why, you may ask? because that means we are officially out on the field & i am writing to you live from nicaragua! i currently have my hammock hung on the porch & am watching the rain clouds roll in. we arrived in the early morning of june 16 & have gotten the day to rest, regroup & prepare for training these next three days.
what a wild 12 days it has been! on june 4, my mom & i flew to atlanta, GA for parent launch. we said our goodbyes & i headed off to gainesville, GA for 10 days of training camp. throughout TC we were challenged, enlightened, & pushed to begin growing into the people God has called us to be. they put us through different scenarios (like half of our team’s luggage being “lost” in the airport, so we had to figure out how the entire squad could sleep for the night), created space to worship each morning & evening, & brought in speakers to challenge us spiritually & give us more information about what life on the race looks like.
guys!! i have to take a minute to tell you how incredible my squad is! it has been such a blessing getting to know these wonderful human beings & seeing how purposeful God was in placing each of them on this squad. on our fourth night of training camp, we had a campout at our campsite. we cooked our food over the fire, played some campfire games, & then spent time worshipping & sharing whatever was on our heart (encouraging those around us, sharing aspects of our testimony, or talking through information we had learned at TC). we listened, prayed, & learned from 7:30pm-1:30am. 6 hours of intentional community, building each other up, & sharing our fallenness with our new family. what a night! what a group!
our squad of 36 is split into 6 teams. this month our entire squad is together, but in future months the different teams will likely be sent to different ministry hosts in each country. sooooooo meet team vessel: bailey, hannah, mac, kelsy, megan, & me!! we chose the name “vessel” because we want to grow together & become a vessel of God’s love to those we interact with. while we may not be able to speak the same language or even value the same things in life, we can come together with new friends & cultures & show them what the christian faith is truly all about: love. i can already tell that these gals are going to be pretty special in my life. we have hit it off very well & are looking forward to getting to know each other even more.
overall, training camp was pretty overwhelming, but in a good way. a lot of information & it all kind of hit you like a fire hose, but it was so good! the Lord has spoken words of encouragement to me, while also calling me to work on different aspects of my life. overall, i am learning to trust and listen. how can i give up control of my life and lower myself so that i can raise God up? God is already as high as he can be, so if i want to raise his name, i have to make myself lower.
wow, i am even more excited to begin this journey than i was 12 days ago. prayers for nicaragua & REAP Granada (our ministry host for the month) would be much appreciated. also, prayers for the last little bit of fundraising to come in. i have between $2,000-3,000 more to raise by september.
my squadmate made a vlog about training camp. so, if you’re interested in seeing more, check it out: https://youtu.be/hVewB5eKM0c
thanks for reading & i can’t wait to keep you updated on all God has in store for nicaragua!!
love ya
mads
