In Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah describes Jesus as the Prince of Peace. I have been clinging to this promise throughout this whole week, I can only have peace through this change and new journey through Jesus.
One week ago I said goodbye to my family and set up my tent with 35 random people my age, who I was expected to travel and live with for the next nine months. Little did I know how quickly I would begin to love them and view them as my new family.
This past week we have been living in tents, taking bucket showers, washing our clothes in buckets, and working out some mornings. But this place has become my home so quickly and it has been such a beautiful thing. We have had worship and various teachings everyday and it is so cool to be in a community where we are pushing each other closer to the Lord through every conversation we have. We are having theological debates, telling testimonies about how faithful God has been in our lives, and most importantly living life together for Jesus.
The founder of Adventures in Missions name is Seth Barnes and he spoke to us this week about how the World Race came to be. He shared that a lady in Africa had a dream about teenagers going and spreading the gospel all around the world. And he actually didn’t do anything with that dream until he was back in Africa that next year and that same lady said she had the same dream again when he was back, and after that he created this trip! It is so cool that God allowed for me to be someone that is a part of that dream!
This week we had culture day, which was so fun for me because we got to dress up in clothing from other cultures and ate food from other cultures which was so cool. I wore my elephant pants from Thailand, but the staff and leaders have so many cool outfits from all over the world which I loved.
We had practice house visits, which challenged us to present the gospel to people who are going through various things, which was challenging, but so cool to see how we were able to use what we’ve been learning. Also, this is one of the things what we will be doing on the field so it was cool to practice that!
I have made so many fun memories so far and met so many cool people from other squads and on staff here which has been so cool. The World Race community is something like no other and i’m so thankful to be a part of this.
Something the Lord has been teaching me is to be stretched. I am a guy who growing up always knew what was going to happen at most times growing up and I like control, but here I have no control and there is so much unknown. This week God has taught me that I don’t need to be in control because he is, and he has me here for a reason so I just need to lean into his plan and not my own.
I am so thankful to be have been able to call and FaceTime so many people this week! It is such a fun part of my day to call and talk to so many people I love 🙂
Please pray for me and my squad as we approach week two of training camp! Pray for continued Peace from God, Joy from the Lord, and for us all to continue to grow closer to each other.
Miss you all!
Jackson Schlesinger
Here are some photos from this week!
Abigail dropping me off at my tent!
tents looking Aesthetic
some teammates!
praying with mom and dad before they said goodbye 🙁
what dinner looks like every night!
my teammate went to urgent care(he was fine btw)but we got starbucks which was lit
my tent was flooded one night 🙁
squad 🙂
k squad church this morning
