I don’t even know where to begin with this blog post. I just got back from an amazing 1.5 weeks in Gainsville Georgia. I saw God do many incredible things. He is Simply Amazing!
I started off the first few days by going on a hike with 30 or so men from all different squads. I got to meet 4 other of my squad mates that I will be spending the next year with. We hiked around 10 miles the first day, camped and then hiked about 10 more miles the next day. (Sorry to all my fellow Canadians for using the Imperial System. I had to conform for my time down there in order to communicate properly) (But I realized that I and the other Canadians on the WR have an upper hand because every country in the World except for ‘merica uses Metric and they will have to conform to us)
At about 8 Miles in on the first day it started to rain. I was cold, tired, sore, and wet. This got me thinking about how much I love adventure. Here I was, somewhere in Georgia, hiking in hills I have never seen, with people I barely knew, getting rained on while pushing through to get to our campsite to where we made a fire and cooked meat and veggies, and then slept in a tent with a “stranger” whom I just met the day before. Talk about adventure. I loved every minute of it. Even though I was wet and exhausted, I chose to rejoice in the trial and push through. This was soon to become a common theme throughout training camp. Rejoice and push through.
After the hike we got back to the Adventures in Missions (AIM) base. We then got to meet a bunch of the females on our squad. The ratio of girls to guys is about a 5:1. There are 55 people on my squad and 9 of which are males. If you are doing the math, 5:1 = A whole lot of Estrogen. This was stretching for me because I have always been around mostly males. My household has 4 males and 2 females. My church and youth group was mainly males. Even my Bible College was 2/3 males. So coming into a place spending a week with 5:1 was a whole new experience for me. The picture below says it all.
But in all seriousness, I know that God’s timing is perfect and that He has placed me in an environment surrounded by females for a reason. I may not fully understand what that reason is right now, but I am sure I will know by the end of this crazy journey. For now I will embrace the estrogen and grow my beard a little longer to compensate.
So during Training Camp we had a lot of teaching on various things such as the Holy Spirit, traveling, blogging, social media, hearing God’s voice, missions, and a whole lot more. We also had a lot of practical exercises to prepare us for the race. One night we stayed in an air conditioned room with loud airport sounds to simulate staying overnight in an airport. This ended up coming in handy because on the way home I had an over night layover in Edmonton. For our meals we had a different continent theme every day. My favorite day was Europe. Out of my 11 countries I will be spending 2 months in Europe in Latvia and Estonia. So I am excited for that.
On the last few days of Training Camp we got put into different teams to see who we work best with and who we don’t. They also used personality tests to help determine this. I was really impressed with AIM’s process in choosing teams. They pray about these decisions and take them very serious knowing that it will determine who we will live with for the 11 months on the field. On my team there are 3 men and 4 women. I am waiting in eager expectation to spend the next chapter of my life with these 6 other people. I cannot wait to see how God uses us together.
Our team name is “Water Fetchers”. It comes from 2 Samuel 23:14-17. We are God’s mighty warriors who are going into enemy territory to take back what the enemy stole (water=God’s children). We are fearless and obedient. We will risk our lives to bring water back to our King.
Another cool thing about this verse is that there are 3 men on the team. Here is a picture of all of us.
I am excited for 2015 and all that God has in store for us. My prayer is that I would be focused on the here and now and live each day as if it were my last. I want to get to the end of the day and say “Today is a good day to die”. I don’t want to live in the future. I want to live in the now and take hold of that which God has placed right in front of Me. I need help to do this. Please be praying for my team and I as we live the Kingdom of God. Because His Kingdom work doesn’t start for us in January. It began when we entered into a relationship with Him. Pray that we continually grow closer to Him each and every day. Thank you and God bless!
Ps. The “stranger” that I shared a tent with on the man hike is Scott. He is the one right beside me in this last pic. He is no longer a “stranger”. He is now my teammate and awesome friend!
