I LEAVE TOMORROW!!!!! Y’all it’s been 5 weeks here in Georgia, and let me tell you, I’m ready to leave. The first three weeks were training camp at our base in Gainesville. My last blog post “Day by Day, Step by Step” breaks down what training camp looks like, so if you haven’t read it, GO READ IT. Once training camp was over, we had our domestic (in state) ministry. And now we are finishing our debrief/last week here as the Gainesville base.
My squad went to Sharptop Cove Young Life camp for a week. We spent our days working in flower beds, cleaning spider webs, moving rocks, blowing away grass, cleaning rooms, folding sheets, cleaning the driveway, and picking up trash. The first couple days I spent my time working in flower beds, picking weeds and raking leaves. I really enjoyed talking with my squad mates and learning about how the Lord is working in their lives. We spent our evenings jumping in the lake, worshiping, playing mafia and snacking on our leftover food. Throughout the week, we had two different schools come for their retreats and we were able to go to their time of worship and message. Both times we went, I witnessed Jesus working in the young kids’ lives and moving them to follow Him. As the week went on, we got word that hurricane Helene was coming. Everyone was telling us that we were going to lose power and have trees down with lots of flooding. When we woke up Friday morning, we had power and there was no damage to where we were staying or around the camp. That’s when I knew God protected us. The previous night we had prayed for a bubble of protection around us and the camp, and GOD DELIVERED. Friday I went outside to help move rocks and clean trash out of the lake that they had drained the day prior. I really enjoyed that because I was able to play in the mud like a little kid again haha. Saturday we worked for a few hours then spent the afternoon playing pool, ping pong, spike ball, pickle ball and watching college football. Sunday we had squad church and then left right after. We were able to stop and eat lunch at McDonalds which was so fun. Overall the week was super fun and a needed change of scenery.
WE HAD OUR FIRST ADVENTURE DAY! We got the opportunity to go to Helen GA for the day and then go to lake Lanier for the evening. While in Helen (a small German town, like Leavenworth for my Washington folks), my group and I walked through the town and looked in different shops along the streets. We went to a cute coffee shop called Yonah Coffee and hung out there for a bit. Then we headed over to a hot sauce store and tried all the hot sauce and barbecue sauce that they make locally there. Some of the sauces were really good and some of them were too spicy for me to know what they tasted like lol. After that we continued to walk around and check out different stores and eventually sat down at a restaurant and had lunch. After that we met back up as a whole squad and went to get ice cream! Then after we went to the lake and swam, played card games, took cute sunset pictures, and enjoyed each other’s company. I think that was one of my favorite days within these last 5 weeks of being here in Georgia. It was a great opportunity to explore but also bond with my squad mates. If you’re ever in Georgia, I recommend going to Helen.
Our last week was debrief! We have had time with our coaches Heather and Don and also time for one-on-ones with people within our squad. My team went and got ice cream to celebrate 1 month of being a team!!! Throughout this week we had a lot of free time to process the prior weeks. We have also had time to debrief with our teams and the coaches/mentors. The debrief consists of our high(good thing), low(hard thing), grow(how we want to grow), and buffalo(random memory) in these three areas that Adventures in Missions focuses on: Intimacy with God, Community with others, and Mission. I think this has been a very beneficial way of processing and building our team as well. We were also given the opportunity to do laundry at a laundromat. SO I TOOK IT. I cleaned almost all the clothes I brought for this trip and let me tell you how much of a blessing it is to have a washer and dryer. My clothes no longer smell like dirt or have stains on them from random food items.
After getting my laundry done, I had to pack it all up. I spent maybe an hour or two packing my bag. I was able to fit everything in my bag and still have a little extra space. My only concern is the weight. It’s weighing between 48 and 54 lbs right now and I’m not entirely sure which weigher that I used was correct. Packing has honestly been the most stressful part of this whole process of leaving. It’s just hard to make sure I have everything and that I put it in my bag in an organized way.
It’s currently 11 am and we leave campus at 8 pm. I’m spending my day resting and hanging out with our coaches and mentor. Once we leave campus, we stay overnight in the Atlanta airport lobby because we have to be up and moving through TSA at 5 am for our 8 am flight. We will be with another squad of 35 ish people and sleeping on the floor. We will then have a quick 2 hour layover in Miami before flying to Nicaragua. GUYS I’M ACTUALLY LEAVING. This is insane and I’m so so excited. I love you all and thank you for all the support over this past year of preparation.
