Training Camp is over!!!

Hey everyone!!!

It’s been insanely busy lately and as such, I haven’t had as much time to sit down and process! Additionally, I haven’t posted a blog in a while so it’s time for an update.

Currently I am sitting on the dining deck in Gainesville Georgia at the Adventures in Missions base on day one of debrief. We just got back from Black Mountain, North Carolina where we did our two-week state-side mission trip. And we leave for Guatemala this Saturday!!!

Those are the main overall points of what I’ve been up to, but no worries! I am going to tell y’all all about the day-to-day details. This post is mostly about the end of training camp and I’m going to post another one about North Carolina and debrief soon!

Alrighty: when I last shared with you guys, I was in the middle of training camp, and it was insane. The craziness hasn’t changed much, things are still just as fast paced; but a lot of other things have changed.

For one: I feel a lot more comfortable here now! It’s one of the reasons I haven’t posted as much: I’ve wanted to be as present as I can in the moment appreciating the season that I have entered. I’ve spent hours and hours with my amazing team getting to know one another and laughing until literally crying. There has been so much sweet and beautiful growth as individuals and as a team! I am truly comfortable in saying that I have met and made some of the best friends I think I will ever make. Each girl is such a light and brings so much joy into the group, I can’t even describe just how brilliant each of them are though one of these days I may try to.

I think having such a long training camp helped with that, the growth. We had three full weeks of just gap year squads together, learning more about the Lord, each other and how to live in community with one another. The entire time was constant learning and growth; I think I discovered more about the world that God created during that time than I have in my entire life. And it’s just gonna keep going!

I’ll admit, at times it did feel overwhelming just how much I was learning. But I wasn’t alone. I had my squad to talk about things with and most importantly, I have God to talk things over with all the time.

During the last week of training camp, I got the chance to just sit with God and talk with Him. A full-on conversation with mutual communication.

I was sitting in one of the comfy chairs on the corner of the dining deck. It was just me and an empty chair. I had my Bible out and I was reading Song of Songs (I’ve never read it before coming to training camp and it is so GOOD). As I was reading and doing my morning devotional, I just felt the desire stop reading and just pray. So, I did. I sat in the chair and started talking to God, sharing with Him how I was feeling, what I was thinking about the passage I had been reading and all sorts of other things. And as I was talking, I just looked at the empty chair next to me and thought about God sitting there listening. Then, I stopped talking and listened to Him.

I let my mind go quiet and focused on the amazing God that created me and died for me and rose again to save me. It was incredible and so, so amazing. It felt genuine and it was. I can’t remember everything that we talked about, I just remember knowing that He was there, listening and talking with me.

That was one of my favorite days.

Training camp also opened my eyes to the fact that I do have a community. The past few years have been pretty lonely. It was a great season of growth and reliance on the Lord to be everything that I need, but it was extremely hard. I came to training camp pretty much expecting that to be the same. To have God and no one else. But He gave me friends, more than that, He gave me brothers and sisters.

I am never alone now. I am constantly spending time with people and with the Lord just experiencing what community is and what it can be. And it is so insanely cool to be able to tell people that I get to travel the world with these people. I get to know them and love them and laugh with them, which is really  

I don’t think I’ve shared this before, but during training camp, we are responsible for dishes during at least one meal of the day. During I think the second or third week, J-Squad was on dish duty. The thing about that day was that it was raining, and dishes are outside. Now usually this would make dishes a pain and something that no one wanted to do. But we made it amazing. Instead of worrying about the rain, we danced in it. We did the dishes in the pouring rain, and it was fun. People were sliding down the hill, spraying each other with the hose and overall, just going crazy.

This was only ONE of the hundreds of moments that we shared together during training. I have stories for years and I cannot wait to share them and remember them in the years to come.

Anyways, I hope y’all enjoyed this post and the stories that I was able to share! I’m heading to squad time right now and can already hear the off-key karaoke that needs to be joined in on! Love y’all!

–          Em

PS Because there are two Emma’s on my Squad, I’ve decided to start going by Em which is really fun because I’ve always wanted a nickname!