Wow, we’ve come to the final day of training camp already. Although it has only been four days, I believe our team has found a bond that feels as if we have known each other for much longer. Team Nicaragua 1 and 2 ~ we’re ready to go! These last four days have been absolutely NOTHING like I would have ever imagined, yet I am completely thankful for that. I expected training camp to be in stuffy conference rooms, but yet here we are at White Water Express, one of the most beautiful campgrounds I have ever seen, surrounded by nature and learning and growing as individuals and as a team. We’ve grown as a team through fun times, such as painting our canvas but also through our more serious activities.
I’m amazed by how much I have been impacted by the genuine love and care everybody I have met here has for everyone. It’s a place where you can wear your heart on your sleeve and be completely taken for who you are. But, they have also prepared us for the things that we will encounter when we are in our different countries. I’ve learned that we have to be prepared for anything, we have to “expect the unexpected” and be willing to allow the expectations we originally had to not be fulfilled. I will need to be open to the cultural differences I will encounter and I hope I will be able to accept them for what they are, just different from what I know, they are not wrong. And lastly, I need to be prepared to give of the some of the rights that I expect in my own world. The rights I may experience there will not be the same as neither is their culture and lifestyle. Most importantly, I am trying to let everything I learn prepare me for the shock that I may experience as I am immersed in a new and different culture.
These four days have shown me that training camp is an important part of going out into the Mission Field and that I have learned much more from being here than I ever thought I would. I believe I am now prepared to go in a way that I never knew I needed to be. I’m excited and longing to go ~ Nicaragua here we come!!
