Training Camp!

Yesterday we officially completed training camp; tomorrow, we leave for ministry! This morning we said a bittersweet goodbye to the guys on our squad. I am so excited about all they will do in Kentucky, working with Samaritans Purse for two weeks, but sad that our squad will be slit up. Us girls are leaving for North Carolina tomorrow morning to serve the community of Black Mountain in as many ways as we can. Before we start this next adventure, I wanted to write a post about what life has looked like over the past several weeks at training camp in Georgia.

Day to day, there’s not much that changes. My morning starts off at 6:40 when my alarm goes off in my tent. I rush to turn off my alarm, so I don’t wake my tent neighbors and then lay in my sleeping bag, procrastinating wiggling my way out into the cold air. When I get out of my sleeping bag, I change my clothes and prepare for a challenge: quickly getting out of my tent without letting any spiders in so I can rush to the porta-potty before I pee my pants. I use my headlamp to search the outside of my tent for daddy long legs before I open the door and put my shoes on. I grab my daypack and then speedwalk to the nearest porta-potty.

Once that emergency is dealt with, I wash my face and brush my teeth with an outdoor portable sink. The water is always cold in the morning, but it’s refreshing, right? Once I’m ready for the day, I walk the ten paces to the dining deck, where we meet at 7:15 for personal devotions. This time is so peaceful, and I love starting my day by reading God’s Word and praying. Lately, I have struggled to choose what book of the Bible I want to read next, so I have been reading Isaiah, Hebrews, Ezekiel, and some of Psalms. 

At 8, the rest of the squads join us on the dining deck, and we all eat together. Every meal, a squad will handwash the dishes in the driveway. Our squad always makes washing dishes fun by playing music or singing old Sunday school songs. Meal times have been a great way to build community and get to know my squadmates. There’s usually a mix of serious conversations about what we learned during session and laughter.

At 9, everyone heads inside the training center for worship and session. Worship is definitely a fan favorite and a highlight of the day. After worship, we all grab our chairs, line them up, sit down and get ready to listen and learn during session. After session we take the short walk back to the dining deck for lunch. Fun fact: sometimes we have cultural meal days. One day we had Indian food and ate it with our hands. After lunch, we have an hour of free time before another session.

Depending on the day, free time is time to relax or to do chores. We have scheduled shower days and laundry days. If it’s a shower day, this is an excellent time to take either a bucket or container shower. We took a shower with cold hose water in a five-gallon bucket and a measuring cup for the first week. It seems terrible, but I now appreciate hot water so much more. We took showers with hot water in shipping containers for the next three weeks. It seems strange, but they are no different than regular showers. On laundry day, free time is the best time to do laundry. It can be a bit of a time crunch, but it’s prime time for drying. To do laundry, you fill two five-gallon buckets. One bucket is your wash bucket, and the other is your rinse bucket. Put all your clothes and some detergent in your wash bucket, let it sit for ten minutes, squeeze it out, swirl it around in the rinse bucket, squeeze it out really good or it won’t dry, then hang it up on the clothesline. On our first laundry day, we were all running late, and then the clothesline fell. Now, doing laundry in a bucket is a peaceful time to do a simple task and relax. 

As mentioned, we then have another session full of learning. After session, we may have a squad meeting, team time, free time, or something else. This time before dinner is a bit up in the air. Then, back to the dining deck for dinner! After dinner is also a bit up in the air. One day we had squad wars: a several-event competition between all the squads. Most days, after dinner, we have free time until curfew. Free time is filled with Bible reading, worship, frisbee, Spikeball, Kan Jam, talking, swing dancing, card games, crafts, and intense snack eating.

We have free time until we have to be in our tents. At the beginning of training camp, we had to be in our tents at 11, but it moved to 10:45 because we never stopped being late despite the warning. I mentioned the challenge of getting out of my tent in the morning without letting in spiders. That challenge is seven times harder getting in my tent at night. One night, three daddy long legs crawled into my tent when I was trying to get in. My advice: as soon as you see them, grab them by one of the legs and throw them as far from your tent as possible. Despite the spiders, sleeping in a tent has been far more enjoyable than I expected. And honestly, the spiders just add to the adventure. At the end of the day, I’m excited to return to my tent and sleep on my inflatable sleeping pad.

Sometimes I think about how weird it is that this is what I signed up to do. I signed up to sleep in a tent, wash dishes outside, use porta-potties, and take bucket showers. I signed up to do these things and to be a part of a Christ-centered community, make joy-filled memories, serve the Lord, and tell people about Jesus. 

This is what a typical day of training camp looks like, but there have also been many fun moments in the midst of daily life. There have been dance parties, crazy teambuilders we laugh through, a low ropes course, a gas station trip, hiking a mountain, volleyball, evangelism in Walmart, a lake day, and more. I have learned that the little moments and the little things make all the difference in the world. 

Here are some moments captured in pictures: