Training Camp was last week…and…wow. I’m still processing everything that went on and I won’t be able to go into detail about it all in this post… I’ll just share some things with you real quickly.
Saturday I spent the day with my fellow P-Squadder, Ashton. We went to Atlanta for the day and came back on campus for check-in at 4. It was chaos, but it was awesome. Later that day we had dinner and then went to worship. Worship was AMAZING. Then afterwards we went into a talk about Expectations. You know, I thought I didn’t have many (if any) expectations going into TC…but it’s impossible not to have expectations. After worship and the talk, P and N squads were asked to remain in the sessions center and M, O, & Q squads were told to go to their campsites. What happened next was completely unexpected.
Now, a month or two earlier P squad received an email asking for 9 volunteers to switch to M, O, or Q squads. We received many heart-breaking goodbyes. Every time someone posted on our FB group page my heart dropped into my stomach, terrified someone else had decided to make the switch. But we came out on the other side of that okay and 9 P-Squadders left to different squads as was requested.
Back to TC. Bill Swan, one of the directors of the TC and a former Racer, said this: “We are going to need 7 women and 2 men from N Squad to move to O Squad, 2 men from N Squad to move to Q Squad, and 2 women from P Squad to move to O Squad. We will give you guys 5 minutes to pray about volunteering and if we do not get enough volunteers, we will have to draw names.” The room grew tense. People teared up. I was on the verge of tears. My heart was pounding in my chest and my palm sweat. We prayed for 5 minutes. I told God I wouldn’t switch. Not one P Squadder raised their hand. During this time there were several volunteers from N Squad to move. Weeping broke out across the room. The 5 minutes was up. They still needed 1 woman and 2 men from N Squad and 2 women from P Squad to volunteer.
Bill started with N Squad and drew. A woman was drawn to move to O. A man was drawn to move to O (my squadmate, Brandon). My other squadmate, Brent, immediately volunteered to go with him. All of N Squad grieved and Bill gave them a moment before moving onto P Squad. Noone raised their hand. He began to mix his hand in the bowl of names. I told God, “If Ashton is drawn, I’ll volunteer to go with her.” Almost directly after that, before a name could be drawn, Ashton’s hand shot in the air. My heart sank and I was able to get my hand in the air, say that I’d volunteer, then I began to sob.
Talk about having no expectations. I went into the World Race absolutely positive I knew where God wanted me. I believed I was being called to Route 2 and to P Squad. I was wrong. Now, although I’m going to stop my story here, I am going to say don’t let this scare you. I don’t know how often this happens, but I’ve seen God work all through it and I can honestly say if I had to go back and make the choice again, I’d choose to move to O Squad in a heartbeat.
So. New squad means new route, so where am I going now?
Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Swaziland, Botswana, and South Africa.
I am SO excited.
You know what else I’m excited about? My team. My super awesome, amazing, lovely, lovING team. Gosh. They’re great.
So, introducing team INTENTIONAL LOVE!
Britt – Britt is awesome. You can just look at her and be drawn to her because of her soft smile and her smiling eyes. She is so soft in spirit and just overflowing with love and kindness and really brings a great amount of joy to the group. And she is Canadian and says oht and aboht which is super awesome. Love her to death! She is also our team leader. She is confident and prides herself on not being above the rest of the team. I’d follow her to the ends of the earth and back.
Trish – This girl is FIERCE. She has a mama bear spirit and is just very fun-loving and brings laughter to the group. At first I was a little intimidated by her, but she has such a big heart for God and for His children and I am just so excited to do life with her. She is our logistics leader for the group which is SO fitting because I heard her several times during Camp talking about keeping track of people in the airport and whatnot.
J – J is super quiet and reserved, but she has such a sweet spirit and a real sense of humor once she gets comfortable. She is so sweet and I am very excited to get to know her more! She is very fun-loving as well and pretty adaptable.
Bryan – This man has a real servant’s heart. He is funny and seems to really keep the group together. He is a joy to converse with and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Although he’s a little quiet at first he really opens up. I can’t wait to get to know him more and I am so excited to be a part of his team. OH. And he is the treasury leader of the group. I am more than comfortable that this guy gets to handle our finances. He is like a human calculator.
David – David is ON FIRE for the Lord. He is just so PASSIONATE about the Word and about all that God is doing in his and everyone else’s lives. His passion and joy is incredibly contagious and I can’t help but grin when I listen to him talk about God or prayer or anything really. He is a real joy to have on our team and he is the safety leader. He said something awesome during our team time, that he doesn’t want to be a candle on a hill, he wants to be a burning inferno for God’s love and if you talk to him, he is definitely that. He is so incredibly passionate about people and reaching the matters of their heart. He is constantly praying for someone to pray for. He is also incredibly well versed in his knowledge of scripture and I am really excited to learn all I can from him.
And that’s it! As for fundraising, I need to reach $7500 by December 18th and I am currently just shy of $4000! Please donate either by mailing a check to
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
With my name in the Memo. OR you can click the Support Me tab above and donate electronically. No amount is too big or too small.
ALSO. There will be a yard sale at Friendship Baptist Church on Berryhill in Milton on Saturday that starts at 6. It is donations-only! If you have any items you would like to donate for the sale, please leave them in the fellowship hall (furthermost right building when you pull into the parking lot) on Friday! Make sure to come by and support myself and another missionary from my church!
