The Rundown on Training Camp.

This is going to be a quick recap of what happened at Training Camp, In the upcoming weeks I will go into detail on some things that happened and the things I learned. 

Training Camp was a 10 day Training in Gainesville Georgia, we slept in tents, showered with buckets, learned about God in new ways, learned different cultures, practical skills for evangelizing, and being bold in our faith to go tell everyone about Jesus Christ. 

There are 6 squads, about 140 people altogether, each squad is going on a different route. There are about 42 people on my route, we are called Squad Y. We are divided into 6 teams. 5 teams are all women, and then 1 team is the 7 men . The men are greatly outnumbered, and it was that way for all the squads. Some squads only had 4 men. Each squad had a mentor, advisor, 2 leaders, and two coaches to help with the journey. Most teams have  someone who went on the race last year to be their team leader for the first 3 months, then that leader will leave. My team did not have a comeback leader tho. Almost all the people who are leading us have been on The World Race before.  

In the morning they would take up our phones and then give them back at bedtime. I loved this so much, I have considered to cancel my cell service and just connect to wifi when available for the next 9 months. 

Everyone on my team was so so so nice. I feel as if each and everyone of them will be my best friend by the end of the race. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and has different accents (which is kinda funny) . I can’t wait till I get to see all my new friends again!!.

Worship was amazing. Every-night we would Worship and give it all to the lord. This was a time that I would see God move in. I learned to lift my hands up and to actually SURRENDER to the lord. I learned that Jesus actually loves me. I learned to worship with my whole existence, and I could feel the presence of the father.  

The Typical Day to Day 

6:20 Alarm would go off, so I hit Snooze. 

6:26 Alarm would go off again, so now I gotta roll out of my smelly, moist tent, and get the day going 

6:31 Bucket shower: The first couple days I didn’t shower at all, but that Georgia Humidity really makes you sweat. So then I had to take one. So how does it work? You go to this shack that has some curtains in there, then you just grab a 5 gallon bucket and take it to the hose and fill it up .  You walk the bucket back into the curtain area and use cups to pour water on yourself. The rest is kinda up to you…Oh the water was coldddd. After a few days I really had enjoyed bucket showers and I took one every morning and night!! 

7:00 Private Prayer time. I woke up earlier than most, so I had about 30 min until everyone else came .

7:30ish Devotional time with my team, my team is 7 boys including me. We’re anywhere and everywhere from North Carolina to Ohio to Georgia and all the way to California. ( I will introduce my team in a future Blog).

8 something ( never knew what time it was). Breakfast- Our meals were based on the culture of the day, some days were Indian, African, South American, etc .  On those days you had to dress to the culture. For example: on Indian day, Women had to cover their hair and couldn’t show ankles of shoulders, Men had to wear pants.  Breakfast usually consisted of Rice and Eggs and  occasional crickets.

From Breakfast till Lunch– this time changed daily, but for the most part we listened to speakers and had cultural teachings, and team building activities to help us be better teammates . This may not sound very beneficial, but everyone including my self learned so so much. 

Lunch- Depended on what the day was, All the squads ate together and you choose tables, great time to meet new people.  Food was family style and most the time there was no utensils, so you gotta figure out how to eat soup without a spoon.  Food portions were always small, I felt like I was going to starve, but I grew up in America where we eat way to much anyway, so it was a humbling experience and I better prepare for the next 9 months. 

The next three hours- Typically more speakers came, team time to debrief, learned how to teach english, VBS lessons, Children’s ministry, Preaching a sermon, and how to reach other cultures. 

Dinner- yea depended on day

After dinner – Typically another speaker

                   – Worship ( singing and dancing and praising) 

Debrief-  Just talked about day with team and answered questions . Got phones back

Hangout/Bed- Usually it was already dark so you’d have to take a bucket shower with a flashlight, ( ideal time to use the porta potties tho, During the day they would be like A furnace, but at night it was cool). Then just kinda hang out with friends or call parents. One night i got a group to play tag. I had way too much fun.  

Sleep!  usually just passed out. Slept so good . Sweaty but good. 

The Biggest events to me!!!

– I got Baptized 

– God healed about 20 people, Miracles