Welcome Home!

What a week! I can’t even wrap my mind entirely around all that God did in the past 7 days. The first few days were honestly extremely difficult. Completely uncomfortable. I felt so out of my element even though I was literally immersed in my element. I had moments of questioning so hard “what am I doing here???” But God. Goodness. Seriously where do I start? THE BEST IS YET TO COME.

Let’s start with the grimy. That seems to be my favorite word right now because it was how my hair looked yesterday haha. Training camp is in the middle of Georgia. Where it is hot and HUMID and the ground is not flat. This West Texas gal is not used to this kind of weather or terrain. Oh how I miss the wind. The days have been long, waking up early and packing in the sunlight with sessions, worship, serving, physical activity, discussion, team building, long talks, short talks, and walks. God has been teaching me so much humility in the uncomfortable and challenging busyness already. Never thought I would say this but I have loved taking a bucket shower… it is one of the best parts of the day. Truthfully, the physical atmosphere may seem a little miserable at times but it’s now become the least of my thoughts. God has given me so much more to cling to in the midst of this challenge.

Here’s my home! My precious orange tent that has survived many creatures that remain unseen or unspoken. My “mentor parents” have a daughter going on The World Race Gap Year (18-20 year olds) and while they were in Georgia for the parents event they bought me this precious welcome mat! It brings homey vibes and I love it so much! AND, my tent survived its first rain! Yay! So good.

Next up.. laundry day! Since we packed in a backpack we don’t really have a wardrobe so clothes end up getting worn multiple times in the nice grimy heat.. so laundry day is so precious to us already. It took us a while to hand wash our clothes but it was so worth it. Clean laundry feels like a luxury.

Squad Z!! My squad is from all across the United States and one racer is even from Canada! So it’s been fun getting to know everybody. Eventually we will split into mini teams when we launch overseas. This picture is from Squad Wars. My squad took third place!

As time goes by I will introduce you to my teammates but for now I would like you to meet my Squad Leaders (SQL) Alayna, Madison, and Lucas! They have all been on The World Race previously and are now walking in obedience with the Lord by leading our squad for the first half of our journey, and will then raise up a few of us to be squad leaders on the field! These guys are AWESOME. Seriously. I am so inspired by them. They each walk in humility, boldness, and JOY! It’s so cool!! I just love them! I am so excited to see God move in them and use them! Eeeee so excited, I really hope you can hear my excitement!

This next picture makes me laugh. I received such a HUGE blessing from a couple a little while ago who fully provided a years supply of daily contacts for me! So here’s a pair I took out before bed haha. Every day I open a new pair I am reminded of Gods PROVISION.

Ooooooooo a cajon. Yup, a cajon. If you’re wondering what that word is, well, it’s a box drum basically. I didn’t bring one to camp, but they had one in the training center that I was allowed to borrow during free time! I LOVED getting to recharge my spirit in a way with some beats, it just is so life giving to me. (And yes, I brought the crocs, and I have ZERO REGRETS, I love them)

The next 2 pictures are of all the racers here for training. Some squads are only here for a little over a week and will launch Tuesday for a semester journey. My squad is here until the end of this coming week and will launch on September 18th. The gap year squad will be here for six weeks and launch in October. So many people on fire for Jesus!

One more thing before I get to the best for last… here’s some fun critters I took pictures of this morning. I hate bugs soooo this is always an unpleasant surprise that I am slowly getting used to, well, maybe not.. but trying to settle with haha!

Okay, THE BEST IS YET TO COME. And I saved the best story for the end. Seriously. GOD. SO GOOD. This past week I have been pressing into what the character of God is. He is a Father who forgives, protects, provides, comforts, brings peace.. I could keep going. He is just SO GOOD. The Holy Spirit has been so present, and I have loved getting to draw closer to that portion of the Trinity. I love God, I love Jesus, and I love Holy Spirit! The past two nights we got to spend an extended period of time in worship. Worship is a little different here than what I am used to back home so it took a day or two to get used to but now I LOVE IT. There’s a lot more instrumental parts and repetition of words. One of the girls on my squad, Emma, has such a beautiful gift of singing and I would hear her just singing her heart to God in her own words even when there were no words being sung. So I jumped over my pride and decided I would try it too. It was weird at first, mostly “humming” came out of my mouth, but then I started gaining confidence and would sing! I hurdled pride a second time then and started to just pray… out loud, like not whispers. I have LOVED that too. I just feel so connected to God. I’ve been working on hearing His voice and have been trying to be obedient to it when I hear Him.

So here’s my story.. I got baptized last night! This wasn’t entirely a traditional baptism. Many people did get baptized for their first time in a surrender to God through salvation publicly professing but others chose to get baptized for healing, deliverance, and quite literally just saying we want more of God! I saw it as an act of renewal, surrender, and hunger. I wrestled all evening on whether I wanted to get in the water. I wept on my knees in those moments just seeking His voice. It was like this little war was in my mind where one voice said “Go” and the other said “No”. I watched dozens of people come out of the water in freedom, the room felt flooded with the Holy Spirit, and every time another person came out of the water it was like an all consuming fire. The night was almost ending and I just told God, “I just need someone to say this to”. All of my SQLs were surrounding the tank so that idea was crossed off, but when I turned around I saw one of the staff who’s name I remembered! So to her I went. That conversation was so hard to speak. Mainly because I didn’t have all the words to speak. But afterwards I just stood there and knew, “go”. When I finally got in the water I can’t even explain my body entirely. It felt like something was just rushing through my veins from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I just cried. My squad mentor, and the World Race director, prayed over me. It was breathtaking. When I went underwater it was the most peaceful thing. That one second under felt like an hour. Coming out of the water I just cried with so much joy. It was the best “go” I could’ve said yes to. I am so thankful for the one who helped me to follow through with my “yes”! Praise God for this gift. 

Which leads me to my final statement… I am so excited for MORE OF GOD. I am just so hungry for Him!! I’m so pumped to experience Him in so many new ways. Through nature, people, places, the Bible, prayer, worship, the supernatural… all of it! I’m all in!! I want to be completely undignified. Unashamed of truly pouring out my praise to Him. I want to radically obey. Whether I look silly or strange to others in my worship (this includes acts of service), I will live this next year undignified!

I don’t have time to share much more but I have SO MANY stories already of what I have seen God do and heard Him say and it’s only been one week!!! PRAISE THE LORD. Welcome Home!