We have officially survived our first week of training camp! We are living in our tents (mine has stayed dry through all the rain), did our laundry by hand (which was wet for several days because of all the rain), and took bucket showers. If you just thought, what on earth is a bucket shower, I thought that too at first. It is exactly what it sounds like. There are stalls with nothing except a curtain for privacy and some bugs. You fill a bucket with water from a hose (yes, it is cold) and you use a liquid measuring cup to pour the cold water over yourself, soap up, and then rinse again. It really isn’t that bad, but we are looking forward to warm showers this week in the shipping container showers on campus. 

    We also get to eat whatever is served us, which some days is better than others. For anyone who doesn’t know, I eat a lot. And they portion out the food for the whole team, so we have to make sure everyone gets enough, so I end up being the food vacuum finishing everyone else’s food most of the time:) 

     We have also been in lots of sessions (where they teach us things we will need to know when we’re on the field). I‘ll summarize some of the topics we’ve discussed: truth, community, who is God and how do we talk to him, relationship with God, what is the gospel?, identity, what is ministry, the Holy Spirit, feedback, forgiveness, and intimacy (with God and teammates).

     It’s been fun to get to know our squad and leaders more through just chatting and also some team building stuff. It feels like we’ve known each other for months not just seven days. We have 15 racers and 2 squad leaders, McKayla and Victoria. Plus our squad mentor Cami (the one who helps coordinate travel and takes care of us from the states while we’re abroad). They are so full of wisdom and advice and have been helping make training camp extra fun.

     Today (Sunday) is a true day of rest for us to recover from the week. This next week is going to be full and extremely busy. We will be going on a hike up a mountain Monday afternoon, making camp at the top, and coming back the following morning. We will come back to lots of sessions, laundry, showers, and team building and very little free time. We could all use prayers for strength, kindness, and patience with each other as we battle through the week. We will then have a day of rest next Sunday (to recover) and will leave for Nicaragua Monday the 12th. I attempted to upload some pictures, but it was slow and just not loading some of them, so I’ll have to attempt another time.