Boot Camp Lingo

A Random Image (How to decipher and translate your team member’s letter home!)

Over the years, we have developed abbreviations and names that mean something at Boot Camp, but when shared in a letter home can be like reading in a foreign language. Below is our best effort to help you translate our Boot Camp dialect. Enjoy!

OC—Obstacle Course
SB —Special Blessing Training
KP—Kitchen Patrol
DQ—Disqualify
MC— Master of Ceremonies for evening Rally
MTA—Missionary to America
FTM—Former Team Member
SPP—Secret Prayer Partner
Devos—Personal Devotions
GG—God’s Gentleman (teen boys' class)
GG—Grubby to Grace (teen girls' class)
RR—Rough to Righteouness (preteen boys' class)
RR—Rags to Riches (preteen girls' class)
Quiz—Weekly Bible memory competition between team members and other teams

Obstacle Course Descriptions

Each aspect of Boot Camp training is designed to develop character traits necessary to handle the rigors and challenges of missionary life. Each obstacle course develops and tests a team’s ability to follow instructions, work within boundaries, and cooperate as a cohesive unit lifting up any member who might struggle or become discouraged.

MOSES

Moses OC

The ‘granddaddy’ of them all… This course requires teamwork, endurance and courage. Team members learn to rely on the Lord for strength and to lift up their fellow team member to achieve a common goal. They also learn that one member who oversteps a boundary can adversely affect the entire team. Featured obstacles include the Children of Israel’s Luggage (stacking the 66 books of the Bible written on wooden boxes), Mount Sinai (scaling a tire mountain), Slough of Despond (rope swing over a moat), the Maze, Jacob’s Ladder (scaling a 30’ cargo net), and the Wall .

* NOTE : Preteens use the Moses Obstacle Course with some changes in rules and procedure. Peanuts have a completely separate ‘mini-Moses’ Obstacle Course.

JONAH

Water OC

Seafarers Rejoice! You have not been forgotten! The classic obstacles (luggage, slough, tunnel, ladder and wall) return in watery form. A refreshing seascape cools each team as they navigate this course. You'll do swimmingly!

EGYPTIAN SLAVES

Each team must arrange the books of the Bible, transport water without spilling, and move cylinders via wheelbarrows though an obstacle course without losing their cargo before stacking them in a pyramid.

NOAH’S ARK

Teams are timed as they reenact the Genesis flood by building a boat, loading the animals in pairs, moving the flood waters, etc. Instructions must be followed in every detail.

WORLD MAP

World-map A giant world map template is laid out with a fixed concrete foundation in the shape of each continent. Teams must race the clock to locate the countries of world (individually shaped on plywood cutouts) and place them on the map (much like a huge jigsaw puzzle).

STICK TO JESUS

stick-to-jesus Participants don a velcro body suit and jump from the launch pad onto a velcro wall. The higher they stick the better the score.

RUN FROM THE DEVIL

Run From the Devil Participants run against a bungee cord attached to their waist while trying to place their velcro marker beyond that of the contestant in the lane next to theirs.

CLEANLINESS & PIGGY AWARDS

Team tent sites, eating areas, and Big Top seating areas are judged daily for cleanliness. The goal is to develop a team cooperation toward maintenance of a positive testimony while on the field and a habit of personal cleanliness.