Here we go. I was excited. I was worried. What would they be like? I was nervous. Will I be the youngest? I was eager. I couldn’t wait any longer.
I had been waiting for this time to come for so long that it just seemed like a dream, until I walked into a room of reality. There they all were. My new family. All of us dressed in green for the spirit of the “squad wars.” It was strange at first. Everyone new everyone through social media and yet we didn’t know anyone. Although once everyone had arrived, all of a sudden there was so much movement. We were all greeting people, some of us skipping the awkward handshake and jumping right in for a bear hug. (As for me, it takes a while for me to step out of my comfort zone.)
We had teammates who started conversations immediately and others who waited to be approached. Once everyone introduced themselves, it made things a little easier. We had created a chant immediately that was TOP NOTCH. We were definitely better than all the other squads. Throughout the week I felt as though I had been with these amazing people for years.
I tried to get to know everyone as much as possible. Have at least one conversation with every single person. However, I tried to steer clear of becoming too attached with any one person because I knew there was a high chance I wouldn’t be with them when we were later divided up into small teams.
It was just so inexplicably fun to interact with everyone, especially with the small range of age between 18 and 22 year-olds and high variety of backgrounds. We had people from all over the country plus Canada.
Even with all of our differences and extraordinary personalities, we were strongest when we were all together as one. We went through every challenge together.
Half the team “lost their luggage in the airport” for a day so we each had to share our own belongings with one another.
We camped out in a state park, racing the sun trying to build a stubborn fire to cook food on while squad members passed around snacks making sure everyone had something to eat.
We exercised together right after we woke up at 6 am every morning.
We worshiped together under the stars with just our voices before we’d go to bed.
We slept in communal tents together without complaining.
We danced our feet off and made fools of ourselves together.
We slept on a school bus, moaning and groaning wishing the night would end already.
We all had our share of emotional pain, physical pain, and spiritual pain.
But we conquered the pain and had our share of emotional VICTORY, physical VICTORY, and spiritual VICTORY.
We all got to endure God’s love, His plan for our future and His strength.
We later were divided into smaller teams, each consisting of about 7 people. These were the people we would be living with for the next couple months on our journey. We will know everything about each other: our strengths and our weaknesses; our highs and our lows. Never leaving each other’s sight. We will be challenged to have positive attitudes and reveal all things from the heart: good and bad. We will still join together with the rest of our squad but this team will be the people I will spend most of my time with. It is going to be difficult, however there are no other brothers and sisters of Christ I would rather go with on such an amazing adventure.
We are Soldiers of Christ and we Fight for God’s Glory. And God will be there every step of the way.
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
? John Donne, No Man Is An Island
And that is only a small glimpse of what training camp was like.
