Well I am officially back from training camp, and the only word I can use to describe it is FIREHOSE.
The schedule of our days consisted of 7am workout, 8am breakfast, 9am Worship, 10-12:30pm sessions, 12:30 lunch, 1:30-4pm sessions, 4-5 free time (some days if we got lucky), dinner, 7-9 evening sessions with our squad, lights out by 11.
Rinse (if we were lucky for a shower that day) and Repeat.
So friends and family, Welcome to Training Camp yourself!
7am Workouts
These workouts consisted of morning trail runs, Yoga (which I LED… umm holy praise report on that!), 3mile backpacking to Mount Yonah, practicing our squad dance routine, and even playing ultimate frisbee. The point of these morning workouts was to support physical well being, our physical temple for the Lord.
8am Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Every day our meals and dress code were wrapped around the location that we would possibly be sent too. (Central America, Asia, India, Adventure Day, Travel Day, South America). Lots and lotsss of rice, and lots of times where we were eating with only our hands. Fun fact, in India it is actually disrespectful to eat with your left hand because it is considered dirty. Never knew!! After each meal the squad would be assigned on clean up duty; servant heart. Always.
9am-4pm Training Center Sessions/Worship
Worship… I could write a whole blog on that because it RADICALLY changed my heart and perspective on the father. (PS yes I am writing a blog on this; I learned a new characteristic of God because of worship.) Anyways, the sessions were in this room; filled with 80+ other racers, equally three different squad (Global South – L squad, Exhibition- M Squad, and Pacific Rim – K Squad). All unique and incredible. During these sessions we learned about the heart of AIM (Adventures In Mission) Q&A’s, Holy Spirit, Law vs. Grace, Kingdom Culture, Discipleship, anddd so much more. I fell in love with this organization during these sessions, because of the transparency and approachability of each of the speakers.
Personal Time/Team Time 4pm-9pm
The back to back scheduling could be viewed as a negative, but for me it was a positive. It forced me to be more intentional with my time, and those little windows of opportunity to be alone with God. The walk from the campsites to the patio for meals, the early release from sessions, incorporating more yoga, the 5am alarm instead of the 630am one are just some examples. One of the speakers said it perfectly.
The price for His presence is time.
The purpose is change.
The product is power.
So I learned to fight in a different way for time with Him, even if it meant sacrificing an extra hour of sleep or a random pickup game of basketball.
Goodnight!
After the long days we would HIT THE HAY. Some nights we were in a scenario where half of our luggage made it to the country so we had to share everything (which is easy with 18 ladies on the squad), having to hike 3 miles to our ministry, staying inside the host family’s house, all squads night, and then just the night in a tent. The consistent thing was we were always unpacking/repacking out packs; which many of us got tired of really quick… leading to us reconsidering all the packing we thought we had set. #minimalist
OH, and the best part! MIKEE, one of our coaches, was the ultimate MVP by fueling our squad with coffee in the backseat of their Green Kia Soul for the week.
Bless.
xoxo
d
https://soundcloud.com/dana-salesman/firehoses-and-backseat-coffee
The adventure begins. Make sure you keep a written journal. You do not want to rely on your phone to keep notes.
For such a time as this!
Sooo many journals. I actually hate typing on my phone because I often get so distracted. Already bought a pack of pens for the journey 🙂
Such fond memories of TC! I LOVED getting to be a part of your entire TC (and very grateful we didn’t have to camp in tents)!