People have been asking me, “How was training?”
I’ll quote Ashley (one of my teammates) who she said training was, “…a million different things rolled into ten dynamic days. Aside from meeting the people I get to serve alongside of, ministering on the streets of Atlanta with my brothers and sisters, and eating cow tongue [yes, cow tongue]; training camp was the avenue in which God picked me up out of my circular confusion and introduced me to a new way of living; living for the sake of advancing the kingdom.”
In other words, training camp was incredibly tough… incredibly beautiful… incredibly eye opening… incredibly difficult… and yet it was so much more! We were forced out of our comfort zones. We slept in less than ideal circumstances and received smaller portions of food than we have grown accustomed to in the US. When thoughts of aggravation crept into my head, I had to remind myself that I am not entitled to a dry bed or a full stomach. These are not rights.
Another World Race teammate named Bethany put it like this, “I no longer have the right to live for myself. I 
don’t have rights to what is “mine” because everything that I have has been first given to me. One comment that I heard at training camp that has really stuck with me is “you don’t have a right to a full stomach”. As we are traveling around the world, we will be eating with some of the poorest of the poor, who will offer us the very best that they have. The very best that they are proud to share may not be enough to curb the hunger of an empty stomach. I need to be prepared to lay down the right to a full stomach that I have enjoyed every day of my life in the United States.”
We were challenged to give up complete control of our lives (in all circumstances). This was the hardest thing for me. I had been telling myself that I had given everything to God, but I quickly learned that was not the case. On the first night we were challenged to let go of our own wants, needs, and desires. The staff at the WR reminded us that those things can become huge obstacles on the mission field and we must be willing to give up control so God can do His work in us and through us.
My fellow brother and teammate Joel summed up training camp like this, “This moment took the form of ten days, but it felt like a month. Bonds were made so deep and so rapidly that the only explanation is the recognition and beauty of one’s Holy Spirit in another. This is true love. It’s not enough to say it, and it’s well beyond infatuation. It’s seeing our weak (or in some cases, including my own) ugly souls, transforming into something so incredibly beautiful, it’s like seeing a sunset for the first time. Or seeing your child for the first time. Or marrying the person you love and spending the rest of your life with them. It goes well beyond having love for those that share the same experience and conviction as you. The love gushes outward to all those around us. The weak, the depraved, the innocent, the angry, the abused, the rich, the confused, the hurt, the arrogant… I am merely a vessel who’s soul reflects the love of our Father and Savior.”
