Week two of training camp has come and gone, and I can’t believe how quickly time is flying! The first week was packed with lessons and teachings, but this week brought a refreshing change of pace. Here’s my recap of the week!
Scenarios
We have done a lot of these the past two weeks to help prepare us for the field. Here are some that we have done:
- Missing bags. Half our bags “didn’t make it” off of a flight so we had to buddy up with a partner and survive for a day with only one persons stuff.
- House visit. The staff and leaders pretended to be locals from all over and we had to love on them and share the gospel with them.
- Marketplace. World Race recreated a CRAZY marketplace where we had to navigate through to get our dinner for the night.
- Evangelism. As a squad we practiced evangelizing to each other and sharing our testimonies!
Prayer Watch
As a squad we took shifts to stay up the entire night praying for our campus and anything the Lord was laying on our hearts!
Evangelism day!
We went out into the Gainesville square and prayed for people and told them the gospel. Some people we got to pray for:
- A believer named Kathy. She asked us to pray for her autoimmune disease and was super encouraged by us coming up to her.
- Meadow and Caryse. Passed them on the street. They were in a hurry. They said they want us to pray for “more money”. We prayed that they would find their happiness in Jesus and not how much money they make 🙂
- Devon! He was a Jehovah witness sitting on the bench with his flyers. We talked with him for over 30 minutes about a lot of things. From if Jesus is Lord, the Holy Spirit is a person, if he is inside of us, if God still moves, and the power of prayer. It was a very fruitful conversation that ended with him saying he was going to pray the Lord gives him a sign that he can still move!
Squad Wars
At the end of the two weeks, all the squads, except for Gap Year, head out to the mission field. To wrap up our time together in Georgia, we have an all-squad competition called Squad Wars. We dress up in our squad colors, compete in games, perform a squad dance, and just have a blast. Although K Squad didn’t take the overall win, we did win for spirit— which, honestly, feels like a victory to me!
Trip to civilization!
We got to go to Walmart and target! Honestly a highlight of the week. I guess Walmart is the best place ever when you’ve been camping for two weeks. I got another sweatshirt to keep me warm, and the classic Deardorff peanut M&Ms to remind me of home 🙂
Scary creatures
Did I need to add this section? No probably not. However, I think they are worth putting in here for the memories.
1. Found the reason why my tent smelled like death. Yes.. That’s dead worm guts seeping through my floor.
2. This guy was hanging out in the hammock right above mine. I was really hoping to keep snakes in the “out of sight, out of mind” category, but oh well.
Meet my Family
Meet K squad! This is the amazing group of people that I will be traveling and doing life with these nexts nine months! We are a squad that is marked with the joy of the Lord!
Meet my team! This is who I will be serving with each day while on the field. We will be doing all sorts of ministry together. Our team name is “The Doves”. We want to be a team with the Peace of God always!
Other random things from this week:
Our hammock village!
Stargazing!
Us excited for bagel day
We are here for one more week before we leave for domestic missions. Please be praying for my squad to be living out of overflow this week!
With love,
Ashlyn
