Adventures of Training Camp

It’s been about a week since I got home from Training camp in Georgia! I’m so glad I’m out of that tent and can finally sleep in my own bed. To give you a little rundown on what training camp looked like, it consisted of giant spiders and uncontrollable mosquitoes, sleeping in a tent in the Georgia heat, bucket showers for days (& for those of you that have no idea what that is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You go outside and fill up a 5 gallon bucket, lather up and dump it over your head. To tell you the truth, it’s actually one of the best things. 10/10 would recommend!) We tried lots of different food, definitely ranged from Curry and Pho ( which is amazing by the way) to eating crickets and black eggs for breakfast…it was in experience for sure. We had amazing bonding time with the people that we will be spending the next nine months. There were definitely a lot of fears that were overcome!!

On our route we have 43 of us that will be traveling together, we are all split up into teams of 6 or 7 and those are the people that we will live with and do ministry with on the field. Go follow all of them and our squad instagram, WRGY_SQUADW, because we will all be spending quite a bit of time together throughout the next year (pictures of them included). As we take off in September our first stop will be Guatemala. We will be there for three months. Our ministry will consist of mostly working at schools helping them learn English! Our next stop will be Ethiopia and we will be there for the next 3 months, there is still some uncertainty about our ministry in Ethiopia but I will keep you all updated as we find out more. The last stop will be Thailand and we will be there for the last three months and still unsure about the ministry in that country as well but super stoked for Thai food, that’s all I know!!         

Wow you guys the Lord did so much healing within the last couple weeks at training camp!! He broke down walls, called me out into the waters, gave me so many promises & answered so many questions that had been lingering on my heart for so many years. You all, I am hands down in love with Jesus and all that he has planned for me. He is going to show me so much in this next year and I’m so excited to fully commit myself to the Lord as he leads me through the rest of my life. He promises life full of joy, perseverance, boldness & unconditional love and acceptance. This life is completely free of shame, free of blame, free of worry, free of darkness because all I have to do is say “YES, YES GOD ALWAYS” & he reveals himself in ways that are sometimes unexplainable, unexpected & unimaginable. It hurts sometimes and I often don’t fully know what he is doing but as he has began to wreck my life & break down walls that I had been building up so high; those walls that were built out of so much fear, doubt and shame….it has been a beautiful mess. To tell you the least I had been clinging on to the chains that God had already released me from because I was absolutely terrified of letting God work in my life. I believed that holding on to those broken chains was the safest place to be because there was no way I could let God come work in my life, I was a shameful mess. Haha I realized last week at training camp that for a lot of years I was scared of surrendering to him because of the thought of Him calling me to step out in faith and proclaim to the nations, I was scared that he would call me to go against the grain of a normal life. But oh boy does he take those fears and use them for His good. I realized that there were so many things that I have had to go through that has gotten me ready for such a time as this!!

 Throughout the week he continued to open up past wounds and heal them. He started with the very deep and darkest places of my heart and worked his way out!! He began to show me that every chain that I let go of gave me a little more freedom. Every lie that I chose to no longer believe He gave me a beautiful promise in return. Every step that I took into the waters, blessings rained & he began to open my eyes to the things above. He wants nothing more than an intimate relationship with me. He is gonna keep chasing after me because he is our creator and we are living in this kingdom that is ruled by the one and only almighty God. He is the designer of our very souls & the love he has for us is UNCONDITIONAL. HE LITERALLY BREATHES LIFE INTO US. we. are. dead. without. him. 

So excited for all that He is doing in my life currently. He is teaching me to be intentional with my time as I am home and he continues to show me His faithfulness as I look at what is to come. 

Would love the continued prayers as I am back home for the next 6 weeks! If you all have any Packing/ traveling tips please feel free to throw them out there!!  

 

My Team <3 Sadie, Shelby, Ellie, Kaya, & Bri