I have not had many dreams in my life that seemed unrealistic or unachievable. At the time, this dream seemed like it was too big for me. It was too adventurous or it would take too much time away from the life I was supposed to be living. It definitely did not fit into what I thought my life would look like.
Graduate high school: Check
Get into college: Check
Graduate in four years: Check
Find an amazing job: ummm
Get married: double ummm
Start a family: refer to the first two ummms
In my mind, taking a year off to do missions didn’t make sense to me or to the world around me. Thankfully, it made sense to the Lord.
This dream actually started to feel real at training camp. There is no way that I could communicate all of the wonderful and beautiful things that happened in the very small town of Gainesville, GA.
First, I got to meet a new family. I put 50 faces to 50 names, and I saw the amazing hearts behind them. People have asked me if I knew anyone going with me. Before training camp the answer was now, but now it is a resounding yes. I am so blessed by the people the Lord handpicked to be on this route and on my team. I wish that I could tell you about all of them, but that would be a really long blog that no one would want to read. I will tell you about my team, Nos Amis. Our team name is French for “our friends”. We are six people, ready and willing to serve in Cote d’Ivoire together. We are a pretty good-looking bunch if I do say so myself.
Second, I got to experience life with the Lord in ways that I hadn’t before. AIM is intentional with every decision that is made regarding the World Race. That is one of the thing I love about the organization. They know that a yearlong commitment to ministry is huge. They know it comes with struggle and spiritual warfare. They know it comes with breakthrough and community. A big part of training camp is getting you spiritually ready to go into full time ministry. Y’all, the Lord showed up. I felt completely loved and cared for. Some of you may know that I struggle with feeling like I am enough. Again and again over those eleven days I was reminded that I am enough and challenged to walk in the freedom of knowing exactly who I am. There were a lot of tears. Some were joyful and others, not so much, but they were all a sign of how loved I am by my Father.
Third, training camp got real practical. I slept in my tent, in an “airport”, and under a tarp. I ate meals from all over the world. French fries for breakfast came courtesy of Africa. We ate every meal family style and sometimes they gave us silverware. We did fitness tests and worked through real life race scenarios. Let me just say that if one of my teammates is unable to move I can totally carry them up a mountain if necessary. There were countless dance parties and great conversations. I found out that one of my squad mates is willing to do some crazy things for a piece of pizza. We talked about visas and shots and learned how best to navigate the market scene.We got to see what life might look like on the race.
The verdict? I am so ready to start this adventure. I am ready to live life with these amazing new friends. All that being said, WE HAVE A ROUTE CHANGE! Things like this can happen even after we go out on the field so flexibility is key. Because of some extenuating circumstances we will no longer be going to Burkina Faso. We will now spend our first TWO months in Africa and our next FIVE months in Asia. To replace Burkina Faso they added a split country to our race. That means half of my squad will go to Laos and the other half will go to Burma/Myanmar.
Last thing I promise. I have a fundraising update! I am $5,473 away from being fully funded! Praise the Lord! Keep on the lookout for my final fundraiser.
