K SQUAD!!!
Hello, friends. I am so blessed to finally be fully funded!! That being said, I have officially survived my first week here
at training camp! Along with the trip I signed up for come trials and tribulations. Some are going to be big and some are going to seem silly. I have started facing some of the silly ones here at camp. Being thrown in with a group of thirty other people my age, all I want is to be liked! What God has taught me very quickly is that if I idolize the validation of this world (even if it’s my squad) above Him, I will never feel loved. Maybe temporarily, but the only true sacrificial love I can receive is straight from my Father.
“This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 NIV
Fortunately, God has blessed me with an AMAZING squad. For an introduction, we are K-squad. We are a body of Christ who CELEBRATES differences. My heart is so fully with this community, and I am so grateful that I get to do life with my brothers and sisters in Christ. K-squad is anointed with joy, and the JOY of the Lord is our strength. If you have run into me on a bad day in the past four years, you might know that I have a tendency towards a grumpy heart and spirit. A bad day is any day where I get less than 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, I have been a student for as long as I can remember, and lack of sleep is a common occurrence. Now I am going to bed at midnight in a tent on the hard ground, to wake up at six hours later for a team workout, followed by bucket showers (yes, a very glamorous time with cold hose water and a 5-gallon bucket). There are a million more things to find complaints and ungratefulness in here at camp than at my house with my running water and warm bed.
AND YET!
I have been blessed with the JOY OF THE LORD!! My squad is truly overflowing with willingness and openness towards Jesus and what He has in store for us. God has reached me through the leadership and my peers here on Gap year to show me how to live in JUBILATION (yes, I did look up synonyms for joy)!!
To end this first blog post, I want to thank everyone for praying and helping me reach my goal and helping make it possible for me to surrender the next nine months to God!
AND LASTLY! I am so excited to keep everyone updated on what God is doing during the next 9 months!
❤️❤️❤️ beautiful insights!
What a blessing to hear how you and your squad are doing. We are praying for you and for all the people you will come into contact with. We look forward to the next update (keep your thesaurus handy). We LOVE you!
Mom & Dad
This is so good Esme! I am so proud of you and so thankful to be on your team❤️
I love this Esme! You are doing amazing things!
truly the coolest person i know. can’t wait to hear more about your awesome adventures❤️❤️ -Amadi
Dear Sweet Esme,
We are so amazed at the choices you have made. We know you will be a willing servant for God. He will give you many many challenges which we are sure you will handle with love and a willing spirit. Grandpa Woody and I both look forward to hearing about all your new adventures.
With much Aloha always
xoxo Grandpa Woody and Grammy Nancy