On Tuesday, September 13, 2016, I found out I had been accepted to World Race Gap Year. Since then, I have been busy with fundraising, brainstorming on fundraising ideas, sharing my heart for this trip with friends and family, and praying about this one-of-a-kind, nine month journey I will embark on in just nine months. I want to tell you about some of the awesome things pertaining to World Race that have happened over the past few months.
Early on in the process of brainstorming for fundraising ideas, my mom came up with the idea of making and selling Christmas ornaments for $10 each. I started this in late October, as I was too excited about it to wait until the actual Christmas season, and I sold 113 ornaments! This raised me $1,130, just from selling Christmas ornaments!
While at church one Sunday a few months ago, we were singing a song called, “Miracles.” The music leader told us to pray for a miracle in our lives, and I prayed for Christ to provide the funds for this trip. I have known since the beginning that He will provide in His time, but I prayed for it anyways, and He reassured me of His ability and willingness to provide for me. He reassured me once more after church, when a missionary to Honduras, a man whom I have never met, gave me $100 after I told him a bit about my trip. Just an hour after praying that God would provide the funds for me to go, a stranger gave me $100. Every time I feel doubt coming in about not raising enough money, He reminds me of that Sunday. He will provide, in His own time.
In December, my aunt hosted a Christmas party and invited me to speak about my trip. I knew almost everyone there, but I was still incredibly nervous to speak for 5 minutes in front of several adults. Once I started sharing my heart, however, it was easier, and the people I was talking to were eager to hear about the trip, and asked several questions once I finished. That night, I made $283! I felt uncomfortable about speaking in front of people, but because I did, I got that much closer to going on my dream trip.
Last month, my squad, the people I will be going on this trip with, created a group chat to get to know each other. I have had the privilege to hear their hearts for this trip and get to know each of them before we even meet. This has been a daily encouragement, and has helped remove the fear of leaving all of my friends and family here. Of course, I am still not looking forward to the day I leave my Lakeland friends, but it is exciting to know that I will have 25 (or more!) friends that I will be travelling the world with.
One night during finals week, I was feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and stressed out. I had to make about 25 ornaments that night, and it was taking hours. As I was cleaning up the mess made from the ornaments, I thought, Will this even be worth it? All this stress, all these hours of work, will it, in the end, be worth it? About two minutes later, I turned on my phone to find about 30 messages from my squad, talking about how excited they are to meet everyone, and how amazing this trip will be. The thought of it not being worth it left immediately, and it was replaced with gratitude for awesome new friends and God’s perfect timing.
A few nights ago, I had a dream that involved my squad. We were in the Philippines, driving along the coast in an overly crowded bus, to get to where we were going to live for the next three months. We were laughing, joking, and taking pictures of our surroundings. I woke up so excited to go on this amazing trip with some amazing people.
I am just over the $2,000 mark!! I would love if you would consider giving towards my World Race. My birthday is in a few weeks, so you could consider it an early birthday present! 😉
God bless, my friends!
