The first wedding was for two
alumni who had recently come off of the mission field. Due to the fact that
their families were going to be unavailable to attend or put on a large wedding
the couple decided to get married at training camp. At first I wondered why in
the world anyone would want to do that? When I remembered that World Race isn't
work / a job, but that we were family it made sense. I was asked to be one of
the photographers and we had so much fun! Turned into a beautiful wedding that
I will never forget.
Then my boss, Jake, got married
last weekend. He met his beautiful wife on the mission field as well. I've had
the joy of getting to know Jake over the last three years and am just getting
to know Marissa. They had a small wedding right on the beach in Florida, with
only some of their closest family and friends attending. It was such an honor
to be there to celebrate their new life.
This morning I found out that my
director when I was with YWAM in New Zealand passed away. Bill Henwood had been
battling cancer for a few years now. He was a huge reason that I am who I am
today. I learned so much from Uncle Bill that I couldn't even begin to write it
all out. As I grieve the loss of this mighty man of God I am comforted by the
fact that He lived and served well.
In this moment I could be like
many people that I know I could become bitter by the fact that I am still single
while the people around me are married and having kids, or be upset with God
for not healing one of His children. But I'm not going to do either of those
things. I am going to continue to celebrate the lives of my family and friends...
and I KNOW that God has perfect timing in all things.
At training camp we desire for everyone to not just participate in worship times... but for everyone to encounter God, that the words that they sing would come from their hearts.. that they would become real.
Jonathan David Helser came to lead us in worship for the first three days of training camp. His wife, Melissa, had us singing 'wash over me' and 'righteousness rain down'... and guess what happened... it poured! The harder we cried out to God to wash over us the harder it rained. We got soaking wet in the presence of God.
There are no words to describe what happened that night. So here are a few photos of a night when Heaven Opened Up and the words we sang became real.
Here's a little note from my mom... aka Patti mom... aka World Race Training Camp Cook!
For anyone who knows me, that makes a lot of sense. For anyone who doesn't know me, it sounds crazy to leave an amazing Seattle summer to spend 10+ days in "warm" Atlanta cooking 3 meals a day for 250 racers, staff, serve team, coaches, leaders, band, and guests.
I think this is the 7th training camp that I've cooked for. I . LOVE . IT!
We've served everything from tongue & dried fish to banana pudding & root beer floats. The challenge begins with designing a menu for each camp so that not only will the racers bodies be fed physically, but that they will begin to understand the world that they will be stepping out into. My prayer is that as they are on the race, they will be able to accept whatever portions are placed before them with grace and thanksgiving. And for many, that's a REALLY big step.
Cooking every day is hard work, but I'm surrounded in the kitchen by World Race Alumni ... who happen to be some of the MOST AMAZING people I have ever met.
We prayerfully turn our kitchen over to GOD every morning and for anyone who's eaten at WRTC, GOD SHOWS UP! Last camp we served about 4,300 meals - on time - on budget - with enough for everyone and not a lot of waste. I can assure you that IT'S BY HIS GRACE and WE ARE THANKFUL!
To be part of helping equip 157 world racers is truly humbling. I haven't met these Sep/Oct Racers yet, but I know there will be racers with advanced degrees, many working in health care or education, perhaps some in law enforcement, and quite a few who have just graduated from college. They will be amazing, spirit filled, on-fire-for-God young people and I can't wait to meet them and share their training camp experience.
PLEASE PRAY for the racers, staff, leaders, coaches, serve team, and kitchen helpers. With so many of God's children in one place His light shines with laser-like brightness. That makes us a target that the evil one would love to destroy. Pray that God will again cover us with his grace, his mercy and his protection. Pray also that He will cover our families, friends homes & possessions that we have left behind this week.
Please think about us whenever you open your refrigerator this next week - 250 people sitting at your diningroom table each meal - ready to be fed physically, spiritually and emotionally - then just thank God for his faithfulness to provide.
It's that time once again...
Training Camp starts this weekend! Leaders start arriving tomorrow night and
everyone else will be here by Saturday. Mom is coming in tomorrow to cook, she is really looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting the next group of
world changers.
We are offsite at a Christian
Retreat Center. It's a wonderful place, yet being away from the office comes
with it's own blessings and challenges.
We will be blessed once again by
bringing in an anointed prophetic worship leader, amazing guest speakers and
guests who bless us abundantly. As the list of special guests grows the staff
get more and more excited - we love being poured into by these people and can't
wait to share them with the World Racers who are coming to camp.
Please cover us in prayer as we
get ready and have camp through August 1st. Pray for health, safety,
good travels, peace, for the Holy Spirit to move in everyone's lives, deeper
relationships with Christ and with each other, that there would be healing
emotionally, spiritually and physically for everyone involved. With this being
our biggest training camp so far (157 participants) there is always a bigger
risk of something unexpected or bad to happen... but it also means that there are
more amazing God stories and we are expecting lots of those this camp!
I'll only be at camp for the
first half and then return to the office to make sure that we get plane tickets
purchased. But you can guarantee that I'll post another blog with some photos
and maybe some stories later next week.
A few weeks ago I was asked by a
co-worker to speak on prayer walks and prayer ministry at two of their training
camps.
Now I've taught on prayer all
over the world... however this time it was different. I am used to working with
and teaching people who are all legal adults. The two training camps were for
our Ambassadors - age 14 to 19 years old. By the grace of God I was able to
keep the Ambassadors engaged, teach them a few things and shared in some laughs
as I taught them about prayer.
I was talking with one of the
staff members at the beginning of their second camp and found out they really
needed extra help. It was the 4th of July weekend, so with the long
weekend they were severely short staffed at the last minute. I ended up
spending my long weekend filling in wherever they needed me - washing dishes,
cooking, praying for staff, and leading team builders.
I didn't have to help out with
any of the Ambassador training camps, as they aren't under my department. Even though I
ended up 'working' during my long weekend, I had so much fun! It was awesome to
see how another program works, and to see how good my coworkers are at their
jobs.And who can resist seeing
lives changed forever -there was major emotional healing, many of them were
hearing God speak for the first time, and there were even a couple of kids who
started having a real Relationship with Christ... and that was before they left
the United States!
It was so worth it! God used the
weekend with the Ambassadors to give me a greater love and appreciation for my coworkers that I don't normally spend time with, and He filled me up in the process too.
I was driving home super late from helping at training camp for one of the other programs at AIM, as I looked in my rearview mirror and all I could see was a brightly lit church.
During the day it is just an ordinary church, yet tonight it was beautiful.
How often is it that we pass by the church... that we only see the beauty of the church when we are surrounded by darkness and silence.
Lord, help us to see the beauty that is Your Church, Your Bride. Help us to recognize her for what you have created her to be. To see her in our darkest nights and in the brightest days. Thank you for the beautiful picture that you showed me tonight.
This last training camp I spent most of my time doing my desk job or in the kitchen helping my mom cook for camp, so I don't have a lot of stories to share. But I did get a chance to take a few pics... so here is a little view of the June and July Squads (O & P) training camp.
Right now I have at least three blogs going through my head yet can't seem to get any of them to make much sense. So this little update will have to do for now.
There are lots of things on my plate for work that all require focus and flexibility. We are just getting out of our 'slower' season and getting ready to hit our busy season as we have three World Race squads here late next week for training followed by over 100 Real Life participants. It will only continue to get busier.
I have friends and family who are going through tough times. People that I love and respect are dealing with illnesses, making life changing decisions, and struggling with the consequences of others decisions.
The good news is that in the midst of everything that is going on I am finding ways to not let everything that is going on bring me down. The bad news is that I don't really feel like I am 'growing' in the midst of it all, rather I am just coasting through it.
Pray that we will be able to accomplish everything we need to at work with excellence, that the hundreds of participants coming through Georgia in the next few months will be drawn closer to God / become more of who God has called them to be / and that they will change lives around the world, that God will bring physical and emotional healing and restoration for all of my friends and family, and that rather than coasting through this season in my life I too will be drawn closer to God and become more of who God has created me to be.
One of the things that we teach
our participants is the concept of 'Family First'. It's quite simple really -
family (or team) comes before everything else. The health of your team (physically, emotionally and spiritually) is more important than going out and
doing ministry, spending time alone, or enjoying the wonders of being in
another country.
This is an awesome theory, yet
when it comes down to it we struggle to actually do it. It's so much easier to
invest into people that we don't know rather than to deal with the issues of
the people that we are close with. How often do you drop everything for your
family or the people that you've made a lifelong relationship / commitment to?
My Grandpa Bob passed away on
Wednesday. I grew up spending every holiday and vacation at my grandparents'
house. I wasn't super close with my grandpa and hadn't seen him in a long time.
I wasn't planning on heading to California for the services... but Grandma wanted
to see me. That was all it took. I booked a ticket for 24 hours later.
I can 'work' from anywhere that I
can get internet access and cell service. And right now it's more important
that I invest the time into my family. I thank God for a community and employer
that not only teaches Family First but allows us to live it as well.
People always ask what it my job
is with AIM / The World Race. When I say that I buy plane tickets it sounds
like such a little job. I mean don't missionaries normally live in third world
countries and tell people about Jesus?
How would those missionaries who
do go to third world countries to tell people about Jesus get there unless
someone purchased their plane tickets?
The sad truth is that most of the
tickets that travel agents or airlines can give us are almost $100-$150 more
than what you will find online! Group tickets aren't necessarily cheaper.
We recently had a change of
countries for two of our large squads. The quotes that I found using normal
search engines were outrageous! There was no way we would be able to afford it!!I spent extra hours buying tickets individually in order to get tickets within
out budget. The poor racers had to stay overnight in airports and have two or
three flights in addition to their bus rides to get from Australia to the
Philippines. But in the end I saved almost $1,000 per Racer. There were 113
Racers. I saved a total of almost $100,000!
