Picking up treasures along the way

Blog Written on January 27
For January 25-27
Ok, y’all! We just got out of training camp! What a sweet, chaotic, cold, refining, and beautiful week of learning! I am currently in a van with my squad mates in South Africa driving to Eswatini! It doesn’t feel real! The Lord has been with us providing safe flights and they were both on time! We left Thursday at 3:30 to the Atlanta airport and then hopped on an 11-hour plane ride to Istanbul, Turkey. We then stayed in the airport for 9hrs and then boarded our next flight to Africa at 12:45am. That flight was also 11 hours and we landed like an hour ago! It was a whole 3 days of non-stop traveling:) But there’s a little update on what I’m currently doing and now I want to let y’all know what training camp was like.
My mom, dad, Sammy, and Silas all drove me the long curvy 3 and a half hour long drive to Gainesville Georgia. When we got to the camp there was a group of people welcoming us with signs as we pulled in. I got nervous and sad and this was probably the hardest part of the trip. I do not like saying goodbye to people it’s my least favorite thing to do. We got there, parked, and then said our goodbyes. They honestly pulled the bandaid right off because my fam only stayed about 5 min. There were lots of tears but I knew once I saw people and started talking to them I would be ok. Anyways got checked in and was kinda of like what is happening. It didn’t feel real. I was nervous, scared and didn’t know what to expect of what the next 10 days would bring. The first day I honestly had to let go and have Jesus take the wheel and I’ve learned that through that I have nothing to worry about. Yes, I will miss family and friends. Yes, I will miss the comforts of my own home. But God has placed me where He wants me to be and I am trusting his plan.
Like I said the words I would describe training camp are sweet, chaotic, cold, refining, and beautiful. We spent hours in worship and in sessions and learning about how the Holy Spirit talks and moves in our lives. We had debriefs after every session with our squad and we had devos every morning. We would get woken up every morning at 7 am whether we liked it or not and they would wake us up with loud random music. The very first morning we woke up and the staff leader played the star spangled banner and immediatly me and a couple others sat up and put our hands on our hearts. We used porta potties as bathroom, showered in containers, washed our hands and brushed our teeth with water jugs. We ate every meal outside whether it was 20 degrees or warmer (if it was colder then 20 they would put us inside lol) but we were all so very thankful for the heaters they had outside that we would all huddle over. Y’all let me tell you I have learned so much about the Holy Spirit and how he moves and talks to us. I have felt the Lords love for me in ways I could not imagine. Yes I knew He loved me endlessly and no matter what He loves me but I didn’t truly believe that. I went to training camp and felt Gods love in such a strong way! I felt it through worship and through other people. I learned that it is so so so hard to here the voice of God in the quiet moments because my brain is running constantly. I’ve learned that abandonment can be so so good. I have abandoned so many things family, friends, bed, a bathroom etc. I learned that I’ve taken so many things for granted and have learned that I need to be more thankful for things and people in my life. Those are just some things I’ve learned and y’all training camp was such a great experience. The cold days and nights were not my favorite. We were put through scenarios such as airport simulations, market place scenarios etc. There was a scenario we did where it was an airport simulation. We were told to pack our daypack with things we would need for a 2 day trip to Switzerland. I threw my Bible toothbrush a pair of clothes and a couple other things in my backpack thinking they would just look through it and give us feedback on what we brought. I thought wrong lol what they did was they pretended as if we were checking them in on the flight and we had to go through “security”. At the end of that simulation they said half the suitcases made it back, but some were sent to Tanzania! And I literally prayed before I went to check if my suitcase was there because it had my sleeping bag, pillow, and bed all in there. I walked in and my bag was there! Praise the Lord! But some people’s weren’t so we all had to share our beds and stuff with people who had nothing. This was definitely a bonding experience. But my favorite part of training camp was the revival nights. The Holy Spirit just filled the room and the worship was just so good! I did get baptized!! Yayyyy!! The Lord is good! I have seen Him work in my life and through others. Throughout this week I have learned that I can’t lean on anything except for Jesus. If we lean on what the world has to offer we will fall, but if we lean on Jesus and trust his plan for our life then life will be so good, so sweet but that also doesn’t mean it won’t be hard. Yes it’s hard! Life is always hard, but it’s the attitude you have for life and the joy of the Lord that will make life so so good! Anyways there’s a little update!
I won’t have Wi-Fi here so if you try to contact me I probably won’t see it for a very long time. And thats also why im just now posting this vlog:) Love you all!!!
Blessings,
Molly Randall