Boot Camp

This morning I was thinking of one of the more embarrassing parts of my mission and some of the lessons I have learned from it. Please allow me to embarrass myself and hopefully help display the moral of the story.

The story begins back in my last area in Wake Forest when autumn was in full swing. North Carolina's trees were turning all sorts of vibrant colors and the weather was pleasant. That day, one of our friends my companion and I were teaching was talking to us after a lesson. We sat in a small circle of chairs in a gym that he owns with medicine balls and weights scattered around the room. The man then invited us to come to one of his boot camp classes in a week or so to see what it was like. My companion and I were excited and quickly said yes. Our friend then said, "Okay" with a smirk that said "You two have no idea what you are getting yourselves into, do you?"

The week leading up to our boot camp was filled with little to no preparation. Back home I played sports with my friends and was on the swim team. Needless to say, I consider myself decently fit. My companion and I ate what we wanted and did what we wanted. We went on with normal missionary activities for the week and continued to do half-hearted morning exercise routines. Finally, the morning of the workout, I did probably the worst thing I could have done; I skipped breakfast, thinking nothing of it. 

During the drive to the gym, my companion and I talked and laughed about how little we prepared. When we walked into the room we see the instructor and probably 10 or so women ranging in age from late 20's to late 60's. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "if they can do it, I can do it." Boy, was I wrong. The work out started out great! I remember doing the routines that were prescribed with ease. I felt great and rotated through each station following the exerciser in front of me. We got through the majority of the exercises and things were still going extremely well. Then we got to the sled. The sled was a metal framed box with skis on it plus the desired amount of weights on it. I got low to the ground and pushed the sled back and forth across the gym time after time to see how many times I could get it across before time was out. I don't remember exactly how many times I pushed it but when I stood up I felt all the blood rush out of my head. I still pushed forward to the next station and attempted to do the next exercise because the boot camp was almost finished anyways. I felt absolutely awful. The instructor looked at my face turning more ghostly white by the second and asked if I was feeling okay. Next thing I know, I was taken to the side away from everything and sat there drinking some cold water. I was not prepared. 

Despite the embarrassment of having to quit in front of my companion and a bunch of middle-aged women, we are able to draw a few lessons from my unfortunate story. If I only would have prepared a little more. Whether or not the events in or future are physical, emotional, or spiritual, we must prepare. Feeding our spirits by going to church, praying, or reading the scriptures is the key. The act of preparation never really ever makes the event, in this case boot camp, any easier of a task. Rather, it gives us the strength to endure. Trials will come in each of our lives and it is up to us if we will be ready or not. It is my prayer that we will be ready and not have to sit this one out.