Hi everyone! I got back from training camp about 4 days ago and i’m super excited to update y’all on how the Lord worked and all the new info I have! Keep reading if you wanna hear all about my last 10 days in Gainesville, Georgia 🙂
Sooo I left Tally on July 10th and got to the Adventures in Missions base in Georgia with about 300 other future world racers. Pulling up on that first day I was super excited but also way nervous. It takes me a bit longer to come out of my shell than a lot of the people there so my anxiety for sure kicked in. My first impression of training camp the first couple of days was rough. I thought before going in that I could expect it to be like the summer camps I usually go to. I was very wrong. God pushed me wayyyy outside my comfort zone and it was tough. The word I would use to describe my first 2 or 3 days at camp would be uncomfy. We slept in tents that we usually had to pack right back up in the morning. Our showers consisted of filling up a bucket from the hose and dumping it on ourselves. We ate strange foreign food. One night, 20 of us girls slept in a big community tent, laying in rows up and down like sardines. Another night we slept in the “airport”, a room with lights on and sound running all night. We used porta potties all 10 days and I think I sweat more than I have in my entire life. But God was GOOD. So many challenges and obstacles but God remained GOOD. My birthday was on July 13th, 3 days after the beginning of training camp, and there is no doubt in my mind that God knew just what he was doing placing my 18th birthday there. I felt the love and friendship of everyone around me that I wasn’t necessarily feeling the first 2 days of being there. It was a much needed time of realizing my blessings and it showed me how INTENTIONAL our God is. We had amazing worship sessions and awesome speakers. I soaked up so many things that I’m definitely going to need a new journal before I leave. I learned what healthy community looked like. I have the absolute best squad of 47 new friends going with me on this journey and the coolest team of 7 new sisters to walk directly beside me. After the initial uncomfortable and nervous feelings passed it was just straight joy. Joy in the community we built, Joy in the outrageously big spiders on our tents, Joy in the crickets we ate, but most of all, Joy in the Lord. He’s given me this amazing gift of my new best friends and a heart in all of us to serve. This new season of life is about to be crazy wild but after these 10 days at training camp I feel more ready than ever to go and have a heart that says “yes”.
Now I want to introduce my team! My team is made up of 7 amazing girls from my 47 person squad. They are each so rad and I’m so blessed God gave me this specific group of girls.
This is Eliza!
This is Steph!
This is Amber!
This is Alyssa!
This is Grace!
This is Annika!
This is Moriah!
THESE ARE MY GIRLS! I can’t wait to form incredible memories with these ladies and I know the adventures we’re about to have with each other are going to be so so awesome. I’ve known them for 10 days and already know that they’re my sisters. Now I get to live and serve with them for 9 months! I’m super blessed. 🙂
Y’all I move to Asia in 47 days!!! If you’d like to see me or hang out with me before I leave please please reach out! I’d love to hang out! I’m also still fundraising to be able to go out on the field which has been a slow and steady journey so far. If you feel called to donate to me so I can go out on this mission, I would be extremely grateful! Truly any amount helps. You can donate through this blog! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for reading this post and contributing to my world race whether that be financially or through prayers. Your support means everything to me. I’m going to go use my real bathroom now and eat some good American food before I can’t anymore. 🙂 God is intentional people. and He is GOOD.
with love,
Josie
