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The last ten days have been spent at Training Camp where I met 53 other Q Squad racers, who quickly became family.
Some fun facts: There are about 170 racers Launching in January. We are split into squads (Each squad follows a different route all over the world) which just go in order of the alphabet. I am a fourth generation Q Squad, which means Squads have gone through the alphabet four times! That’s a total of 95 World Race Routes, and in each squad there is between 50 and 70 racers. In total, that means World Race has sent a low average of 5,700 racers into the nations. Each squad is given a team color so we can visually tell our squads apart at training camp.)
Upon meeting each other in the airport, we all headed outside to wait for our big bus that was to pick us up and bring us to Gainsville, GA, where we would spend 10 days sleeping in tents and preparing for the race. I decided to be bold and hop up on a counter and take a selfie with everyone I’d just barely met, and I’m glad I did! Here we are, after JUST meeting each other!
That first day was a whirlwind, we arrived at camp late afternoon, registered, and had sandwiches for dinner. We were sent to our campsites, which was about a quarter mile away from the front office building. We set up our tents, snacked on our dinner, and headed to the Training Center for our very first session. After a great night of worship and a word from Bill Swan (one of the camp speakers) we headed back to our campsites to continue learning everyones names. (Those first few days were tough on the name game) Here is our camp site! It doesn’t look like much, but some awesome friendships were born here.
Another great part of TC is the unity that our Squad began to form. We spent every moment together. We didn’t have showers, or bathrooms, just porta-potties and buckets for cleaning. We came along side one another to push each other along. Each night there was a different “Field Scenario.” Field Scenarios are designed to push us out of our comfort zones and get us to let go of our need for control. The first night at camp we just simply slept in our tents, but the second night of camp, our Field Scenario was as follows – To simulate landing in a foreign country and depending on airlines for our comfort, we were informed that our hypothetical airline lost half of our luggage, forcing us to find a buddy that still had their gear to pair up for the night. Jessica and I paired up, and shared my bag. We had one tent and she lost all of her stuff (Her bag was really just put in a tarp at our campsite). This exercise was designed for a few reasons, the first being to practice teamwork and lack of control. We shared it all! It ended up being pretty easy for Jessica and I, we both just slept in our clothes and wore them again the next day, and she had her sleeping bag as she’d kept it in her carryon bag. (We both kept our carryon bags) Jessica and I were fortunate enough to sleep well and stay warm, however much of our squad slept 2 in one sleeping bag and were very cold. It was a hard night for a lot of people, and I woke up thankful for a sleeping bag.
On Day 2 of TC we had the fitness requirement test. It was pretty hard, my pack is 45 lbs, that’s a little under half of my weight, and we were required to carry our packs for 3 miles in 50 minutes. The test was at a nearby park and we walked on a bike path, which was quite lovely and half of the hike was along the lake waterfront. When training in Colorado, my pack didn’t seem nearly as heavy and seemed a bit easier. TC was harder. The morning prior we’d hiked for 30 minutes with our gear and carry-on pack and I imagine that was about a mile and a half with about 55 lbs. The 3 miles seemed a bit too far for my comfort, I was sore already, and kinda tired. I made it in time, and even sprinted the last leg of the 3 miles. I was really thankful to have it done and out of the way, and my whole squad made the time limit. We were all thankful to have it done with, though the guys had a 12 mile hike ahead of them the following day.
A few days into TC it came time for our “Gender Retreats” where the 12 guys in our squad (they call themselves the 12 Brociples) went on a Man Hike and the ladies stayed at camp. That day the girl time was gold, we treasured our sister time and had a really wonderful time together. The girls got to sleep in our individual tents again that night and with the guys gone, we decided to have a fire and do a little singing. One girl on our Squad, Natalie, offered to play us a song on her guitar and we all sat back to listen. When she opened her mouth to sing, we all melted. She is incredible. She sang us 3 songs and they were all beautiful. The girl has some real talent. Some of us cried. Buy her album, it’s coming out this month! Her name is Natalie Tyer and she is on Spotify and Itunes. (Seriously, all the proceeds go towards her fundraising for the race and you will NOT regret it. Her songs are all written by her and they’re soooo good!) This is her album from a few years ago, stay tuned for her new one!
The following morning the guys all returned to camp and we were excited to see them! It sounded like they’d had a wonderful time together on the Man Hike and it was fun to hear about how they all bonded together. They must have gotten quite close because the following night they all piled up into one tent for a quick cuddle sesh. That’s one stinky tent. Turns out Bradley is ticklish. (Shout out to Bradley)
Another Field Scenario the Squad did together was a simulation of staying in rooms together. AIM set up 6 big tents, where the 54 of us had to divide up and share together. It ended up being a really fun time, and my tent had 8 people in it. Josh, one of the guys, was in the tent with us (2 guys and 6 girls) and told us a scary story before going to bed and we laughed because of how frustrated he was with us girls for asking questions every other sentence, he just couldn’t believe we could come up with so many thoughts. He was sure that if he’d been telling a group of guys the same story, it would have taken 5 minutes instead of 20. (We’re sorry Josh! We can’t help our curiosity) The big tents kept us warmer too, sharing the same space kept our body heat in, and when we opened up our tents in the morning we were surprised at how cold it was outside!
We had every meal outside at TC in a big pavilion on campus. Each day had a different food theme, and we experienced lots of different foods. Below is a picture of Alexandra and I with some chicken feet, a known delicacy in some countries. (Not so delicious in my book).
We also ate crickets, and some of us sprinkled them on our scrambled eggs for a nice added crunch. Not me, though… I stuck with eating just one (to say I’ve had them), then I ate a cliff bar I had in my pack. I really missed Chipotle. Ten days is a new record for me.
Every morning at TC we worked out too, which was so great! I have new muscles that I didn’t even know existed! My hope is to keep them around for as long as possible, working out can be fun when you have 54 people doing it with you, alone in Colorado it may prove to be a bit less enjoyable.
We had lots of fun as a squad, and spent our free time swinging in our hammocks and sitting around our fire pit in our campsite. We got to know each other pretty well and really enjoyed each other’s presence. One guy in our squad, from Manhattan, loves to do Yoga. He’s 30 years old, has a heavy NY accent, and is so funny. Watching Coop do Yoga is kind of like watching … well… some things are just too hard to describe. All I can say is we regurally asked Coop to do yoga with us and it became one of our favorite activities. I also learned that I am really bad at yoga.
As far as what I learned at TC, well.. It really would take 10 days to explain it all. The way Adventure in Missions structure their training camp is brilliant. AIM structures TC very intentionally. The first 4 days are geared toward inner healing and finding solid identity in Christ. They begin with our personal walks with God, we discuss our identities in Christ and our pasts and baggage or “past hurt” that has changed or affected our lives. There was a lot of people who struggled talking about their pasts, but also found themselves needing to uncover the past to be able to forgive those that hurt them, and to be able to let go and give their burdens to God. Those first few days were really great, I was so excited to stand by some of my new friends who had never faced their past hurt before. Faces were lifted towards the sky in new found freedom, and we laughed, we cried, and we danced at the feet of Jesus. To say that our worship sessions were amazing is an understatement. We put it all out on the table, and we worshiped like crazy people. The second half of camp we dove deeply into what it means to preach, teach and evangelize. After a few days of some really incredible biblical teaching from Bill Swan and Renee Tyner, we began to focus more on the mission field, logistics, and what life would be like in other countries. Late in the week, after being assigned our teams, we went to the CEO if AIM’s house for dessert. I had the opportunity to chat with him for a little while, and he was so awesome! Here is our Squad in a group picture in his backyard.
To address the concerns that someone brought to me about a rumor circulating the internet about AIM being sketchy – what I found, in Gainesville, Georgia, was the absolute opposite. I am proud to stand with Adventures in Missions. They stress the importance of helping rehabilitating a broken community, but without hurting them in the long run (as is often an unfortunate occurrence with short term missions). They are incredibly respectful of the relationships they have made with ministry contacts in all the countries they send us to. They had answers to every questions that we asked them and any fear for my safety while abroad was cast away. Every employee and volunteer I encountered during camp all came from different backgrounds and a majority of them were World Race alums. I think that speaks volumes to the effectiveness of this trip. They rely on us to become disciples of all nations, but expect the best from us. I don’t feel like I am effectively able to express how much I am in love with this organization. My training is stacked with the some of the most amazing people I have come across in life. I am in the hands of great, sweet hearted, loving, intelligent, hilarious, and might I even say rhythmically talented individuals (we seriously had the most epic dance parties in all of Training Camp). Every moment I remember a new story to tell my friends and family when they ask how camp was. Simply put…I’m more blessed now than ever.
To sum all of this up, between the spiritual restoration, the crazy foods, the dance parties and the new family I’ve gained, I have confidence that The World Race is where God is calling me to go. The nations are hungry for salvation, they are calling for help, and Q Squad (my new family) is ready – even if that means no Chipotle for an entire year. Below is all four squads (launching in January) right after Squad Wars.
