First Week Update

What is up everyone! For the first time I am writing to you all from Gainesville GA! We are working our way through day 3 of training and boy oh boy what an adventure it has been already. Meeting my team has been incredible, although we have only been together for a few days we are already starting to break down barriers and get to know each other very well. We have a super diverse team with people ranging in age from 21-29 and from places such as Haiti, China and all over the United States. 3 of our 13 team members have the same birthday on October 19th we all thought that was a crazy coincidence. I have already seen the Holy Spirit active in all of them in their own unique ways and hearing their testimonies has been a great reminder of God’s love for all of His children. I can’t wait to work together with these people to advance the Kingdom of God.

Training camp has been a trip already and they are certainly preparing us for the conditions that we will experience while we are out of the country. We have 11 guys here at camp and we have been sleeping in a space smaller than my bedroom at home and we have had to sleep on the floor every night with our mats. They also make us pack everything up in the morning so it has been a good routine of learning how to unpack and repack our belongings in an effective way. It is pretty cold this time of year in Georgia and we have only been given access to Porta John’s so that has been a bit chilly. The showers are built out of old storage containers and the one shower I have taken was fairly warm so that was certainly a blessing!

Most importantly the Holy Spirit is so alive here! From the workers who serve us and maintain the facilities to the speakers and our team leaders. We have been having a few teaching sessions everyday and they have been very impactful on me already. I came into this experience so excited to work for the Lord and serve His Kingdom but I am quickly learning that the experience is probably going to do more work on me than I am going to do for Him. One statement that has really stuck out to me so far is “God cares more about us than He cares about what He can get out of us” and that was very profound and mind opening for me. I love God and I know that He loves me but I tend to view Him as more of a disciplinarian and an authoritative figure then I do a loving father. This may seem twisted to you but Western Culture really indoctrinates us with this idea of having to achieve and produce. I have applied this concept to my faith quite a lot in my young adult life. But being here is making me realize that God cares more about a relationship with me and getting to know me and spend time with me than He does about what I am doing to advance His Kingdom. When we experience the full love of God the byproduct is wanting to share that love with others that we encounter.

This love that God has for me is making me also feel convicted that I need to be trusting Him more and learning to experience and identify His love more in my everyday life. This was a conviction that was put on my heart when I was deciding to commit to this experience and it is becoming more evident already. I felt like the Lord was really calling me to trust in Him more and I am now realizing that a major part of trusting Him more is realizing the depth of His love for me. It is deeper and wider than I could ever imagine but I am hopeful that I can continue to experience greater depths of His love and develop a better understanding of it. Some other statements that have really stuck out to me are “believing in the Word is one thing, but trusting what the Word says what we should strive for” and another is “Love trusts that God will take care of things”. In the coming weeks I am going to be praying that God will show more of His love for me and that I will develop a deep trust in that love. Knowing the Word is great foundation but the word is fulfilled when we trust it to be true for our lives not just believing what the word says. Through out this race I am going to have to choose to trust God’s love for me time and time again and I can not wait to grow in this area.

Remember God loves you more than you could ever imagine. He is NOT concerned about what He can get out of you or the work you are doing for His kingdom He is concerned about YOU!


PS I have had very limited free time and access to service since getting here. We don’t have Wifi and phone coverage has been spotty for hotspots. I will certainly keep you up to date as I have access to more resources. Thank you all for the support!