So this post is not quite as eloquent, and some of you are really happy because that also means it won't be as long! Haha. But I wanted to inform some of you of the great details that encapsulate my journey over the next year.
First of all, I was officially informed today of my LAUNCH information.
I will be in Atlanta on SEPTEMBER 7th for pre-departure briefing. I have a few last days of training before I go into the field, and then I officially LEAVE THE USA on a plane for the PHILIPPINES on SEPTEMBER 10th! EEEK! The clock is quickly ticking!!!! So snag me for some personal time while you still can! (This date is assuming I made my financial deadline of $6500 by August 18th, which I still need help reaching, wink wink.)
Secondly, I learned over Training Camp that I had a route change! FOUR out of 11 of our countries are now different than they used to be! This was my original route: You will notice it included AMAZING countries such as Thailand, Uganda, Rwanda, and Sudan.
Unfortunately, I will no longer be going to those four countries. The World Race is very particular about keeping a leg up on safety issues- helping us avoid dangerous or problematic areas, and also making sure that they do not exhaust their ministry partners, aka the people hosting us. Due to those and other reasons my route is now avoiding those countries for this period of time in order to keep everyone as safe and happy as they can! 😀 But that also means that now I get to go new exciting countries I have never dreamed of (and some I have never heard of, haha)!
These new countries are… drumroll please…
HOORAY! Not exactly what I had in mind, but obviously God has something greater planned for me in these AWESOME places and I am SO EXCITED to find out what! :DD
Also at training camp I found out who my Teammates will be!
Meet TEAM ILLUMINATE! (because we want to be and bring Light to the Darkness!)
These 5 people are going to be my mini family, or what we like to call FAMBAM, for the next year. Everything I do will be with them by side. I literally will not be able to go ANYWHERE without one of them glued to my hip at all times.(But really, its a WR rule). They will laugh with me, cry with me, pray, worship, and heal in God's name with me, do ministry, evangelize, LOVE me and love others with me, eat with me, travel with me, sleep, work, and agonize with me. These five beautiful souls have to put up with my extreme highs of energy when they are all tired and sluggish, andwill have to deal with my intense deep emotions and heartbreaks when they don't understand. But mostly they are the ones that will keep me out of trouble (hopefully, haha). I am learning to love them already, and I know that this next year with them will be an intense time of absorbing, receiving, and giving to each other. I am so excited for the ways God intends to use us in one another's lives.
From Left to Right they are Tanner, Brad (our strong Team Leader), Liz, Courtney, Ashley (our extremely organized Team Treasurer), and me in the middle! Their faces and profiles are now on the left side of my page so be sure to click on their links and watch and cheer on their race too! Please follow their stories and don't forget to pray for all of us together! They will be influencing every day I have on the race, and my future too, as they mold and shape my heart. I am so blessed to call them FamBam.
