I sent out a message on the worldrace group facebook page asking if anyone would be willing to carpool with me from Michigan to Gainesville Georgia. I got a reply from a girl named Annie who lived near Indianapolis that she’d be down. My parents decided to drop me off at her house and I was anxiously waiting because I didn’t know what was in store. I spent the night at her house then the next day we got up at 5:45am and left for Georgia.
After driving the whole day from Indianapolis to Gainesville Georgia, We got out of our car, tired and nervous, feeling the full weight of our 40 pound backpacks filled with our clothes, tents and other necessities on our backs.
As I walked down the driveway towards the crowd of world race staff who were sitting around talking and waiting for everyone to arrive, a few doubts entered my mind on whether this was for me or not. We were some of the first people to get there so we had to wait on all the other people coming in. As more and more people came in, I felt anxious if I was going to be accepted by everyone but also excited about meeting and making new friends. We were told to go set up our tents and that’s when everyone really started to come in. I tried talking to everyone seeming as cool as possible so that they would all like me but I kept hearing God say to me “stop trying so hard, you’re accepted here, you’re loved.”
By the second day, all my fears and doubts about whether or not I was going to fit in were completely gone. I felt that I could be myself with everyone here and that they all cared about me.
There are roughly 50 people who are on my squad and I have never met such a fun loving group of individuals. Before praise and worship, we’d have mini dance parties. We joked with each other, had rap freestyle sessions and all shared our stories of how we got here and what our struggles were. Everyone cared for each others needs and showed affection towards one another.
Some days were similar consisting of waking up around 7am, breakfast, praise and worship, free time, lunch, praise and worship, dinner, praise and worship and bed but this wasn’t always what we did. Some days we would do different team training activities, exercising, and seminars. One day all the guys went on a 12 mile man hike in the Appalachian trail (very tiring and sweaty). The food was great also.
Our meals usually consisted of a different array of foods depending on what the theme of the day was. For example one day the theme was Africa, so that whole day we had African style food and all had to eat with our hands off of the same plate. During meals we all had to sit at a table with 8 people and share one plate of food community style.
Some days during our meals we would have to share a portion of food that could feed one person on a regular day with 8 people. This opened my eyes to the reality of people struggling to find enough to eat in the world. It showed me the generosity of other people while struggling because everyone would put others before themselves when there was a small bit of food left and everyone still wanted more. No we weren’t being starved at training camp but I think they would sometimes give us little to show us know that sometimes while on the world race we wouldn’t always be having the American sized portions that we’re used to. There were meals where we were completely full and other meals we were left wanting more.
I think this was one of the main reasons why there were a lot of people who were determined to eat at least one bug in the ten day span of training camp. My friend Isaac said he wanted to eat a bug and no one even questioned him. People were just like “oh cool, maybe I want to eat a bug too”. At first I was a little apprehensive to the idea but as the week progressed I grew more fond of the concept. Fast forward to our squad camp out, Sarah and I caught some crickets, cooked them in tin foil and ate them. Honestly they were not even bad. Seriously I had another cricket that same night and I cooked it in onions and put salt and pepper on it.
Besides eating bugs and feeling hungry, the praise and worship was amazing. There was such an intense love for God during our worship that I was pushed to tears. I was filled with the spirit while praising God and the lessons that we learned were eye opening, ranging from when we hold onto bitterness, it seeps into other areas of our life to God’s grace and mercy. There were lessons on hearing God’s voice and prophesying also. There was a speaker who told of a time when he was giving a sermon, God told him to say the phrase “banana spider”. He was confused and decided not to say it. Still in the middle of his sermon he heard that same voice tell him to say the phrase “banana spider” so he stopped and said “I don’t know why but God told me to say banana spider”, he looked into the crowd and saw that a woman crying. After his sermon he went and talked to the lady asking about what just happened. She told him that her and her mothers code word for when they are in trouble is banana spider and that she was struggling with believing in God. She told her mom that she would totally give up on God unless she heard the code word at a church service.
This story hit me because God talks to us in crazy ways. My doubts and fears were completely taken away during this training camp week. I know without a doubt that this is what God wants to me do and that I am meant to go on this missions trip. I seriously can’t wait to do life with these 50 people I have just met and I know that I can say confidently that these new friends are my new family.
