Last Thursday, the June team (my team) and September team met in Gainesville, GA for a week of training. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. I was nervous about meeting my team, who I knew would become my family for the next year. I was nervous about our living conditions, seeing as how this was my first time camping. I was nervous that God would break me, even though I knew that’s exactly what I needed. Looking back, there is no way that I can possibly sum up my whole experience last week other than by calling it phenomenal.
During th first half of the week, our days were filled with lectures & practice sessions on prayer, ministry, brokenness, listening to God, church planting, and learning about various cultures of the world. We spent many hours in the Word and praying with and for each other. The second half of the week was more focused on team building through various exercises, both physically and emotionally.
The people on my team are some of the most amazing and fun people I have ever met. Each and every person is so full of God’s love and willing to share it with everyone around them. Everyone was ready to make themselves completely vulnerable in order to be broken by God. I feel like our team bonded so quickly and easily in the short time that we were with each other.
At a bonfire one evening, we all started opening up about our fears of the trip. Almost every fear listed revolved around the question “what if…?”
What if something happens to my family while I’m gone? What if I lose touch with my friends? What if I can’t handle what I will see and experience? Ben, who was in charge of leading our training camp, challenged us to take our “what if” fears, and change the focus to
“What if we were great??” I realized that so often we focus on the negative that we forget how much we are capable of doing with God.
What if we lead our family closer to Christ though our obedience to God? What if we were able to change the lives of people around the world? What if we stopped being scared?
I am so incredibly excited to start this trip!! God is going to do some crazy, awesome things through us. 52 days until we leave!
Here are a few pictures from the week:
the tents that we lived in
warming ourselves with leftover baked potatoes (it was freezing the whole week!)
warm bonfire
practicing one of our ministry skits (these are called “drimes”= drama/mime)
Elizabeth and I trying to keep warm one night (it didn’t work.)
the Red/Orange team (not my final team)
