Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. – Martin Luther King Jr. ( My birthday buddy!)
First and foremost, Happy New Year! Second and foremost, I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your time, thoughts and prayer as I’ve been prepping to go on my upcoming journey, the World Race. It’s really happening, my bags are packed, my new ukelele is in its travel case, I am headed to Atlanta Georgia on Monday, January 6th and then my team and I will go to Puerto Burrios, Guatemala on Thursday, January 9th! Wow!
As you probably know/remember, I was hoping to have raised all of the financial support I need by my birthday (January 15th) in order to do all 11 months of the Race. Simply put, I’ve realized that that will not happen in the next 11 days, but I realize that there is a silver lining with the circumstance of not being fully funded at this moment….Now I have more chances to reach out and ask for more help ( a lesson that I’m still learning how to love.)
I’ve been incredibly blessed to have $8,000 in my World Race account but I still have $7,953 more to raise in order to do the whole trip!
According to Adventures in Mission’s policy, I need to have a total of $11,000 in my World Race account by April 1, 2014, and then have a total of $16,278 in my World Race account by July 1, 2014. Since I will be in the World Race while I need to raise support, I am asking for your help to help me raise support.
I am asking you for help because I know like I know like I know that you are supportive of this dream of mine, to travel around the world and serve people from all walks of life. In order to make the financial deadline of $11,00 by April 1, 2014, I need to raise $2,662. I sincerely believe that that amount (and more) can be raised by April 1, 2014. Can you help this dream of mine become a reality?
Frankly speaking, since this is my first time doing a trip like this, I easily fell into the trap of being too focused on the financial aspect, and not looking at the big picture. Since my focus was only on one part, I was freaking out and obsessing about finances! Thankfully, my eyes are opening and I am now beginning to see that the World Race, everything from raising money to people like me who actually do it, is all about people helping one another get to where they are supposed to be. The people who encourage me and contribute to my World Race account help me get to the countries, so when I meet the people I meet, I’ll be able to play my part to help them get to where they need to be, whatever that looks like. (I’ll be posting many blogs about this when the times come!)
I honestly, from the bottom of my heart believe I’m supposed to go to all 11 countries. I want, so desperately, to go to all 11 countries. I want to experience this journey with my squadmates, the other 50 21-35 year olds who are doing this, I want to hold orphans, speak to human sex trafficking victims and tell them that they are worthy of love, I want to try to talk to cab drivers in the Phillippines, I want to order street food in Cambodia, I want to try to sing a Spanish song with my hosts in Costa Rica, I want to play my ukelele in South Africa. There is so much that I want to do, and I need your help in order to do all of these things.
My only request for now is for you to take a couple of days to think about your availability to help. I know doing a fundraiser (especially for someone else) is a big task, and I know that you all have very full plates, but honestly, even one fundraiser, such as a raffle, a bake sale, a poker night, a spaghetti dinner, or even selling your old junk on Craig’s list or ebay along with in your friends from your office/school/ recreational activity group would help me out so much. There is nothing quite as special as getting your community together for a good cause, right?
Thank you very much for your time, reading this post carefully. If you would like to help, please shoot me an email at [email protected] by January 14th.
If you are not able to help me with a fundraiser, but would like to help me in other ways, you can pray for me especially for/on January 9th!
Join me on the journey! Keep following this blog! Add yourself to my subscriber list!
Email me at [email protected]!
Lastly, enjoy this beautiful and sunny day!
Love,
-Kim Harris
