If you ask me how Training Camp was, you’ll probably get a response that sounds something like “crazy”, “incredible”, “awesome”, “so good”, or all of the above strung together…
It’s really hard to put into words what happened last week.
Training Camp was a week (July 12-19) in the red clay of Gainesville, Georgia to prepare for the 11 month journey ahead of us. Anddd that’s pretty much all we were told going into it…
So much happened last week and I came out of it even more excited to embark on this 11 month adventure, more in love with a group of 38 people than I thought was possible, more free to be who I am, and more desiring of intimacy with our God than ever before.
We packed up our tent and/or sleeping gear every day by 7am.
We took the occasional cold bucket shower. (or counted jumping in a lake with our shampoo as clean enough…)
We were given a different sleeping scenario each night…for example one night half of our bags were “lost by the airline” so we shared one bag, one tent, one sleeping bag etc. between 2 people and one night we all slept on a parked bus.
We processed through grief and wounds in our own life and let the Lord in.
We attacked lies we believe about ourselves and replaced them with truth.
We ate food from a different country/continent each day in their manners. That meant that one day, for example, there were 8 dirty hands digging into a shared platter of rice and curry, no utensils provided.
We learned to be present, to not be consumed by what is happening next or what is going on at home, but to fully be in the right here and right now. Phones stayed off and we were never told a weekly schedule or even a daily schedule.
We cried a lot. We hurt and we rejoiced.
We learned to listen for the Lord’s voice and we spoke truth into each other’s lives.
We laughed, danced, and sang.
We gained wisdom from and felt loved by squad coaches, mentors, trainers, and leaders.
We completed team formation exercises and were assigned to our teams of 6-7 people. (another post coming soon about my team!)
We pursued God to a new depth and experienced Him in a new way.
We went from being strangers to a family.
Worlds were shaken, walls were torn down, hope was restored, and excitement was sparked. God is moving and, boy, it is a beautiful thing to be part of.
Training Camp really was “crazy”, “incredible”, “awesome”, and “so good” but it was also challenging, exhausting, eye-opening, stretching, refreshing, emotional, nerve-racking, encouraging, powerful, and so so much more.
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