Hello!
I have exactly 2 weeks before I start this amazing journey that is the World Race.
I am in the process of making a pile of things I want to take with me… I call it the preliminary round.
I will go through it again sometime soon-ish to see what I don’t really need… or what makes my pack heavy.
My goal is to have my pack stay around 45 lbs. This will be the most challenging task. Which is why I have the preliminary round.
Today in Iowa, the high is only supposed to get to -1…That is without the windchill. Currently it is -8 with the windchill making it -35. So, I was thinking warm thoughts as I went to my car in shorts and a jacket to try and move my car… Not happening. My car likes to do things in this weather about as much as I do. After I tried 4 times, I decided to see what the weather was like in the Dominican (since that is where we start out in 2 weeks)… 80 degrees and sunny. The only white stuff they have on the ground is sand.
Yesterday it really kind of hit me that I was leaving. I was at church and saying my last goodbyes to some of the church members because I don’t know if I will be at church next Saturday because of the Holiday. IT really hasn’t set in too much, but just talking to someone new about the trip and how much the Lord is going to use me, stretch me, mold me this year, REALLY hit me. I held back my tears because I didn’t want to cry in front of this person I just met. In June, right after the flooding in Iowa, I gave a presentation about this trip. I spoke to people who were all affected by the floods. Some losing everything thing they had, while others just knowing people or taking them into their homes. I cried. I didn’t want to… But here I was, asking for people to support me, when they didn’t have the means to. I was talking to homeless people. I was talking to people who couldn’t even afford to have inspectors come to their house to say that they needed to demolish everything they have worked for in their lives. It was hard. What made this moment hit me so hard, was that people still came to me and gave. I think about the woman who didn’t have much to give, but she gave the equivalent of a half of a penny because that is all that she had. These people had nothing, yet they still gave.
My heart has been humbled by them.
I will be living on $7 a day for food, transportation and lodging over the course of the next 11 months. I will have nothing, yet I will be better off than most of the people we will meet this next year.
With that, I am asking you to still help me by supporting me. With all of the monthly pledges, and donations, I have raised….$12,000. I am still $2,000 short of my goal. I am SO blessed by the many donations people have given.
I want to thank each and every one of you. I have had a couple anonymous donations and I want to send out a special thanks to you.
I hope that each and everyone of you enjoy your family this Christmas and remember the reason why we celebrate.
I love you all!
Be Blessed my friends!
~Bekah
