This past week has been amazing. From cutting bangs, to getting baptized, to painting what felt like a million dorm rooms, to finger jousting, to kitchen duty, 100 cups of tea and a few side quests it has been nothing far from eventful. 

During the last few days of training camp last week I cut my hair just for fun, but the bigger life change happened last Friday night. I got baptized. The joy and peace that filled me that night was so pure and I'm so glad I got to share it with so many other racers. Last Saturday was squad wars. We did a scavenger hunt, shirt defrosting competition, Simon says, and a dance routine. My squad placed first in the dance competition and 2nd overall. 

On the following day, we left Gainesville and headed south to Camp Adrian for a week of domestic ministry. Our van broke down so my team along with one other got stuck in Gainesville for 4 hours longer than everyone else. This ended up being a blessing in disguise. My team got to enjoy some AC, lay on couches and watch Princess Diaries. It was the first time nothing felt like a fever dream and felt like I was having a movie night with my best friends. We started ministry at Camp Adrian on Monday. The whole week was full of painting dorms. It was fun to jam out to music and have some deep conversation. The meals were so yummy and we even got to help prep dinner one night. There was also a pool at the camp and we got to spend our afternoons swimming, backflipping, and doing handstands. Lots of people got sick. We are all passing it around. I remember laying in my bed the first night just hearing the coughs and sneezes closing in around me. Luckily we had a lot of tea to help our throats. Having a real shower and a real bathroom at domestic was so nice. However, our first room got bed bugs and our second got painted. We moved three rooms in the course of 5 days. Domestic ministry was definitely a lot of hard work, but it allowed for a lot of growth and deep conversations.

Now we are back at the Adventures in Missions headquarters. One thing I’ve learned over the past week is to appreciate the mundane moments. Being in a space so removed from regular day to day life and so focused on Christ is such a filling and joyful thing. However, it's easy to feel very removed from being a regular teenager. I’ve learned to appreciate the small moments like a dance party in the bathroom, a day in the pool, a movie on a couch, eating food at Chick-Fil-A, and side quests to ice cream and the lake. Today is the sabbath. Tomorrow is a Walmart, post office, and laundry mat run. Tuesday is a debrief. Wednesday we pack up and leave for Greece!

Prayer Request:

Please pray for good health for my squad and I. There have already been a few ER visits across squads and we are still in the US. There is also a lot of sickness around so please pray for that too. 

Please pray for our housing in Greece. We arrive in Greece on the 18th and we don’t have housing 100% solidified yet. 

Please pray for our long travel days coming up! Lets hope for no missing luggage and all on time flights.