Hello friends! Training camp these last 3 days has been wonderful! I’m on a team with 21 other people and two fabulous leaders. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know all of them so far since meeting them on Tuesday. Our vision for this trip is to be “Rooted and Grounded in Jesus”, which comes from Ephesians 3:14-18.
Our training days were dedicated to 3 themes. Day 1 was focused on intimacy with Jesus. We had time for worship and went through several sessions that looked at God’s covenant with His children and taught us several methods to help us grow closer to God, ending with a focus on how the Holy Spirit provides companionship, intimacy, and power to those who ask after Him.
Day 2 focused on evangelism. We had two guests come in from an organization called Lighten Group. Our sessions this day focused on apologetics and how to use it, the power of testimonies and how to build yours, and worldviews and how to communicate through differences in that.
Day 3 (today, wooo!) was about community. We learned a lot about how to exist in the new cultures we will be going to; how to be safe and healthy; and how to honor the people we interact with. We learned about feedback, what it is and isn’t, and a method to follow to give and receive it from our teammates. Lastly, we had a discussion about salvation and baptism, and more specifically baptism by the Holy Spirit. We got to have a lake day in the afternoon as a bit of a send off celebration and to spend time in community with each other, which was so much fun!
We’ve had a lot of information thrown into our noggins these past few days, and I’ve been enjoying learning new things and refreshing old concepts. We found out today that unfortunately, we won’t be able to put it into practice in Costa Rica for a bit longer than planned. Our flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale was cancelled this afternoon because of bad tropical storms blowing in to Florida tonight and tomorrow when we were supposed to be flying. Adventures in Mission administration hasn’t yet been able to reschedule flights to get to Costa Rica, so we are staying in Gainesville for at least a day or two longer. We plan on finding ways to serve the community here in the days of waiting. Even though this is frustrating, we trust that God has a plan for all of this and we know that through it all, His glory will be shown.
Pray that we will have patience through this setback and hearts that are willing to serve in whatever capacity we find here. Even though this feels a little discouraging, I will be praying that God keeps the fire that my team has for service burning no matter where we are.
Here is a picture with some of the people I’m working with this month. Fantabulous folk, the lot of them. We’ve been able to have a lot of fun together and I’m already so thankful to have them on my team! 
