Hi kiddos!
From July 6-16, I was at World Race Training Camp in Gainesville, Georgia. Some of the activities we did were challenging, but we also had a lot of fun. Probably one of the hardest parts for me was walking for 2 miles with my hiking pack. The full pack is about a third of my body weight. But I'm happy to report that I was able to finish the walk in under 40 minutes!
I have a squad of 47 people. We are called Z Squad. We will all travel together from country to country. Here is my squad:
After arriving in a new country the squad will split up into teams and help at different ministries throughout the country. My team is called Team Liora. My teammates are (from left to right): Alexa, Jen, Hannah, me, Ashley, and Sam.
During Training Camp, we usually slept in tents and hammocks. This was Z Squad's campsite:
And here is my tent:
There were some nights where we had other sleeping situations. One night, the staff set up an "airport." The lights were on all night, and a track of airport noises played all night as well. The nice part was that we got to use the real bathrooms instead of the Porta-Potties!
Another night, we fit 8-9 people plus our packs into one big tent.
There was also a night when we were driven to a nearby state park and camped out for the night on tarps.
All of the sleeping situations are things we might experience during our trip. I learned that if you are tired enough, you can sleep just about anywhere!
We ate a lot of interesting food! We had some "normal" American food, but we also ate some food like the kind we will eat when we go to other countries. I liked almost everything...although the lunch for Africa day didn't have much of a taste.
African food
Asian food
European food (this was my favorite food day...but unfortunately, my route does not go to any European countries!
Central American food
There was also a day when the staff created an "Indian market" where we had to barter for our food while surrounded by lots of noise and crowds!
Here are a few more pictures of what training camp looked like:
<--where we went to the bathroom
where we ate our meals --->
<--where we had teaching sessions & praise and worship time
the path leading to my squad's campsite --->
<---where we took bucket showers
I have some more exciting news! Near the end of Training Camp, we learned were we will be working in September! Team Liora will be working with an organization called Cherished Life Ministries in Rukungiri, Uganda. They are involved with a school, orphanage ministry, door to door ministry, preaching, Bible studies, hospital ministries, and more! I'm excited to work alongside this organization!
Thanks for reading my blog! If you have any questions or just want to say hi, you can write something in the comments and I will be sure to answer!! I hope everyone is enjoying summer vacation!
Love,
Miss Jacobs
Photo credits (two of my awesome squadmates):
Kristin Fraser - Gate 53 airport picture, big tents picture, camping picture, market picture
RaeLynn DeFalco - all the food pictures, the other airport picture
