First thing’s first… I have never written a blog before. I promise to be completely honest here and hold nothing back… so here goes nothing.
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Jeni Keller. My parents are Kent and Paula Keller. I graduated from Southern Illinois University with an Associates degree and a license to be a Physical Therapist Assistant. I have been working all over Southern Illinois since April of 2014. A very good friend of mine was about to leave to study abroad. She came over one night before she left. While we were talking, she said excitedly “the world is my oyster!”… It hit me that my oyster was very small. I needed something more. Not two weeks passed before The World Race literally fell into my lap.
After a lot of prayer and many conversations with my family, I decided to apply. Two weeks ago, I found out that I have been accepted to go on the World Race and I could not be more excited! I am so eager to see what God has in store for me over the next year and a half while preparing to launch and while I am out in the mission field. I am still in disbelief that all of this is real and I will be really leaving everything I have ever known to travel the world with complete strangers that will become my family for 11 months.
As you could imagine, traveling around the world for 11 months is not a cheap venture. I am going to have to raise some money as I will not be able to pay for it on my own. I am a very independent person and asking for help, especially when it comes to money, will be very difficult for me. The best way to get over pride (and fear) is to just go for it and bite the bullet. In the spirit of honesty, I will need to raise exactly $16,267 to cover the cost of the trip. That amount covers all of my travel, lodging, and food for 11 months. It does not however cover any of the gear I will need (a list of things I will need is coming soon), spending money, any vaccinations I will need, or other miscellaneous expenses that are sure to come up along the way. I am in no way asking you all to just throw money at me. I am more than willing to work for it. I am a great babysitter, I can clean houses (don’t laugh mom.. ), and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. Any odd jobs I can do to raise funds I would be more than willing to do!
If you want to hear more about my trip, my walk with God, or anything else just let me know! You can either comment below or email me at [email protected].
