I can not even begin to explain everything that has happened since June 27, 2014. My life has been a complete whirlwind since then and looking back it has kind of just flown by a lot faster then I ever thought it would. It feel like just yesterday I was sitting in this coffee shop in Knoxville looking at The World Race website realizing it was definitely mean’t for me to go do this. I sat there completely unaware of where I was headed at in life and didn’t know anything in that moment except that I was supposed to do this.
Fast forward 9 months later and I now own camping gear I never even knew about. Most importantly I have reached the 50% mark in my fundraising. Going into the World Race I think it is pretty common for each world racer to be concerned with how they are going to raise $16,000. They give you a total amount in the beginning that you have to raise, but once you apply and get on bandwagon of preparing for your launch you realize how much this all truly is going to cost. I didn’t own one single piece of gear before hand and it’s probably not the wisest idea to go buy all of your gear from Walmart, no matter how much money you are trying to save. You have to buy a tent, a sleeping pad, a backpack, a headlamp, a sleeping bag, and it all has to fit in a bag that is usually less then 70L, so you can’t go buy really heavy gear or gear that takes up a lot of room. There is also the cost of vaccinations and medicines for overseas travel. Also, you need money to spend on field for things that you would like to do for yourself. When you start looking at the full amount of money you are going to need it does become a little overwhelming.
I spent months calculating how much I would have to work and how much money I would need to raise to make this all become a reality. After spending months doing that I finally realized this isn’t some thing I am going to be able to do myself, but it’s going to be some thing I am going to have to ask help for. I know God already has this full amount raised. He knows who is going to feel led to give and He knows how much more money I am going to earn at work these next 3 months at work. That is what gives me full faith that this is all going to be provided for. Going into this I said I wanted to be fully funded by launch and that kind of seems crazy because launch is now a little less then 4 months away! Having $8,000 makes $16,000 seem so much closer. I know $8,000 is still a lot to go, but I can now say I don’t think it would be impossible to be fully funded by launch. I truly believe it is possible and that it could happen, but even if I am not fully funded by launch I have 2 out of 4 deadlines already met. I can officially leave in June and have at least 3 months once on field to reach $11,000, which I have faith that I will already have that raised when I leave. My final deadline will be 6 months into the journey, so the full $16,000 is due January 2016! I know this deadline will be provided and I can’t wait to see it all fall into place.
I thank you so much for reading my blog about my fundraising journey so far and I can’t wait to keep you all updated. If reading this you feel led to donate or are wanting to know in ways you can help me feel free to get in contact with me via email: [email protected]. I’d love to share my heart with you about this trip and hear your thoughts on what I am doing. I am still planning on sending a few more support letters out, so if you feel like you were supposed to get one and haven’t, don’t worry it should be coming in a week or two. Also, thank you so much for those reading this that have already donated, I could not have reached 50% without you!
