Well, this is new. I haven’t had a diary in a long while so I will just do my best with this whole blogging thing. What did I expect out of training camp? HA. I had actually looked at a World Race training camp blog before I camp here; I saw fish head soup, tents and a lot of hiking. That didn’t seem so bad at first besides the fish head soup, but then we got to Atlanta and I realized it was still freezing down here, so the idea of tents and hiking began to bring worry as well. However, when I got to the camp I was relieved to recieve normal food, a cabin to sleep in, and minimal hiking, although with the beauty around here I don’t think I would mind some more. Even more beauitful than the camp itself is the hearts of those who inhabit it. I have seen and felt more love since I walked onto these grounds than I expected to see and feel throughout the entire trip. We are continuously growing in our relationships with Christ as well as with each other. I could already write a blog a piece for each of my team mates, just going on and on about their courage, kindness and strength. At first I very much admired these things in a lot of them, to the point where it came into feelings of envy. Then we did an exercise where we wrote on a log all the things that were holding us back on this journey, and I wrote insecurity on mine. I’ve struggled with insecurity a lot in my past, but this was a kind I hadn’t exactly felt before. Here, if you didnt grow up in a Christian home, And/or have not gone on a mission trip before, you’re definitely the minority. This fact alone made me so deeply intimidated and insecure that I second guessed my being here. But when we carried that log through a long trail and I began to realize how heavy it had gotten, I decided to surrender it to God and trust that He knows I’m strong enough or else I wouldn’t be here. Something that the Lord is really putting on my heart here is the power of dance. Not only did our team bond through (not to mention win, whoop whoop) the dance competition, but I have met so many people here just through dancing, sharing ridiculous moves, and even more importantly, sharing joy. My hope is to bring that power of dancing and universal language of joy with me and my team as we venture into East Africa these next 4 months, and that will open up opportunities to share the joy only God can bring us with the people we come in contact with. Let’s do this thing!
