I have had many questions about how training camp went, and I always struggle to find the right combination of words to describe my experience. I will begin by saying I have a love-hate relationship with those 10 days. I will share what I think you are interested in knowing, but I welcome comments and questions below!
First, I will discuss the basic facts about what we did and then I will talk about how God moved in my heart. If you only care about the latter, please scroll beyond the 3rd photo.
If you are a future racer searching the internet for insight on camp, I ask that you don’t read any further. I want you to have the same experience I had with an open mind, open heart, and little-to-no expectations. You won’t know what you will run into on the actual race and cannot plan accordingly; Therefore, use training camp as TRAINING for that!
P.S. Everyone will tell you to bring snacks. If you want my opinion, I say don’t. Immerse yourself in the full experience and allow yourself to be a little hungry. It will do your soul some good 😉
The Experience:
We almost always* slept outside in the tents pictured above. North Georgia in October is home to the most unpredictable weather with warm days that quickly turn to frigid nights before sunset. We woke up every morning before sunrise to engage in a group workout of either hiking, running, stretching, or another activity. The hiking was the most annoying exercise because we had to pack away our dew-covered tent with wet and frozen hands at 6:45 a.m. to have all of our stuff in our large backpacking pack ready to hike in the 45 degree weather (Not to mention one day we had to walk 2 miles with all of our gear in under 35 minutes as a requirement to continue as a World Racer).
*One night, we experienced a mock airport scenario including an international layover. We slept indoors with chairs set up like an airport, lights permanently on, and announcements over the intercom running all night. Needless to say, I feel sufficiently prepared for such an occurrence.
After “warming up” from exercise, we sat down to a family style meal represented by different regions of the world. Our first day was Asia. We read facts about the area including proper eating practices. Breakfast was a broth based soup, lunch was fried rice, and dinner included Asian coleslaw and fish.
The servings were tiny. The first few days of camp I thought I was going to lose my mind because food is something I LOVE and I was not getting my expectation of “enough.” A few times were were asked to eat with our right hand and no utensils (India day) because it was culturally appropriate (this was difficult with curry and rice).
Another example of our unique meal experiences included the day featuring Africa. Obviously this is an entire continent with thousands of cultural traditions, but we focused on a few. The men ate at tables and were served food, first, while the women ate sitting on the floor. We had lentils, collard greens, and a mystery “filler food” for lunch. I am not a huge fan of collards, but they were delicious because I felt like I was starving! We also experienced some mock power outages during our meals which prepared us for a potential commonality.
We took showers from a 5-gallon bucket filled from an outdoor hose. I have never been more COLD and humbled in my entire life. Honestly, I only attempted it twice during the full 10 days (baby wipes became my squad’s best friend).
This turned out to be acceptable, because I magically escaped seeing myself in a mirror for 10 days. There was SO much freedom in that! I was surprised how much I enjoyed life without a mirror or social media to tell me how I “should” look. I was accepted: my dirty self and all!
We had multiple “sessions” daily. These included team-builder exercises, worship, and messages.
The team-builders were perfect for our preparation. We were given situations from ACTUAL World Race scenarios past racers experienced (e.g. 5 of your 7 teammates contracted Chikungunya and you all have to make it across town to the local pharmacy for the medication. Some have serious joint pain, one can’t see, one teammate can’t walk, etc.)
One day, we were involved in a mock marketplace. We had the mission of bartering for food with a team of about 14 people. Our hunger from the week was amplified when we saw we could purchase macaroni and cheese, pastries, Oreos, and more wonderful treats with our fake currency! The AIM staff members played their parts well and I learned a lot about protecting yourself from thieves, respecting cultures, and “seeing” the people everyone else passes.
What I mean by that is when I am approached by/see a beggar in the streets, I have the power to sit with them, eat with them, talk with them, and acknowledge them by their name. If I have no time, to simply look at someone in the eyes and smile is an easy way for me to show God’s love to those who are dismissed by everyone else.
The worship was a new experience for me. I come from a more conservative background, but people from all walks of life, denominations, and levels of intimacy with the Lord were present. I saw dancing, yelling, singing, bowing, barefoot feet, praising, sitting, laughing, spinning, hand-raising, and more. I was elated to see a room of 300 people so filled with the Holy Spirit! I will never again put my worship “in a box.” Our God doesn’t belong in one, so why should I limit how I love and thank Him?
I believe the formal messages and lessons shared during the last 10 days left an impact on me spiritually because of what I was experiencing physically. I was leaning on the Lord without all of the comforts I was used to and the feeling of physical hunger and emptiness was an allusion to fasting which allowed for me to fill the void with growing in intimacy with the Lord (more details on that further down).
One night we had the privilege to leave camp as a whole squad (approx. 45 people) and spend the evening (at another campground) sleeping under the stars and bonding over a campfire. The A’Capella worship and vulnerability which took place that evening was more precious than I can put into words. It was truly a treasure and I am so thankful for how God used that night to glorify Himself.
Speaking of my Squad, below is a photo from “Squad Wars” which took place on the last full day of training camp. We are “A Squad” (all going to the same countries) and other Squads (with different routes labeled B through F) competed against us in a fun dance, relay race, and more. It was a blast! We didn’t win, but I *objectively* believe we had the most squad pride/spirit!
Below is my team (subset of the Squad) identified as the “Kingdom Shakers.” These are the ladies with which I will be doing my first few months of service. We all come from across the nation (CA, WI, GA, TX, FL) and the Lord hand-picked us to grow together as we learn more about Him and to share about His unfailing love and grace with those we encounter across the world. I am honored to be among these God-fearing women and I cannot wait to reunite in January! They are already family!
How God Filled Me Up:
I am still blown away and do not know where to begin! I wish I could just copy and paste my journal notes for you 😉 I guess I will just take this time to tell you my intimacy with my heavenly Father has DOUBLED. When I first arrived at camp, I was very anxious about how I would be received, my role, my past, and more. I was so preoccupied!
The lessons in the beginning of the week focused on our identity. If we don’t see ourselves as worthy of God’s love, how can we share that with others? This really hit home for me! I am the type of person that can see the cup half-full for everyone else, but I struggle to realize the Lord sees me in the same light. As the song goes, “You’re a good, good Father/it’s who You are/I am loved by you/it’s who I am,” and it really made sense for ME and MY relationship with Him. He sees me as His beloved daughter. My perfect Father can’t make mistakes and I am no exception.
Then, the lessons slowly developed to discuss living a Spirit-led life, living in a community, and then about growing the Kingdom of God. I appreciate AIM’s intentional curriculum to grow disciples from the inside-out!
I learned disciplines for intimacy with the Lord and how to hear His voice in prayer and by sitting with Him. In the words of one of the leaders, I always saw God as “a guy who reads my diary and knows everything, so I guess I’m required to trust Him.” Instead, He is my FRIEND! As cliche as that sounds, I will pretend I am having coffee with Jesus and tell Him about my day, my worries, ask for advice, and more. He knows these things about my life because I CHOOSE to invite him into my life. I tell Him everything, and therefore I trust him 🙂 It’s a beautiful thing. (We were given imaginations from God. Why do we stop using them when we are young? I encourage you to have coffee with Jesus sometime soon. He has so much to tell you!)
During times of prayer and listening to the Lord, I saw many visions. He shared things with me that broke His heart (and in turn broke mine) and things and people He was very pleased with! He showed me the ways I doubt Him and the places He is calling me to step out of my routine (whether physically or spiritually).
During our camp-out night by the fire, I experienced an audible voice from Him. Everyone was circled around and I was on the outside of the fire. I was cold. My physical situation immediately affected my thoughts, “I am not operating in my usual M.O. as a leader in the center of the group, and therefore I don’t feel like a part of the group. No one notices I am here; no one sees that I am cold. I am an outsider.” I began having my coffee talk with Jesus right then. I told Him how I was feeling and how my day went.
He said, “Sarah, I need followers to do my work.” I cannot tell you how much that sentence struck me to my core. I knew He was right. It is okay that I was not in the middle of the circle. It is okay that I was not the physical leader of the group. I have a role, and God is grooming me through these mini lessons. Thinking back to my previous blogs, I guess I am still in a place where I am learning how to follow, and I can’t be as effective for the Kingdom until I learn to do so. Well, Abba, I can’t wait to see how you will use that in the coming months!
To conclude, I sometimes hated the physical conditions I was forced to encounter, but without all of that emptiness and broken, uncomfortable spirit, I don’t think I would have grown as much as I did. I have more stories, so please ASK AWAY!
All in all, it is well with my soul.
Update: only $2,600 left to raise before my $10,000 deadline of December 18th.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
