Boot Camp Part 1

So it has taken me a long time to finally post about boot camp, mainly because I wanted a chance to tell it to some people in person before they read about it here. So here it is. Boot camp.

About two and a half weeks ago on the night of the 15th, I left my home for the first phase of my journey. I spent four days in Georgia for a boot camp at the Adventures in Missions headquarters about an hour away from Atlanta. (This is the parent organization for World Race) Boot camp helps everyone going on this trip get a taste of what it is going to be like for the real thing, and to get to know everyone we would be going with.

As I said, I left the night of the 15th to catch a redeye flight to Georgia and I arrived sometime around 11. I met up with some of my squad members in the airport where we waited for another three and a half hours to be picked up. We finally arrived at the campus where we would be staying and met the rest of our squad there as well. They had all driven there so they got there before us.

At bootcamp, there were a total of about 109 racers. All three Gap Year trips (squads) all met at the same time for this shared boot camp. In my squad, there were only 30 racers, so we were the smallest one there. Anyway, we set up our tents at our dedicated camp site in a wooded area. Yes, we camped for 4 days. We will also be camping for the WHOLE 9 MONTH trip as well. 

This is a picture of my squad.

There were three full days and two half days because those were travel days. Those three full days were pretty uniform and consistent. Every morning, we would wake up at 6:30 and walk to a dining patio at 6:50 where we would have breakfast. We didn’t have camp food like we expected. Everyday would be themed based on some of the continents where we were traveling. For example, day one was Africa day, so we had a lot of traditional African food. Day two was Asia day, and day three was Latin America day. Each meal was “family style” so each table of eight got one tray of food to share, and we divided it amongst ourselves.

After breakfast, we met with our squad and our mentor for a devotional, then we went into worship after that. We worshipped twice a day. I want to find a way to describe worship while still keeping this short, but it’s very hard to put this experience into words. This was probably the most impactful worship of my life. The best way that I can describe it is not about the songs we were singing, or the band that was playing them, but more about the chorus of voices singing them. Singing the words truly from our hearts as if the words were our own. The Holy Spirit was felt here in that small worship center with 110 racers. The services were so powerful they moved people to tears. People were bawling their eyes out, including me. 

After worship, we met with our squad again to talk about camp and have a little lesson. After that, we went to lunch on the dining patio. After lunch, we met with our squad for a final time and did some team bonding exercises. All 30 of us were split into four teams. All of the guys (all 5 of us!) were put onto one team, and the girls were randomly divided into the other three teams. This is where I really started to bond with the guys on my team.

After that, we had about two hours of free time where we could do whatever we wanted. (My time was often spent finishing finals for my Associates Degree!!) Then we met for dinner at 5:00. After dinner, we went in for second worship, and then heard a message for about an hour and a half. These were great messages. Then we had another hour of free time before it was “quiet hour” where we were supposed to be quieter, but that never happened! Then, lights out at 11, and we slept and did it all over again.

So this is a summary of what boot camp was like, but there is so much more to this story that will be continued at a later time. My personal story of boot camp and what happened to me during this time. God showed up for me during this experience. I’m more convinced than ever before that this is exactly what God has called me to. I’ve seen the power of prayer first hand.  I’m excited to share that with all of you.  So be on a lookout for that.