The World Race Training Camp was incredible! 

Thursday, October 8th:  

-I flew to Atlanta, Georgia a day before training camp started. I stayed with one of my squad mates, Lydia who is doing the World Race with me.

-We ate Chick-fil-A and spent time getting to know each other.

Friday, October 9th: Day 1 of training camp:

-Lydia and I drove to Gainesville, GA (about an hour drive) where we were greeted with World Race leaders, staff, other squad mates. (FYI, my squad is called H squad).

-Set up my tent...in the rain. That was brutal, but with help of leaders and other people on H Squad, setting up camp went fast and my stuff didn't get soaked.

-Learned rules and getting to know H squad and leaders. 

-Our bathrooms were porta potties and our showers were bucket showers. A bucket of cold water and a cup. 

Day 2-6th day of training camp: 

-woke up and filled out a health survey and got temperature checks done every morning because of COVID. 

-ate our meals. Each day at training camp we were given a different country that we were in to prepare us for what to eat in different countries. For example, we were in Bangkok, Thailand and for that specific day we ate Thai food. Another day it was our travel day, where we ate some form of PB&J all day long. One day it was adventure day where we tried food that was well...adventurous to eat; like a 1000 year old egg or crickets and meat that I had no idea what it was. 

-worshiped God. We sang around the campfire, inside or during our meals. I didn't realize how much I missed worshipping with people until I was surrounded with an in person community again. 

-had lectures. Each day we had different speakers that were apart of the World Race/Adventures in Missions staff talk to us about a variety of things. Some of it was expectations for training camp, what it will be like on the field in different countries. Other times it was biblical talks about our identity in Christ, the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts,  

-one on ones with H Squads leaders. This is where we got to know them our leaders at a deeper level, express anything that was on our mind, etc. 

-squad bonding. We played games to get to know each other, but also to see who we work well with. On the H squad there are 44 people and within the squad, we are split into smaller teams. These teams of 6-8 people are who we will spend the first couple months with and then we switch teams. H squad will travel to the same countries, but spend most of our time with our smaller teams doing different ministries.

-fitness hike. This is where we hiked almost a mile and a half with our packs on our backs. I want to make sure I am prepared to carry all my stuff since that is what it will be like on my year long journey. 

-split up men and women. Us women spent time doing a movie night, asking questions to leaders where it was just women and getting to know each other without the guys around.  

Friday, October 16th: Last day of training camp

-we packed up our things. 

-had breakfast and cleaned the areas we used during the week. 

-we all said goodbye, got in our cars or went to the airport. 

I learned so much about myself, my relationship with the Lord, my squad and the staff. This week made me more excited about launching internationally in January 2021. 

Thank you for all the support and let me know if you have any questions. 

Sarah