Get the 411 on all things Training Camp!

I can’t believe how fast 10 days of training camp flew by and I’ve already been home for a week. I also can’t believe how much I learned in that short amount of time. I’m going to be doing 2 blog posts about training camp, one about the things I learned/experienced with the World Race itself, and another with what I learned about my walk with Christ. This one is about the World Race. 

 

Sleeping Arrangements

Almost every night we slept in our tents at a campsite with the whole squad. Learning to sleep on a skinny sleeping pad in a sleeping bag took some getting used to. We also had different scenarios some nights. On night two they separated our packs, half on one tarp, half on the other. Then we were told that half of our bags had gotten “lost at the airport”. So, for the night half of my squad and I had nothing. Luckily, our other squadmates were very generous and let us tentless people sleep with them (shout out to Emily Ann for sharing!). We also did a night of community living. 12 of the girls from my squad slept in one giant tent. It was a tight fit but a great way to bond with the girls from my squad. Finally, we slept in an “airport” one night. This “airport” was the loudest I’ve ever been to and had announcements going all night long. I’ve now learned I will need noise cancelling headphones for all of my long layovers.

My “home” for 10 days, and possibly 11 months.

I didn’t have a toothbrush when my pack got taken, so I had to improvise.

 

Country Food/Dress

Each day had a different country assigned to it. That meant we ate food authentic to that country and dressed within their cultural dress code. We ate with chopsticks in Asia, ate Ugali with our hands in Africa, and even ate crickets on our “adventure day”. 

Eating breakfast with chopsticks in Asia.

Eating Ugali with our hands in Africa.

 

The Hike

If you know me, then you know I do not enjoy physical activity. I started swimming when I was younger because I hated running and there’s no running in swim team. So when I found out we had to do a 2.2 mile hike, with our huge packs on, in under 38 minutes, I was nervous. And then I saw the hilly track and I wanted to cry. Running downhill on gravel with a pack on is very hard on the ankles. Even though I hated every second of it (especially the running), my entire team made it in time! Praise Jesus!

Here we are all gross and sweaty after the hike.

 

Women’s Day

One of the days all of the men from each squad went on an even longer hike to do some “manistry”, so we had Women’s Day at camp. I learned so much about powerful and God fearing women from the Bible. There was also a physical element to our day. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but everyone from my squad had to do about 130 squats, 80 pushups, and 75 burpees. Then we had to build a giant tent and all get in and take a picture. I was sore for days after, but the encouragement the women on my squad gave each other and the bond that we all now have was worth it.

All the women from my squad in the giant tent.

 

Team Assignments

My squad consists of 24 amazing people. My squad will be in the same country each month, but not all of us will be together. We were split into 4 smaller teams of 6. To help make the best teams possible, our squad leaders and mentors split us up  throughout the week and had us do team building tasks. The 2nd day of team building I was put in an all girls team that worked incredibly well together. Then I was put in the exact same team the next day. So, none of us were surprised when we got put into a team together. I’m so blessed and thankful to have Sarah, Frieda, Fabienne, Aryne, and Emily Ann beside me for the next year and I know I will learn so much from them. (if you want to check them out, their blogs are listed on the lefthand side of my site!) Our team is named Agape Vita. Agape is Greek and was used in the Bible to describe God’s love. Vita means life in Latin. So, we are aiming to live the next 11 months loving like God. 

One of our team building exercises.

Agape Vita

 

Squad Wars

On the last day of training camp all 5 squads competed in squad wars. We had been doing different tasks as a squad before training camp to earn points, and my squad (L squad) was in dead last. Like 1000 points behind, dead last. After an interesting dance battle between the squads, L squad dominated in dodgeball and this weird game that involved leap frog and bowls full of flour and marshmallows. We came from last place and ended up in 3rd! So proud to be an L squad member for life.

Our squad color was orange in case you couldn’t tell.

I’m so thankful for the past 10 days for giving me this amazing squad full of such beautiful people. I can’t wait to do the next 11 months with them and see how God uses each of them for His glory.