A lot can happen in two weeks. If you saw me from the first day of camp to now, you would be looking at two completely different people. Within these two weeks, we’ve gone through one week of training camp and one week of domestic ministry. Training camp was definitely a new experience for me, especially since I’ve never camped before. When I found out I had to sleep in a tent the whole time, I figured I was not going to make it. But getting there and fully experiencing training camp, port-a-potties and all, gave me a different perspective on what my living style back at home looked like. I remember arriving on day one and immediately being filled with overwhelming emotions that evening because I missed home so much. I missed the comfort of my scheduled life back at home, I missed the luxury I was living in, I missed my friends and family, I missed everything about my old life. I remember thinking to myself “there’s no way I can go another day of this, let alone 9 months.” But alas, God works in miraculous ways. Here we are with over 2 weeks of experiencing this community and I’ve already felt so much more at peace with myself.

Life at training camp felt simple. We wake up, eat breakfast, give up our phones, worship, have lessons, have conversations with our teams, and the rest of the evening we had to ourselves. Training camp also consisted of not only the other two gap year squads, but two semester squads and the 11-11 expedition squad. At first, I thought everyone would mainly stick with their squads and teams. But that’s the beauty of community. There are no clicks, there are no divided groups. I feel as if I’ve made a new friend every day I wake up. Monday I became best friends with a guy from Q squad and Wednesday I became best friends with a girl on S squad. With these new connections, we’re able to celebrate with each other, celebrate all God has done. One night I will never forget was the night we were doing baptisms. We started baptizing people around 8 pm and didn’t finish till midnight. What I found most beautiful about the experience was that most people who got baptized weren’t signed up to get baptized, including me. Once we went through all the people who were signed up, more and more people jumped into that water. I originally hadn’t signed up mainly because I had already been baptized as a child. But something about feeling that Holy Spirit call you to baptism and then choosing to accept that Jesus has taken over your life and you’re ready to powerfully declare it makes it so much more worth it. Coming to training camp, I was gripping so tightly to my old habits and old ways. I didn’t want to change. I wanted to come back after 9 months the same person so I could have the same friends and same life. Ever since my head came out of that water, I’ve only ever wanted to be changed more by Jesus every day for the next 9 months.

Outside of the exciting celebrations and events, training camp has taught and prepared me in so many ways. One takeaway I had was from a lesson given by a woman with so much enthusiasm and passion, Joy, and this lesson ultimately led me to my decision of baptism. She gave a lesson on identity, and how we have the power to decide who chooses our identity. We can either let the world choose our identities and shape who we are, or we can pick up the cross and let Jesus overcome our identities. So often, I had let the world choose who I was. I always gave into peer pressure, people pleasing, and popular temptations. I wanted the world to like me so much that I forgot who Jesus was at times. Coming to camp, I got to see what it looked like to let Jesus take over my personality. I didn’t have to care what I looked like for people to love me, I didn’t have to make dumb decisions to fit in. All I had to do was express my love for Jesus, which I didn’t realize I hadn’t done in such a long time. Letting Jesus take that fear of man from me made me feel the lightest I’ve felt in a while. Faith over fear, always.

After a week of training camp, we were sent off to complete domestic ministry in Adrien, Georgia. For domestic ministry, we were sent to an old camp that Adventures in Missions (AIM) had been working on to transform into a relief center. We got to stay in these rooms with bunk beds that could hold about 15 people, which was awesome. My favorite part of the rooms was definitely the AC and showers. Little did we know, the luxurious rooms were only the beginning. The camp also came with amazing chefs that fed us so much food I forgot what regular portions looked like. Our schedules were also very generous. We had breakfast and worship in the morning, followed by 2 and a half hours of work with an hour lunch break and 3 more hours of work. The rest of the day was to ourselves, and we had a nice pool to enjoy during that time was well. It was funny experiencing all of this after a week of training camp. It made our life back at the campsite look rough, and we would all just laugh about it. Unfortunately, our life at the relief base was a little too perfect to be true. The first night in our nice comfortable beds, we found out we had bed bugs. Everyone in our room stuffed all of their belongings in a trash bag, took the bags to the laundry room, and ran them through the dryers to kill all the bugs with the heat. The AIM workers were able to move us to a different room, but we later had to get moved to a different building because the room we were staying in had to get painted. We also had a handful of sick people, a few trips to the hospital, and an (almost) lice breakout. As crazy as our incidents seemed back at the base, I was taught a lot on what flexibility looked like. We’ll experience much more crazy switch ups overseas, so having a little taste on patience and flexibility was nice to experience. I also learned what it looked like to have a good attitude in a bad situation. Even though our situations were chaotic, I felt as if each of us found a way to smile and laugh it off. Not once did I hear anyone complain or be frustrated on the situation. I thought that was beautiful to see us really working towards having a Christ-like attitude towards situations.

All though I have shared many of the blessings and growths of training camp and domestic ministry, I find it worth noting one of the biggest struggles we as the gap squads have been dealing with recently. Last night, yet another person got sent to the hospital due to passing out. This isn’t the first person, and we’ve continually been watching people struggle with sicknesses and injuries, many having to get sent to the hospital. One even had to get sent home because it was unsafe. It’s strange to see all of this happening so early on in the trip, but it’s especially strange to see all of this happening right before we all get sent out to ministry. After the incident last night, whoever was awake came together on the dining deck and just prayed. We prayed and cried out to God, begging for His presence on these people. It was clear that this was the work of the devil. He knows how powerful this group of people is, and he knows how powerful this group of people are going to be overseas. At that moment, we all got out our Bibles, played worship in the background, and sought for the Lord. The devil is doing everything in his power right now to hold us from spreading the Gospel overseas. As racers, we will continue to trust in God, continue to seek Him, and we one hundred percent will still go overseas and evangelize. I pray and ask that those of you who are reading this will join us in prayer that whatever evil is present among us be casted out. That God will lay His hand of healing on those who are struggling with these sicknesses and injuries. That we will continue to be strong in this difficult time. And that the Lord will continue to lay His protection over us as we fight for His Word. He is with us. Always.