A few days ago, I watched my new squad go home from training camp in Gainesville, Georgia. It was a new experience for me, along with most of training camp.
My experience with training camps started in January 2016 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had only one squad instead of six, we met up in LAX airport less than 48 hours beforehand, and we had already flown across the world together. Needless to say, it involved many new experiences for me.
This training camp involved a few days of squad leader training, meeting my new squad, tenting for 10 days on AIM’s campus in Georgia, and simulating lots of things that I experienced firsthand during my original training/Race. Honestly, it was a little weird, but it was cool. We got through some crazy things.
My new squad is filled with 18-20 year-olds with stories you could never imagine. They are people with every kind of family, every kind of childhood, and every kind of faith. They make up a new view of Christ that I haven’t seen before. Each one of them has a different way of seeing the Lord that is honestly beautiful. They are strong people that can do hard things, and I am PUMPED to spend time “on the field” with them.
Here are a few things I learned/saw:
1. Each person is made in the image of Christ, and that means that I just met 50-something people that give me a different look at who God is.
2. Our squad’s worship (in the way of music) is going to be AWESOME.
3. We can (and will) do hard things.
4. A group of 18-20 year-olds is a lot different than a group of 21-35 year-olds.
5. The Lord has put these specific people on Gap M for a reason, and I am excited to find out why each one of them is here. #greensquaddreaMsquad
6. It’s honestly a lot to think about and prepare for to go back out on the field for 9 months. I’m basically doing the Race again. Haha
7. It rains in Georgia a lot during this time of year.
I would love for you to be able to follow the people on my new squad and read their amazing blogs. They are much better writers than I am. They are incredibly insightful, and they will challenge you with their drive to learn more about God. Check out this link to see the Racers I will be with and to read their blogs!
God is good. Also, I stole that picture of my Racers’ hammocks from the World Race’s instastory… and I’m only a little bit sorry.
