What did I get myself into?
As many of you may know, for the past 10 days I attended training camp for my mission trip. Let me say it was undeniably an experience I will never forget! Have you heard the saying “go big or go home?” Well, after day one I wanted to go home. Never in a million years would I have ever thought those words would come into my head and out of my mouth. I thought I was more than ready for the challenge of roughing it for 10 days in a tent and sleeping in a hammock. I was so wrong! It wasn’t just the physical discomfort that was testing me, it was also emotionally and spiritually challenging. (Definitely out of my comfort zone.)
The day arrived: July 25, the first day of training camp. I was stoked to meet everyone and see what the Lord had in store for me. We met at the Atlanta airport where my aunt dropped me off. Little did I know, my squad decided to wear red so we would recognize one another. The squad talked about it on FB for a while and they mentioned it many, many times, but I was too nervous to ask them why we needed a red shirt. I figured it wasn’t that important, so I let it go. My mistake. I walked into the airport wearing a bright purple shirt, approached the wrong squad, and just started talking to the team until their squad leader told me I was in the wrong spot. That was awkward! Eventually I found the right team and all was good. We loaded up to head to camp and I was so ready. When we stepped out of the van, the campsite was hot and humid and it was only 4:00 pm. I didn’t even want to think about what the next 10 days were going to be like! When I had to go to the bathroom my first instinct was to go inside and find one, but that wasn’t the setup. We had port-a-potties. Yes, good ol’ port-a-potties for 10 days. Next we had to set up camp including a tent, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag. I thought to myself, “I’ve got this.” I had practiced putting up the tent, so I’m good. Needless to say, I got so overwhelmed with everything else going on, I drew a blank and forgot how to set up my tent! I had to take a step back and embrace everything that was going on. There I was, out of my comfort zone again. Between the sleeping arrangements, the food and the workouts, it wasn’t easy at the time, but I’m glad I made it through the first night. It was so worth it in the end!
I could go on and on in detail about my trip but I don’t want to put you to sleep! We did so much in 10 days I want to share a couple of experiences that made training camp special to me. First, with the sleeping arrangements—as we had a variety of them:
~Sleeping in a hammock:
I move around a lot when I sleep, so the hammock was almost the death of me. I can’t count the number of times I almost fell out when I was trying to sleep.
~Scenario #1 – Let’s play “someone loses their backpack in the airport.”
In this situation we had to share our tents, keep in mind we had only met one another 24 hours before.
~Scenario #2 – was dropping us off at a campsite with tarps and the instructions: Make it work.
No sleeping gear…just good old tarps.
~Scenario #3 – Sleeping in an airport.
We slept with lights on and relentless talking. Finally, my ability to sleep absolutely anywhere comes in handy!
~My favorite activity was prayer night. One person had to stay up all night and pray.
Eating was certainly different as well. Our meals had themes each day. For example, the first day was Asian. Each table sat eight people and we had one plate for all eight. We rarely had silverware, so most of the time we ate with our hands. That was a fun learning experience! For the first day (as I said Asian theme) we all woke up ready to chow down and have cereal for breakfast. Cereal was not on the menu. Instead we had Pho – one bowl, 8 spoons. That threw me off! I love Pho. I eat it all the time for dinner, just not breakfast. Each day there was a new food and whether I wanted to eat it or not I knew I had to or I would be hungry and grumpy. Generally, I’m a vegetarian, but I have a feeling I won’t be once I get back from the mission. Heck, I had lamb and fish at training camp. I can only image what I’ll eat on the race!
Working out was another fun part of the week. OK, I’m all for getting into shape and all that health and fitness stuff, but I wasn’t ready to go on a two mile hike with my pack on under 40 minutes in the Atlanta weather! That was a struggle. To make it worse, we had to do it in the morning and if you know me I’m NOT a morning person at all. We had to be up almost every morning early and ready for a workout. We also went on a 30-minute run. I thought I was prepared since I ran cross-country in high school. Nope! Even though I had to get up unbelievably early and workout, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I had great company to keep me going. My squad is absolutely the best at encouraging, supporting and relying on each other!
I must be honest, I may have wanted to go home when I first arrived at training camp, but I’m glad I stuck with it and pushed myself through the tough times. I left training camp being closer to God and to my squad, and I got to know myself even better. Sometimes things may be scary and hard and you may not want to do it, but in the end, letting all that go, and in my case roughing it for 10 days, may be just what I need. Training camp, for me, was a push in the right direction.
So, what did I get myself into?
Something wonderful.
Something life-altering.
Something I’ve been longing for…
I can’t wait to start the world race in just a couple of weeks!
