Sweet Joy

Living life in the south is very new to me. The bugs are huge, the weather is hot and I have never been happier. First off, I just wanted to explain some worldrace / adventures in missionss language I’ll be using throughout the year. Adventures in missons is the name of the organization. The world race is one of the programs they offer, you can do 3,9,or 11 month long mission trips. My squad is made up of 39 racers, 6 alumni and 2 mentors! Within that I am on a team with 1 alumni and 6 other racers. My team is who I’ll be doing ministry with on the field. My squad’s letter is W and we are the blue team!
Training camp is my home for the next 5 weeks and yet I feel like it’s been my home for months. My squad is my family and it’s beautiful. We don’t always have the same opinions , we come from different states ( and countries!) and yet we love each other so deeply. We sleep in our own tents all in the same area , use the bathroom in porta potty’s, shower with buckets and eat meals together.
On Friday night we had an event called revival worship where the worship band was in the middle of the floor ( instead of on the stage) and we surrounded them and loved God and each other. During this it was as if I had an epiphany about why we worship. Everything good that’s ever happened in the world is from God. Joy , nature, love, it’s all from God. Why wouldn’t we celebrate that? Why would’t we look up at the sky and say “ you’re beautiful “? To add onto that, something else that hit me like a hand warning off a mosquito, was that anything up until this point dosent matter, because right now we are in the presence of God. It’s a cool idea to say that none of your past pain or hurting matters anymore that we are wiped clean, but also no accomplishments matter either, no award, successes, or achievements. What matters right now, everyday, is that we know we are in the presence of the Lord and that’s worth celebrating.
So on Friday night my jaw was sore from smiling so wide and my feet hurt from jumping and dancing around. When you feel joy from the Lord you can’t help but share it to everyone you can, it’s too much for me to contain!
Sin, pain, and the flesh of ourselves still exists, but no matter what happens God never leaves and wants you to bounce back and rejoice in his love.
I am stoked to continue learning, loving, and rejoicing in Him!

Other general updates:
-I still am not fully finically supported , so I am still taking any donations!
-Hand washing clothes is harder than I thought
-I love Washington more then I realized ( it’s all I talk about )