So I think I may have mentioned that preparation for The World Race can be OVERWHELMING! There are some days where I just need a break and I need to think about something else–thank you Nancy Drew books! But through all the crazy days (the ones where I'm so excited, I wish I could board a plane right now and the bad ones when I think I've made a terrible mistake and just want to walk away from it all) there has been an AWESOME group of people who keep me going, keep me encouraged: the WOW Squad!
For each of the routes the group of people are called Squads and then they are given a corresponding letter. Ours is W. Clearly going by WOW Squad is way cooler than just plain old W Squad.
So why am I taking time to tell you all about this squad? Because while I'm away they are my lifeline, my friends, my family, my sounding boards, basically they're it. I will be with some of these people ALOT! At first I was a little nervous. What if we don’t get along? Tragedy all around. But already these people have shown themselves to be just AMAZING people. Through blogs, facebook and texts they have shown themselves to be kind and compassionate, funny and humble, passionate and open. Just all around good people that I know will be a great influence on me!
In fact they are so great that they (we) have come up with a goal, two actually.
- For the whole WOW Squad to be fully funded before we leave (we’d be the first!)
- To help each other reach this goal. All for one and one for all kind of deal!
Just a reminder of cost: the trip by itself is $15,500 but we can raise an additional $1,500 to be reimbursed for vaccines, health insurance and flights to/from training camp and launch site. So ideally we’d all raise $17,000 but bare bones, $15,500.
So we’re thinking of ways to help each other out. (You can probably be looking forward to some kind of great video from the squad) Here’s the latest breakdown of where we are:
- 12 below $1,000
- 30 below the $3,500 training camp deadline
- 30 above the $3,500 mark
- 5 almost fully funded
I have the greatest people in my life so my fundraising has been going well (just under $7000 left, WOO HOO!!!) For others it’s going a bit slower. If you look to the left you’ll see in the link list where I am financially. Most of the squad has decided to do this also so people know right where they are. I ask that you take a moment and check out some of the people I’ll be living with for 11 months. Aren’t you a little curious? And then pray. Pray about supporting one or some of them, pray that God will put awesome people like you in their lives. and lastly pray that they won’t lose heart. I’m not going to lie, fundraising can be the most discouraging experience, when you put so much effort forth and just don’t see results.
Just a heads up, once I reach fully funded I’m not going to stop asking for money–now I’ll just be asking for these WONDERFUL people who will hopefully keep me sane while traveling the world, sharing the love of God!
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For clarity sake, if you click on "some of the people" two paragraphs up, it'll take you to a list of all my squadmates and their blogs!
