Training camp was such a unique experience that it’s hard to put into words. It was fun, but at the same time so hard, and everyone experiences it differently. Some of my squad mates had a really hard time with things I didn’t even think twice about and vice-versa. There were freezing cold bucket showers, meals made up of rice & beans & crickets, multiple training sessions a day, and little sleep.
Waking up at 6:30 am every morning, having little to no free time during the day, and not crawling into your tent until after 11 pm is challenging. BUT, the real challenge is coming home.
Imagine this: you’ve just met 35-50 people who are going to be your new family for the next 9 months. You’ve laughed and cried and shared your deepest secrets with them. You’ve learned how to experience the Lord in new ways with them. Now, you have to leave and go home to your life and your hometown that you may or may not have grown up in. You feel so rejuvenated and pumped to leave for 9 months, but now you have to wait.
In my case, there were 7 weeks from the day I got home until the day I boarded a plane back to Atlanta. It’s been two weeks since training camp, and I’m back in the routine I’ve had all summer: juggling 3 jobs plus a few side jobs.
This in-between time is a weird combination of, “oh, I leave so soon!” and “I don’t leave soon enough”. It’s hard to live in the moment when you’re so excited for the real adventure to start, but I think that’s the point; we’re supposed to take what we learned at training camp and apply it to the people in our home community. Let me be honest with you, it’s hard sometimes. I work in retail, and loving people and showing them Christ when they’re yelling at you about paying $14 instead of $10 for a shirt is not fun or easy. But it’s worth it. It’s worth it when your parents tell you they see a transformation in you. It’s worth it when you listen to a strangers struggles, invite them to church, they end up coming & there they find healing.
I believe that training camp equipped me for so much more than the race; it equipped me for life. While I’m so excited for September 5th to come, I’m thankful that I have 5 more weeks to invest in the people of Charlottesville and pour out what I learned to the community I’ve built here.
