[Thoughts on Training Camp, Part Three]

One addition to the last day on the Part 2 post (August 12^th), which I’m honestly a little mad I left out:  The girls had a morning exercise time!  It was difficult but we learned to support each other as women and we pulled off some incredible feats together under time-constraints.  First, we had to go to our camps to pick up all of our packs and hike to the top of the campus in groups of three with our arms linked.  Once at the top, we put our packs aside and had to complete a run to another part of campus along with an ENORMOUS number of burpees, squats, and push-ups (I say ENORMOUS because, at the end, we were talking about combined total in the thousands).  Finally, we set up a 10-person tent together and every woman from our squad (30ish ladies) huddled inside for a selfie before we took the tent down and headed back to drop our packs at our campsites.  DAAAANG.  We found out at a later point that, although we succeeded in completing the task, we had major communication failures during this hour and many people felt unheard and overlooked as a result.  This revelation came with an opportunity, as women and sisters, to address the topic of offense, which became an empowering moment to come together and choose to support one another in putting to bed offenses we had taken up against each other.

 

NOW—picking up from where I left off…

August 13^th: Eastern Europe Day

In Eastern Europe, we ate some pretty great sausage and potatoes.  It was a good day.  Haha!  There really weren’t too many restrictions on this day.  I don’t have much to report on it other than I love food so much and that’s the majority of what I remember Eastern Europe bringing to the table (see what I did there).

We were relieved to find that we were given a fairly lax day after our Gender Retreats the day before proved to be so physically taxing.  There was even a time to stretch our sore muscles with another yoga session!  Countering the nature of the physical relaxation the day brought, we worked our mental muscles a bit and heard several heavy teachings.

To start, we heard an amazing lesson from Danny Weiss on People Groups (unreached, reached, and minimally reached).  We learned that, of the approximated 17,000 people groups, 3.1 BILLION people (42.1% of the world’s populace) are currently unreached by the Gospel and 3.5 BILLION (47.6%) have limited access to it or minimal church presence.  The reason for this is that 2/3 of the population live in the 10/40 Window, which is the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude.  The 10/40 Window contains 97% of all Unreached People Groups (UPGs) and only 3.3% of the missionary force work or even reach that area.  I already had a heart for the people of this region, but, following this teaching, my spirit has been strongly pulled to seek God about serving people in this area after the Race.

I, then, attended a breakout session on Worship.  We discussed the topics of corporate vs. private worship and the need for both before we finally came to the idea of worship being a captivating form of thankfulness.  We can’t always worship in our preferred form, but the primary focus of worship should always be to magnify and openly point out the worth of our God (no matter the form).  Worship ascribes worth to whatever we put our focus on, which can be anything.  However, worship, in its truest and most impactful form, is to be directed at the God who is more worthy and glorious than words or music could ever describe.

Don’t you just love it when God ties things together?  Ultimately, the theme and overall motif of the day for me was selflessness.  Combining worship and the knowledge of just how many people have so little access to the Gospel creates this overwhelming question that begs for an answer: how can I, only one person, make any difference?  This speaks to a deep fear of stepping out in faith.  The answer?  Let the Gospel’s power speak for itself.  Do we only pray for people we are comfortable with?  If we are uncomfortable, does that give us license to discount someone else’s need to understand and receive the life-changing love of God?  Absolutely not.  I am guilty as anyone of failing to speak because I feel my skin crawl with discomfort.  My comfort DOES NOT MATTER.  I’ve surrendered to God.  I’ve committed to serve Him and, in turn, His people.  I’m called to speak, no matter the flaw in communication.  How can I know what difference I can make if I choose to believe I’m no different from every other person walking the streets?  I carry the love of the God of the universe in me!!  I am different!  I have to be.  There was a change that welled up inside of me the day I asked God to somehow use me.  Something’s gotta give.  So, I guess, that’d be me.  I can’t give my testimony without it declaring, “God, do it again!

 

August 14^th: Travel Day

At 5am, we woke to take on one of the most challenging days of camp.  This would include the greatest physical challenge and a big spiritual one as well.  We started off the day with the fitness hike—2.2 miles of grueling hills and heavy packs in a time limit of 38 minutes—and ended with our first evangelism time with our newly-assigned teams.  The idea is as follows: we each have a load to carry and we as a team help to carry one another’s burdens.  We must be responsible for ourselves and the task at hand while also keeping in mind the welfare our teammates.  The hike is the load, the individual battle.  Yes, we can encourage one another and we can complete it together; however, we must not be dragged down by one another.  We carry our own load and we move as fast as we can, but I was not responsible for my neighbor’s completion and they weren’t responsible for mine.  It was also meant to test us on whether or not we could carry the weight of our own stuff if the need were to arise for us to walk a couple miles to cross a border on foot or to hike to a host’s home that is some distance away from a main road.  We have to be prepared to physically keep up.

I finished my hike in roughly 36 minutes!  During the last quarter mile or so, I caught up with my squad-mate, Aundraya, and we encouraged each other to the end.  The uphill to the finish appeared to be so high.  We took one look at it and looked at each other before linking arms to charge up that hill with every last bit of energy we had!  It was incredible and such an encouraging moment!

The spiritual challenge of the day came in the form of our team evangelism time.  We had been assigned our teams for the year (or at least for the first few months) the day before.  My team is called Magic Tree House and there are six of us: Summer, EmJay, Meagan, Cari, Hannah, and myself.  For team evangelism, we left camp and drove to a nearby neighborhood where we split up the streets on a map between our six squad teams.  We had several tasks, but we mainly walked down the street and tried to talk with whoever we could (knocking on doors, talking to people walking by, etc.).  Two particular encounters made an impression on me.  Firstly, I had noticed a truck at the end of our street and there was a man standing beside it with the hood of the vehicle open and his phone in hand.  I immediately thought of my grandfather.  After introducing myself, I asked what was up with his truck and he said it overheated on his way to pick up his daughter from school.  Part of our challenge was to find someone that we could give a bottle of water to as a conversation starter, so I jumped at the opportunity to give my bottle away.  He said the water wouldn’t be of any help, though, because there was a leak.  Two of my teammates were with me and we offered to pray over him and his truck.  It was a simple conversation, but, when we walked away afterward, I watched him get in his truck and he was able to start it and drive away!  It was an answered prayer, at least!

The second encounter I had was with another old man.  We were nearing our time to leave when we passed this beautiful red Mustang convertible that was sitting in the driveway of one of the last houses on our street.  I was the only one to see the man come out and sit at a table that was somewhat hidden by the Mustang.  One of my teammates, Summer, and I were discussing evangelism, so I pointed him out and offered to go up to him with her to give her an example.  She approached him first and I could tell she felt some awkwardness.  I stuck my hand out to him and asked if I could sit in the other empty chair at the table.  It really felt like I just sat down with an old friend because he immediately started talking with me.  His quiet voice made parts difficult to understand, but there was one part that was very clear.  I asked if there was something we could pray with him about and this is basically what he said, “I have everything materially that I need.  Sometimes I get comfortable in that.  I’m alright to just sit here with my bottle of water.  But, life is about more than just a bottle of water.  I guess you could pray that God would help me to give a bit more and not always take.” 

If that isn’t truth, then I don’t know what is.

 

August 15^th: India Day

In India, there were a lot of cultural rules.  All of us women had to wear coverings over our heads and wear ankle-length skirts, the genders ate separately from one another, our left hands were unclean (meaning we couldn’t use them at all with mealtime), and the men held hands when they walked places together (which they did enthusiastically)!  It was a wild day!  We drank specially-made chai tea at breakfast (praise the Lord) and ate some classic curry at lunch.  I thoroughly enjoyed every part of this day except the skirts.  Haha!

One of the coolest parts of the day was watching three of our squad-mates redo their fitness hikes.  One of our squad didn’t complete the hike at all, but three others were either late or didn’t carry their packs all the way and they were given the opportunity to retake it.  The fourth will retake at launch with time to practice beforehand (GO, ARIEL!).  Our entire squad got up early to walk alongside them and encourage them at specific points along the trail.  It was such a lesson in unity.  I was so proud of each of them for fighting so hard to complete it.  Every one of those who retook it finished on time!!

During our sessions, we learned about communication!  I think I’m pretty clear that I love discussing communication and am all about learning new ways to improve my communication skills.  There are three types of communicators: passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive.  We did our best to be honest with which one we tend to lean into in stressful situations.  I think I tend to be more passive-aggressive, but, as I said, I’m always working on it!  Then, we learned how to “hold up a mirror and call people higher” with FEEDBACK.  Helpful feedback is something that we will be doing a lot of on the Race and the time we had to really practice this was beyond helpful!

We ended the day with a cookout for each of the squads and enjoyed some time together before the last day.

 

August 16^th: Adventure Day

On Adventure day, we ate bugs.  Enough said.

This was the last full day of camp.  We received a lot of information about Launch, support raising, and storytelling/blogging/digitally recording our Race.  It was awesome to spend time with my squad on the last day.  We worshiped together that morning and prayed together.

However, the last day is usually about only one thing…  SQUAD WARSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yes.  The fated end to Training Camp arrived that night, and P-Squad was determined to dominate the field with unity, teamwork, and a killer dance (that, let’s be honest, should’ve won the dance-off)!!! We marched to the field and were so ready to take on the competition, even from our last place ranking when we started.  And that’s just what we did.

Here’s how it went down:

Game #1: At the dance-off, P-Squad earned a 2^nd place ranking and bumped ourselves up to 2^nd place on the leader board.

Game #2: David and Goliath was an intense battle involving three teams of two that represented N-Squad, O-Squad, and P-Squad.  Hailey and Brooke were the reps for P-Squad and they killed it!!! Hailey defended the egg that was strapped to her head with skill and Brooke wacked all the people with her pool noodle.  It was quite a show!  Hailey and Brooke came out on top, literally crushing all of the competition!

Game #3: All the squads had balloons strapped to our ankles and we battled to pop all of the opposing teams’ balloons.  Simultaneously, we were surrounded by tables that were being slowly brought toward us, closing in the field of battle and allowing little room to run away.  P-Squad still took down the competition with a solid 1^st place win and 1^st place leaderboard ranking!

Game #4: Dodgeball.  P-Squad earned a bye for winning the last two games and we faced the winner of the first round of dodgeball.  Sadly, we lost the dodgeball round we played, meanwhile maintaining our 1^st place standing.

Game #5: This was the final game of Squad Wars and we played an amped-up game of Leap Frog.  15 people from each squad came forward to represent.  We lined across a field and had to jump over our entire team toward a bowl filled with flour.  In the bowl and under the flour, 15 marshmallows were hidden and our team had to dig in it with only their faces to find a marshmallow and run it back to another bowl at the beginning of the line. 

P-Squad, I must say, performed with poise and precision, and, as a result, WON SQUAD WARS!!!!!!!!!

It was a glorious victory.  But, the best was yet to come.  Our leaders honored us with an opportunity to come together and support one another in baptism.  If we felt led to be baptized, we could approach a trainer and they would pray with us to confirm it before asking which leader we would like to baptize us.  I watched so many people be baptized and came up to the cheers of their squad, leaders, trainers, and mentors.  It was so beautiful.  I could tell things were moving slower and winding down, but I felt this tug at my heart saying, “Don’t miss this.”  I went to Taylor, a trainer I had spent some time with that afternoon, and told her I would like to be baptized.  She told me to go find a leader, so I walked over to Erica.  She baptized me and, while it was such a special and sealing moment of all that God had done, I saw the effect that followed.  My baptism happened at the lull when people were unsure of themselves and doubting the need to be baptized.  If anyone doubted it, it was me.  But, I did it anyway and the result was that upwards of ten more people decided to get baptized afterward.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that God can use your doubt.  He can use you in that moment when you choose to trust Him despite doubt, fear, anxiety, or even your own comfort where you are.  I believe I got baptized because someone else needed one more person to have the courage to say yes.  So, whoever that was for, I love you and I’m praying for you. 

Also, afterward, I realized and celebrated the four year anniversary of my salvation!  What a day!!

 

August 18^th: Departure

We thought we would escape it, but I was rudely awakened by a torrential downpour of rain at 4am.  I could hear the shock of all the people sleeping in hammocks as they scrambled to find cover.  I peeked out to see if they were ok, only to find them soaked and struggling to make it in out of the rain.  Maggie and Marissa were nearest to me, so I called to them.  Actually, I called to Maggie first because she looked a little confused.  She told me later that she wears contacts and didn’t have them in so she literally couldn’t see a thing.  My voice, in her words, was like “an angel in the distance”.  Hahaha!!!  Maggie got in first and I was about to close my rainfly when Marissa dove inside.  It was so funny!  I was so glad I had moved everything ahead of time as they were grabbing their stuff outside.  Marissa had to go back out though because she had left some electronics in her bag.  Luckily, all of them were mostly ok except for her phone which died later. 

After the rain stopped, Marissa and Maggie went to get the rest of their stuff and head to the pavilion that was just up the trail from our campsite.  I took all my stuff up there as well before coming back down to sort out my tent.  Because I was on a hill, water pooled at the bottom of the inside of my tent so I had to figure out how to drain it and then rinse out the mud from my footprint (the base attachment of my tent).  The pavilion is basically just a large covered concrete slab, so I laid my tent parts out to see if they would dry but it was too early in the morning for that to work.  Everyone’s tents were in similar condition.  We helped each other tear down tents.  My friend, Kaitlin, and I managed to rinse most of the mud out of our tents using the guys shower hose.

Following that eventful morning, several of us had meetings to go to.  I had been approached previously and asked if I would consider taking on a worship coordinating position for our squad.  Do you remember Ashley from post #2??  Well, God revealed to us that, if we hadn’t been able to sort out our differences and form a friendship at the beginning of camp, we wouldn’t have been prepared to be partners as the worship coordinators of P-Squad!! Yes, we are now the worship coordinating team for our entire squad!! Isn’t that so cool??  Basically, our job is to make sure that each of the six teams in our squad are seeking out and making opportunities for worship consistently on the Race.  We get to check in with the other teams and keep the heart of P-Squad geared toward worshipping God.  I’m so excited to work with her!!

 

We packed up.  We said adios ‘til Launch.  We hugged.  We cried a little.  We smiled a lot.  All in all, we left camp unified toward the singular mission we are all being assigned to… and that’s a Kingdom mission.

I hope you enjoyed this Training Camp series! Sorry for the wait between each post, but I believe it was worth my extra time and energy to really get it all down.  I hope it impacted you as much as it impacted me!  Thank you for listening!  SUBSCRIBE at the top of this page to receive updates when I post weekly on the race!  All you need to subscribe is your e-mail address!  Thanks again!

 

Quick update:

I’m currently at $6,808 (once I get some donations updated to my account)!!!!  Wow! We are so close to $10,000 and to LAUNCH!  If it is on your heart to donate and help me to Launch (and, eventually, to get fully funded), please hit the DONATE button at the top of this page (just under the SUBSCRIBE button)!  God’s got this!  I know we can get this done, so please consider supporting me financially and through prayer!  Love y’all!!