WEEK 1 UPDATE

WEEK ONE OF TRAINING CAMP COMPLETE!!!

This week has been a whirlwind of craziness, tears, joy, frustration, and growth. From the bucket showers, hand washing laundry, to porta potties, everyone has been in a stage of adjustment. The first few days were such a roller coaster of emotions and adjusting into this new environment and atmosphere while being taught ground work messages (the gospel, our identity, our relationship to god as our father, and the mission he set before us, etc). I had moments of doubt and insecurity, worried about not fitting in, or that I was doing it wrong. But I had to keep reminding myself how the Lord has provided for me so, so much and how he has called me here and confirmed it time and time again. For the first few days, I was constantly looking for something in the messages that didn’t line up with what I knew to be truth. My heart was to remain firm on truth and to always go back to scripture, to make sure nothing was straying. But it was exhausting. On day three, I was praying to the Lord and heard him say to me, “let me have it. you can’t think through discernment. I’ll give you discernment in your spirit. be teachable.” I am the type of person that doesn’t see pictures in my mind. It’s just blank. But as I was praying this prayer of all the anxiety and insecurity and doubt, I saw something. I saw the feet of Jesus and his hands as I was lifting these things up to him saying, “I have that anxiety, I have that fear, and that one too, and that fear too, and this one too”. And I instantly had the same peace I did when I first signed up for the race. The Lord is teaching me to be teachable and to lean on him and his comfort. The Lord is my home, so I’m at home everywhere. All week, He has worked in conversation, drawing connection between my squad mates and I, bringing unity, encountering people’s hearts. He continues to be with me in the mundane moments, and I’m learning to walk in the spirit daily, hourly, moment to moment, and it’s beautiful how he provides.

My mother called me two nights ago and told me how she encountered the spirit at the parent launch weekend. She had sat on it all week, thinking and praying about it before she told me because she wanted to be sure. But she encountered the spirit, she heard the gospel. She told me that she knows Jesus is the savior, her savior, and she wants to follow him. And I bawled. I have been praying for her heart to know him for five years, and God is moving. Please pray for my mother as she starts this walk, and the people around her as they pour into her, just for her to know Christ and to growth with him. Praise be to the Lord!!

On a more logistical note…I found out our schedule for the rest of training camp!! We have one more week from today (9/8) with all the squads including expedition and semester trips, then those trips will launch. After that, until 9/22, there will be a week of training for just gap year squads as we prepare for domestic ministry. Our squad will be spending a week in MISSISSIPPI, where we will be living on a native american reservation and working with the locals, as well as a mennonite community!! which is so exciting! And then we come back to gainesville for a week to debrief. finally, on October 7th, we launch!!!! First to Malaysia, then Thailand, then Eastern Europe, and finally Guatemala!! It’s finally become real that like this is my life now for the next almost year, and it is just so crazy. And I’m embracing the crazy. I pray that the lord will just continue to provide as he does so graciously, and for the squad to continue in obedience even when things are rough and we’re hungry and tired and it’s raining most days, to serve without grumbling, to be lights, and just filled with the joy of the lord. 

If you feel called to further support my squad there are a few people who are yet fully funded, please reach out if you feel called to donate!!!!