As the week began we headed to our first of many worship and teaching lessons with some incredible speakers and worship leaders. My excitement for the week was immediately increased as i was surrounded by so many wonderful people that i had already began to love.
Our time of worship and preaching had come to an end and before we exited the room, a card was given to 1 squad member to read to the rest of us before bedtime. See heres the deal, there was no schedule. There was no agenda. For all you future racers out there that love knowing every single detail well you might as well just drop that expectation. Matter of fact, just drop ALL of your expectations because they will most certainly not be met.
The beautiful thing is though, if we are set on thinking that certain things must happen to satisfy us then we have already missed the point because God has so much more laid out for us if we would just trust Him.
Now back to the card. As my squad mate began to read off what was on the card my excitement began to dwindle when i heard him say that we had to have everything packed up by 7 AM (tent and all). Alright so that wasnt the best news that i had heard all day but i embraced it.
I had read many blogs leading up to training camp that had stressed “don’t miss opportunities to bond with others if that means losing sleep” I took this to heart and that first night B-squad had built a big campfire so i made my way up to the mass of people surrounding the fire trying to get warm. I did my best to converse with every person that i could and i quickly learned that the most frequent question of the week would be “How did you come about going on the race?” I loved answering that question and also hearing everyone elses stories. It was so encouraging to hear the many different answers.
There was one guy in particular, Seth. This guy was so awesome in listening to my testimony on how i heard about the race. I returned the favor and listened to him tell his story and then Seth, a complete stranger at the time asked if he could pray for me before he went to bed. (seriously?) I absolutely agreed to that and from that prayer we immediately had an incredible bond that i know for a fact that will last a lifetime. I knew then that i was exactly where God wanted me to be and this week was going to be a special one.
The next morning arrived and we packed up all our stuff and went for a 30 minute hike and it was quickly realized by the majority of us that we all had packed too much. Lesson 1 learned. PACK LESS. Seriously, you can survive on less. We concluded our hike and luckily for the rest of the week we never had to do that again. Praise Jesus haha.
The rest of the week was filled with multiple sessions of teaching and worship that were just incredible. Ron Walborn and Rob Reimer were the two guest speakers that did the majority of the speaking and they were amazing. They departed on tuesday and the remainder of the week were filled with alot of useful information from staff members of AIM.
The last few days of camp we participated in many team building exercises that were filled with practical scenarios that required us to work together and use our heads. After each exercise we had one on one conversations with our trainers and they asked us how we think it went, who could you work best with on a team, etc. It was very difficult because i had grown to love everyone of my fellow squad mates.
On thursday during our last exercise, it became evident that this could end up being our team so the excitement was growing rapidly. When we asked if that was our team they said no and we were so confused. After sitting around for a while very nervous, we all gathered back up together and it was the moment we had been waiting for. Teams were announced and it turned out that we did have the same fellow teammates that we had in our last exercise. I was so excited!!!
After a long and grueling week where i was stretched tremendously, we finally learned who we would live life with for the next year. I was so relieved and i seriously cant wait till we launch in a couple of months. This seriously was a week to remember. Thanks for all those who have prayed and supported me thus far, i have felt every bit of it. Confidence was a word that resonated with me all week and after such a wonderful time i am confident in every part of the year to come.
Without further a due, meet my team.
Brooklyn, Alyssha, Zach, Kathryn, Jonny, and Elaine.
