Devotional boot camp.

Wellllllp, here's a quick update from on the road! Tour has been going awesome. God is so good. There have been some ups and downs, we're still human. But nothing that is too big for God. Some shows have been a little rough. In El Centro, CA, Ke$ha was playing and right after, "This place about to blow," literally...it blew. the power system had some glitches and everything turned out. We were laughing hysterically afterwards. Mason did an awesome job running around like a maniac to get things back on within a minute. Everything worked out. At our show in Greenville, TX, we were a little worried due to the venue had a lift for us to get our equipment up on. With a lot of team work, it was one of our quickest set ups and tear downs. So far, there have been close to 500 commitments to Christ...after only 5 shows. God is gonna do some awesome stuff with this tour. And I couldn't feel more blessed than I do right now to be here.

Well, now I'm sure you're wondering what the title, "Devotional boot camp" means. As a team, we try and have a devotional once a day. On the side, the girls have been doing a Bible study and studying the book of Ephesians. That book is so good! But anyways, devotionals usually just mean reading a few verses from the Bible and talking about it, then prayer requests. Well, Paco and Dani had a surprise for the team last night. We were texted earlier saying wear comfortable shoes and work out clothes for devotionals. uh...Okay! When we got down in the main lobby, we went to start and Paco led us outside into a field. He then continued to read to us 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. The title of it is "The need for Self-Discipline".

It reads, "24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

We discussed it a little bit and our thoughts on what we thought it meant and things like that. After we discussed it for 10 minutes, we took a few minutes to pray. Then, Paco gave us a set of instructions. We were gonna be taught some self discipline. As a team, we did a group work out. We started with an indian run. If you don't know what an indian run is, it is where everyone runs in a single file line around a field. The last person has to run up to the front of the line. Once they get there, they have to raise their hand and the next person runs up and so on and so on. After we did about 2 of those, Paco gave us stations. One station involved squatting then jumping and hitting your knees in the air above waste level. We had to do 10 of those. The next station was sitting on the ground in the middle, standing up and turning around, sprinting to the tree, back to the cement, back to the middle and sit down again. We had to do 5 of those. The next station was getting in push up position, hands together, feet together. We had to open our hands and feet up wide and do a push up to the left, bring it back to the middle, then do the same to the right. That was equivalent to one. We had to do 10 of those. The next station was kneeling down, jumping back into push up position, jumping back into kneeling position, jumping up, doing 4 punches, then back down to kneeling. That equalled one. We had to do 10 of those. We had to go through each station 3 times.

Our team consists of people of all sizes, all different physical abilities. Me, I am not athletic at all. I mean, I was majorette captain in high school, which can be pretty challenging during advanced twirling, but we never really had to run TOO much. It was just awesome to work together as a team to FINISH the stations still breathing. Some people were about to puke, some may have puked, let's just say, it was hard work. BUT WE ALL FINISHED. The more athletic ones were there to go slow with the nonathletic ones and motivating everyone all the way. We were cheering for each other and motivating each other to keep pushing to keep trying. Everyone gave it their all. It was an awesome learning experience and was cool to work as a team. Did I enjoy it? Not so much. Was it worth it? Yes. I have some heart issues I was a little worried about, but God got me through. Along with the others who have allergies, asthma, and other health problems. We all got through, and we all are gonna feel it in the next few days, but we learned a lot about working as a team and disciplining ourselves to cross the finish line.

Well, that is all for now. We have a 10 hour drive today to Hereford, TX. Praying that people show up to the show tomorrow. Austin, TX show got cancelled due to the fires going on in the area. The team is praying for everyone affected! God Bless!