Training Camp: Just the Beginning

I took a deep breath, packed my bags, loaded my car and set my eyes on the road. Before I knew it, I was headed to training camp. Training camp felt so far away when it was March, yet it came and gone so quickly. Nerves welled up inside me, excitement grew stronger as I got closer. I have tried to gather the perfect words to describe my experience during that week, almost as if there are correct words to depict the adventure. Training camp was simply that, an adventure. It was just the beginning.

Training camp reminded me of summer camp in a way. This was by all the new faces and names, foods I do not typically eat, and just the everyday “campy” lifestyle. 30 new faces and names might seem like a lot, but the 30 people I now call my family made it easy. Everyone was welcoming, intentional, loving, and kind right from the first “hello.” Training camp offered so much, and I took advantage of every second I could take in. I learned to love in new ways… and got a tiny taste of just how close we are all going to become in the next year. I also got the opportunity to try some new foods (who doesn’t love doing that?). Each meal was based off a certain region from around the world or some meals were “traveling day” based, meals we may eat while flying. Fun fact, they were not all tasty and yes, I am talking about the crickets and the fermented duck egg. The lifestyle during the week was a fun one. It was one filled with camping and sleeping under the stars, bucket showers, team building exercises, actually exercising, and trials of what we may encounter on the field. One night the “airport” had “lost” some of our luggage and we had to rearrange our sleeping plans (yes, half of our stuff was actually tied up for the night). On another night, there had to be a small group of us praying at each hour throughout the night into the morning, and oh boy was that powerful to experience!

Training camp opened my eyes to so much and by the end of the week, I was giddy for what the future held. It might seem like training camp was all fun and games, though it was exciting, there were also challenging times. I interacted with God in a new way and He spoke to me like never before.

Please check out the pictures down below!

With all my love – PJ

Meet I-Squad and while you’re at it, pray over each of these fantastic people.

Here I am enjoying my first PB&J… yes, my first one ever!

(check out the crickets & fermented egg)