Training Camp Blog Series: Life to the FULL

ALRIGHT FOLKS! It’s the final part of the Training Camp trilogy. I saved the best for last. FUN MEMS

WE WON SQUAD WARS! If you know how competitive I am you know that this wasn’t some silly camp competition. This was everything. My squad showed up BIG with matching shirts, some fantastic dance moves, and an incredible spirit for competition. Thank you Squad I! 

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

MEMS

To give you a glimpse into the laughter and joy that was shared at Training Camp (and so that I can look back at this one day and remember some of the mems I experienced) I wanted to highlight some of my favorite memories at camp:

– The last day of camp we “traveled” HOME to America and had hot dogs and watermelon! No one had to convince me to eat that night!! Haha

– One night while we were worshipping, the worship leader started singing lyrics from “From Now On” and we sang “and we have come back home, we have come back hoooome, home again” and I got chills!!!! THE GREATEST SHOWMAN Y’ALL 

– The guys and girls separated for gender day, and the girls were challenged to do 3000 pushups, 1500 burpees, 1500 squats as a squad (that means I did over 100 push-ups) and I learned that I am strong and fierce and it was super empowering 

– Farts of faith (my pal Josh gave me a “tattoo” and it became my new thing)

– My pal Morgan played “what are the odds” with my other pal Joe, and it ended with Morgan shaving Joe’s head ON THE FIRST NIGHT

– We split up for some workshops and I got to write a sermon and deliver it! I’m a preacher! Wow 

LIFE AS A NOMAD

I never thought I’d say this, but I had so much fun camping out with my squad. By the end of camp we were all pros at setting up and breaking down camp. After Airport night (keep reading for more info on this) I was SO grateful for my tent and my crappy sleeping pad.

Now, I didn’t get completely adjusted to taking bucket showers. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, we filled up a bucket with water and had a little measuring cup to scoop it out (picture below) for a shower. We had outdoor wooden stalls, and you went in and just did your thing. After setting up camp in the Georgia heat or after a sweaty morning run – bucket showers are HEAVEN. But when it’s night time and it starts getting a little chilly, pouring cold water on yourself isn’t super enjoyable.

I learned that you just have to have fun with it. My favorite part (whether I was cold or not) was taking the remaining water at the end of your shower and just dumping it on top of your head to get the remaining soap off. It kind of felt like you were at a water park. What a time to be alive.

FIELD SCENARIOS

The purpose of Training Camp is to make sure we are prepared for anything that could happen on the field. Realistically, we won’t be sleeping in our tents every single night. So while we did sleep in our tents the majority of camp, leadership threw “field scenarios” at us to get us prepared for the different ways we would be living. 

Airport Layover. One night they shoved us all into the main room we had been using. Just like an airport – we all ended up lying on the concrete, the air conditioning cranked up, and the lights on allllll night. They went all out and even had “airport noises” blaring all night including random intercom announcements. (On my way back to Dallas as I was sitting in the airport, the announcements and beeping coming from the intercom gave me PTSD. Hahaha). It was my worst night of sleep by far. But I had a blast sleeping with all my pals and now we can say WE SURVIVED! 

Lost Luggage. They asked us to pick a partner. One person from each partnership “lost” their luggage during a flight (aka they took their pack from them). You know what that meant…sleepover! (s/o to Nicole for being a great tent buddy)

Community Living. Just picture giant tents with sleeping bags EVERYWHERE. This was pretty fun until our neighboring group-tent woke up at 6 am and were obviously all morning-people 🙁

Campout + s’mores. We got to stay as a squad at our campsite and have an old fashioned campfire! We roasted chicken over the fire, sang worship, and just enjoyed each other’s company. It ended with one of my FAVORITE things – everyone sitting around a fire talking about life. 

(If you read my “TRAINING CAMP, HERE I COME” blog post – WE GOT S’MORES!!!! My dream came true)

To be honest I still feel like these three posts barely covered what happened at Training Camp. If you ask me about it I could realistically talk about it for hours. It was like summer camp on steroids for Jesus (if you know me, then you know I was born for this)! The life I experience at Training Camp was life to the FULL! 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and gotten me this far. Thanks to you I got to experience 12 days that I will remember for the rest of my life. Thank you to Adventures In Mission for loving Jesus so well and sharing that love with so many people. Thank you to my leadership team and squad for welcoming me into your family. I am beyond excited to live life with y’all. 

Love y’all, 

Em