How can I begin to explain the past week? Sleeping in a cabin with no electricity, showering from a water hose, and yes, using the conveniently placed port-o-johns all around camp. It has been quite a week!
Camp was so much more than I expected it to be! It challenged me spiritually, physically, and socially. I dealt with some sin in my heart that needed to be taken care of before heading out to the mission field like pride, a judgmental attitude, and just a general unbelief that God can and will do amazing things on the field. These are all things I saw in my heart and needed to offer up to God. I saw the necessity of giving Him not only my sin, but offering my entire self to Him. My expectations, fears, talents, time, relationships, hopes...everything has to be in His hands in order for Him to use me and mold me to look more like Jesus. I wrestled over this concept, and will continue to struggle with it! But this week was a great start.
I also got to make 50 new friends this week! My teammates range in age from 18 to 24 years old, and are from all over the US and Canada. As we struggled through team-building exercises this week, (like helping each other through a tangled spider web made of string without touching the boundaries, and constructing a platform for 40 people to stand on made of whatever we could find in the woods), we learned a lot about leadership, helping each other out, working together, and got to see different personalities and strengths come out. For the next 9 months we will be living together, working together, playing together. We learned this week how important it is for us to be the body of Christ together while in South Africa.
I was also challenged to expand my understanding of who God is. So many of us keep God in such a tiny box based only on our experiences and how we've personally seen God work. I am guilty of this. But this week, after hearing stories of others on the field and reading in the Word about the things God has and will do, I was encouraged to let God break down the walls of the box I've put Him in! I hope to go to South Africa with my heart open to whatever God will do there. I fully expect to be amazed and thrilled by the things I'll see Him do!
Currently I am sitting in the Atlanta airport. Our flight for DC leaves at 1:30, and this evening we officially depart for South Africa. Pray for safe travels, and I can't wait to update you from Jeffreys Bay!
