people. Porta potties.
3. Community style eating. 8 people. One large plate of food. Sometimes utensils, sometimes using your fingers. The first few days you usually left feeling slightly hungry still but thankful for the food. There was usually always cheering when people brought the food. Eating was my favorite part about camp. One day we ever GOT A COOKIE!
4. We had to do a 3 mile hike under 50 minutes with our MASSIVE packs on! That was a huge challenge, too! But my team and I did it in 42 minutes! YAHOO!
5. One night we had to sleep like we were in an airport. They transformed a room before our eyes to an airport. The room even came with LOOOOOUD sounds of people talking, airport noises, and the occasional taking off of an airplane ALL NIGHT LONG. They also knocked down the AC so it was so cold and kept the lights on. I slept like a baby. Don’t know how. I think it was the one earplug that I had. I lost the other one about 30 minutes into sleeping.
6. One night (my favorite night) they kicked us out of camp and took us to a campsite close to the lake! We had to make our own shelter out of tarps (shoutout to the brains behind our home for the night) and we had to cook our food on the fire (EXTRA shoutout to the people who were able to cook… we all know that we would’ve died if I had to) It did rain SLIGHTLY but we all survived and had a blast.
7. One night we had to squeeze 10 people into one large tent WITH all our junk. That was interesting but once again I slept like a baby.
8. We had a pretend market where we had to bargain for our food. This scenario made me realize how spacey I really am. I got lost from the group many times. Im considering purchasing one of those kid leashes for myself.
9. We had to share a tent a few times. That wasn’t too bad for me. Once again I slept like a baby. I only slept talked once to poor Emily. She was a champ.
10. Being away from my parents for 10 days was really a HUGE challenge for me. I had already been gone 8 days before that at the beach and then the 10 days really hit me that it was going to be 18 days PLUS 10 and a half more months. I cried multiple times the first three days because I was so homesick and missing my family. I bought my dad a coffee mug for Father’s Day and had to hide it in my backpack because I cried every time I saw it. This realization that I am not going to see my family or friends for a year is still a massive challenge for me. My parents and friends are being ROCKSTARS right now but it still doesn’t make it easier.
11. Another challenge were the talks. I took PAGES of notes from the talks that just slapped you in the face. They were challenging in their own ways. The first three days were the hardest talks. They talked a lot about forgiveness, shame and how to work through that. They challenged us to think about these things and share with others on our team. It really made me dig deep into the community that was there with me which made me get so much closer to the people I will be spending a year with. We all cried a ton that week. We laughed a lot, too. We shared stories about our families and friends. We talked about what we were going to miss and what we were excited for. We became very close and I am excited to see how much closer we can all get.
Things to clear up now that I know for myself, too.
1. Squads= the people you will travel to each country with. In August, there will be 6 squads launching (about 300 people) to all over the world. My squad goes on the same route as me. We are K squad and there are 49 (I think that’s the right number) of us.
2. Teams= our team is made up of 7 people! We travel to the villages with these people and do ministry at a certain ministry site. At the end of the month, the squads meet back together and travel to the next country. The teams may change throughout the 11 months.
3. Do you know how hard it is to pack for a year? Yah. I learned all about that during training camp. AND it stinks always having to deflate your mattress pad but SO WORTH having.
4. There are things in the world called COMPRESSION SACKS that are going to save my life… and allow me to bring more clothes on the trip.
5. I will not have my phone/technology for the first six weeks so I can get adjusted to life abroad AND dig deep into my community. I am nervous for this but also SO EXCITED!
6. I am the treasure for my team. LOLZ I know but I also know that I can do it! And I am sure that I am going to have to give myself a lot of grace.
7. OH! Fun fact! I can set up a tent with my eyes closed! (WITH THE HELP OF MY TEAMMATES) I bet by the end of the trip we will all be pros.
Man. This will be an adventure.
At training camp, I quickly realized that there were great things that happened and challenges but overall how could I question if God was going to work over the year or not. He was already working in my teammates and my life. I cannot imagine what He has in store over the next year. There are 49 of us with 49 stories that are going on the race together. We were all different and excited. Can you imagine 49 different people from different backgrounds all being united under one mission: to share the love of Christ to others? How amazing is that. We have a yes in our hearts of going and telling others and we are SO excited for that! There is still a worry, anticipation, already feeling homesick and I haven’t even left yet, etc. I know that there will be good times and hard times but MAN am I excited to go through these things with my amazing team.
