The following is a list of a few things that in reallity you don’t need on the race. I know its sucha temptation and you might even thik you actually need some of these things for the race but the relity is, no, you don’t need anything. I’ll start with the obvious then move on to the more challenging.
1. You do not need a new daypack for this trip, and don’t believe the lie that you do, because you don’t! Your backpack you used in high school will work fine. Materialism can strike us hard sometimes and we not even know it. The race is a great and gracious venue for learning contentment and simplicity if you so decide to embrace the oppurtunity! 🙂
2. You do not need your entire wardrobe. I know a girl on my squad (who shall remain nameless but she knows who she is) who only brought 3 ppairs of underware on the race. Guys, are we gonna let girls show us up like this? I brought way too many clothes. I ended the race with maybe four or five t-shirts (one of them a dry-fit long sleeve) and one button up, 3 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of jeans, no more than 2 pairs of sox, 3 pairs of boxers, and 2 pairs of briefs. The more you bring the heavier your pack is and the more you have to pack up every travel day. You will thank yourself later on in the race if you pack light!
3. Your laptop! Yeah!! I said it! First off, I know several people who have done this. My squad-mate Michael did it and I starteed doing it month 3 when my computer died. It’s actuallly really nice not having to lug around a heavy compputer on travel day. Smart phones are reallly the way to go. You can use them as cameras, computers, and even use them as kindles. The kindle app is available for both iphones and androids! I read 5 books on the race just from my android.
4. Now this last thing I’m about to tell you is a tough one I tried doing without this for a little while and it was pretty tough, but it is so rewarding. I oonly know one person that has done this on the race and thatt is my buddy Jan Thoden. What Jan did was He whent the entire race without any of His own money. He didn’t bring a debit card or anything. I tried living stricktly off the world race budget and it was really rewarding when I saw all the money I didn’t spend. Plus it’s awseome to just live off of God’s provision. He provides in the most creative an unexpected ways.
Be blessed,
Steven Buffington
