When I walked into the Chattanooga airport on Friday I was overwhelmed as I was met by nearly two hundred college age people. All of us were headed to the same place, training camp. Now I have to admit training camp is a lot harder than I expected. But I believe that I am now so much more prepared for the trip that I am about to partake on. The very first night at training camp was a challenge and also an amazing team bonding time. We all picked three items from out suitcases and left the rest of out belongings behind. We then headed into the woods to spend the rest of the night sitting...

The night before I left I was so fortunate to be able to spend time with family and friends. My mom cooked a delicious meal and we all came together and ate. We laughed, enjoyed each others company and had a wonderful time!! At one point I sat back and realized that I am loved. I have been blessed with such amazing people in my life who support me, encourage me, challenge me and love me. I knew these things prior to this dinner yet this time I soaked these moments up. It was beautiful. While at training camp I have become more grateful for family and friends, for laughter and memories that...

             Weeks before coming here, I had several pictures in my head of what this trip would look like. For training camp, I was perfectly fine with the fact that I was probably going to be roughing it for a few days. I was pretty excited about it actually. Little did I know that roughing it would include building a shelter out of tarp, sharing one pillow with two other people, and having to use people I’ve known for a few hours as body heat. Who knew it actually got cold in Chattanooga…..in June? Nevertheless, it...

I arrived at Chattanooga Airport around 3:00 p.m. on Friday to meet my teammates who were all complete strangers to me. Little did I know, several hours later we would be spooning in a home-made tent from two tarps in the middle of the woods. Since each team member got to bring 3 things from their luggage, 3 of us shared 1 pillow the whole night. Talk about getting Real Close Real Fast. Adventure does not even sum up our first night experience. This was only the beginning of our teams bonding. God has really shown me the importance of community in Him. He truly taught us how essential it is...

Through this training god has come and spoken to me, he has told me to listen to him, to be able to call on him when i need help. God can be present at anytime, through worship, speaking and listening to the sound of god’s voice. I have learned that sometimes we have a plan for our lives, but god may have totally something different in mind. It may not be what we want, but it is good for us because it is all in god’s plan. Through this you grow in your relationship with Christ. You learn to follow his ways and trust in him with your whole heart. By being apart of this training...

You could not imagine the growth that has occurred at training camp in the past 4 days! When I came to training camp, I was expecting to get the basics on what Nicaragua is like, a run-down of what’s going to be going on, and lots of team bonding activities. WHOA!! I had no idea that God was going to rock my world before we even got to Nica! A few nights ago, we had a talk about being set free of the prisons we allow Satan to keep us in; the prisons of comparison, regret, bitterness, excuse, and withdrawal. One of the biggest reasons I came on this mission trip was that I wanted to...