Training Camp – What is that?

Training camp was amazing, being able to get to know my squad and the wonderful people God has placed in my life for next year! We camped the whole time (10 days) and had some amazing experiences as well as some hard experiences.

What did a typical day look like at training camp you may ask?

First, the night before we needed to figure out if we needed to pack up the next morning. It was about half and half for days we needed to pack up or not (Definitely know how to put up and take down my tent!!)

6:30/7:30 Waking up for the day!
On days we needed to pack up we tended to get up around 6:30 so we were ready to go. This was also time for our personal devotion time with God and a little bit before breakfast we would meet with our squad for devotion

8:15 AM Breakfast

• EVERYONE needed to be there before we started, with each of the squads that was about 100 people.
• After every meal one squad (or two small squads, my squad and World Race America) were responsible for cleaning all of the plate, silverware, wiping down tables and helping with cleaning the kitchen dishes.
• Each day was a different people group, we learned the different customs and how to eat the food like that specific people group. We had Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, India, Travel Day, Adventure Day and Going Home Day (American burger).

9:00 Worship or Session
Depending on the day we would have worship or some/one of the leadership team with Adventures in Missions would speak and teach us something. Depending on the day it would be about our identity in Christ or about the unreached people groups in the world (those who have no access at all to knowing about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us).

10:00 ish Session or Squad Time
If we had worship before we tended to have a session after, otherwise at the beginning of the week was focused on have enough squad time to figure out our teams and times to really get to know one another.

My squad is my whole group I am with, all these wonderful people

My squad had some different team building exercises that helped our leadership decide on teams. Each squad is divided up into teams, because of the size of our squad we were divided up into two teams. This is my team!

12:00 Lunch!!

1:00 Session
One thing that speaks loudly to the organization is their openness. Every session had a time later where we could debrief and ask the speaker questions about what he or she had said previously. This time was normally set aside for that, some people had some thought provoking questions and it was great to have the space to ask questions!

3:00ish Field Scenario/Squad Time or Session
What are field scenarios you may ask?
They are possible things/problems we may experience while on the world race in the field, these were a few we had/experienced:

• The airport lost half of our luggage so we would end up sharing our tent with someone later on that night and the person who lost their luggage would only have their day pack (not sleeping bag, tent or sleeping pad)
• We were staying in a “church” (the gym) and we needed to be out the next morning by 7:00 am, we also needed to pack for the night.

4:00/4:30 Personal Time
This is the time when many of us relaxed. The week was packed with information and growth for many of about God and who we are in Him.
This was also time when people took showers, how you may ask? Bucket showers! We had one five-gallon bucket that we filled with water and had different stalls that we went to shower in, it was an experience that’s for sure!

5:30/6:00 Dinner!

• One dinner we ate out, towards the end we went out into the city nearby for the afternoon to evangelize in the town (meet people in town and pray for them while also hoping to tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ dying for our sins). It was amazing to eat out and being out with our squad after a long week.
• Our second to last night we had “Market Night”. This was a full set up, having people dressed as homeless people, a van constantly coming through the crowded “street”, pick-pocketers (funny story there too with my water bottle), bartering with the market people and getting our dinner for the night!
• One night we were responsible for making a fire warm enough to cook our dinner for the night! (The chicken was already cooked just needed to be warmed up) It was fun to make a fire big enough to cook food on and it was a fun night of fellowship as well.

All the other dinners were pretty similar to our other mealtimes.

7:00 Worship!
Everyday we had worship in the morning or evening, most of the time at night though. We tended to have a little dance session every night before worship too 🙂 

8:00 Session – Last one for the day

This is a summary of all we did at camp three weeks ago now, there was also a Gender day where the guys were led and had their own fellowship and us ladies had our own. We had panels on that day too so that was great!

Some other things I did:

• Ate a cricket…
• Walked a two mile hike up Georgia hills WITH MY PACKPACK under 35 minutes!
• Visited some friends in the area
• Got to know my squad and team well
• Had a daddy long-leg in my tent
• Set up my tent and helped others in the pouring rain
• Helped start a fire for our meal
• Learned and was reminded of God wonderful and amazing love for EACH one of us!
• Taught my team some American Sign Language and learned some Spanish

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
I know was long but I hope it gives you a little snapshot of what those ten days looked like. Would love to tell you even more so if you are free and want to get coffee or something please let me know. 

Prayer is the most powerful thing, please keep my team, the countries we will be going to and our leadership in your prayers.
I will be leaving Minnesota in 52 days! It’s amazing and crazy how fast time is flying but know these next 52 days will be important. Thank you for supporting me and to go on this journey, I could not do it without your support!

At the moment I have $10,255 raised so I will make my second goal in December, I’m going guys!! If you feel the urge to support me financial please pray and if God keeps me on your heart please consider giving any amount. 

Also be on the lookout for more fundraising opportunities coming up…

Know this, you were born to be loved. Not just by anyone, but by the creator of the World! Please remember that truth. 

God bless and talk to you all soon!