Hey all! It’s been almost a month since I left! And what a blessing it has been already. I am currently in Jamaica, finishing my first week of ministry, but I’ll share more about that in another post coming soon.

The Lord is moving so much and it’s only the first month. After arriving in Gainesville, GA, I spent a little over a week at training camp, where we were sleeping in tents, in 80 degree weather, with bucket showers and port-a-potties. Our days consisted of sessions, worship, meals, and some free time at night. Our days were very full, but out hearts were full as well!

Even in the short amount of time, I have already experienced so much. I hiked up a mountain, took showers with only a bucket of water and a cup, became desensitized to port-a-potties (sort of, still not fully immune), watched many of my friends rededicate their lives to Christ through baptism, and so much more.

And what a gift it has all been! I have already developed such beautiful, Christ-centered friendships, and have been able to learn so much from everyone. I’ll shorten it all into a few key points:

• iron sharpens iron

I’ve never been in a space with so many like minded Christians. All who have willingly set aside their next eight months to dedicate it to the Lord. Being constantly surrounded by such God-fearing people has only grown my faith in ways that it never has before.

• the Lord qualifies the called

I’ve questioned countless times why I think I should be going on this trip. I’m not the most educated person on the bible, I don’t know all the answers, I don’t have the perfect words. But then I was reminded of the disciples Jesus called: a tax collector and some fishermen. A bunch of nobodies of their day. But that wasn’t what mattered. All that mattered was the call that Jesus had placed on their lives. A simple call. “Come, follow me” That’s all it was. We aren’t qualified to go and make disciples on our own accords. It is Christ who qualifies us. And when the time is right, He will give us the words we need to say to make His name known. All we have to do is be willing to drop our nets and follow when He calls. The Lord will prepare you in due time, as He has been doing for me at training camp.

• sometimes you have to silence the other voices around you in order to hear the Lord’s

I’ve always been confused why I would never hear the Lord’s voice. Meanwhile, I would be sitting in a crowded room filled with many different voices. It’s a still, small voice. It’s there, you just need to silence the distractions around you and listen for it.

On top of these points, I have experienced so much outside of training camp.

After our first week, we drove to Adrian, GA, where we spent a week doing domestic ministry. Here, we stayed at a little camp called Camp Adrian.

It’s a small Christian camp that is run mainly by volunteers. Here, we worked with Adventures Relief to help improve the camp for the future campers and volunteers to come.

Me and my team got the chance to help organize the maintenance shed. And this was no easy task. Imagine your grandpa had a barn where he collected tools and objects for his whole life and he never got rid of them. This is sort of what this shed looked like.

Over the week, my team and I were able to clean up the main shed space, the paint closet, electrical room, and the plumbing room.

And while so many great friendships were formed at training camp, they bloomed so much more during domestic. I got to spend so much time with my squad mates, having deep conversations, playing games, and holding mini impromptu worship nights.

Over these past few weeks, a lot has happened but if anything is evident, it is that the Lord is present. He’s here and he’s preparing us for the work ahead. He’s qualifying the called.

A few things you can pray for in this time

• health! We have had a lot of sickness and unknown conditions on our squad already. Some resulting in hospital visits. Everyone is mostly better now, but just prayers that this won’t hinder us in doing the work the Lord has for us.

• squad unity. It can be hard to have one big group of 36 kids opposed to various small groups. Prayers that we will continue to press into each other and develop relationships with everyone.

• people. We will be coming into contact with so many people and already have. Please pray for those we interact with, that the Lord will continue to send more people to plant seeds in their lives even after we leave.

much love,

abby