So most of you know I am training camp this week.. This has been a very hard week for me, but the Lord has shown up in amazing ways! They have been telling us a lot about freedom and that we can’t go out and preach freedom to captives when we ourselves are not even free. A lot of people say that the first 30 hours are the hardest, which I now agree with completely. On Monday, after 3 days of intense teaching and “soul searching” they told us we would have 10 minutes to pack our things and get on a bus to go out to the woods to camp. We couldn’t take our tents with us. They gave us a tarp to put over us and a tarp to sleep under and told us to set up camp. There were 60 of us and we all slept together out there. It was pretty fun and I learned a lot of things about my team through it. As we were hiking to the site, I was feeling really down and hopeless about my own spiritual state. I was feeling like I really had nothing to bring to the table and that I really wasn’t capable to doing all these things that are pretty much required of you on a mission trip. Honestly, the first 3 days of camp, I just wanted to leave. I was so overwhelmed and sick of crying, but knew the Lord had some things to deal with me about. So, on this walk, I finally just cried out to Him and He gave me and answer very quickly. He told me that whatever He has called me to, He will work through me. It has nothing to do with how capable I am. I am confident that He has called me to this mission field. He has shown me and given me so much peace about it all. As soon as He spoke those words to me, the depression lifted, and suddenly, I was really happy to be there. I am loving it here, and all the people on our team are such a blessing. I was introduced to my new team yesterday. They are pretty much going to be my family for most, if not all of the race. We are a team of 7 and their names are Austin (the leader), Jordan, Ashley, Alycia, Jessica, and Sarah. We haven’t decided on a team name yet, but I will let everyone know once we do! Thanks everyone for supporting me in so many amazing ways! I truly could not do this without you all! You are all such a blessing to me! See ya’ll soon!! =)
Love,
Karen
