This summer is an interesting season in my life. It has been almost a month since I graduated from Auburn, which was the ending of a big chapter in my life. I launch for the World Race in 2 months- 64 days! Right now, I’m in an in-between time. It’s a time for family, friends, and preparing to launch. During this time, I have several updates that I wanted to share:
1. Fundraising
I am around 68% funded!!! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to my trip and supported me with your prayers! I still need a little over $5000, and it’s my personal goal to be fully funded before I launch in August.
- During the month of May, I was partnered with Go Rings. Today (May 31st) is the LAST DAY to purchase jewelry from them. Visit gorings.us and choose my name at checkout for a portion of the proceeds to go toward my fundraising!
- North Alabama friends, as I am both moving out of my college apartment and getting ready to live out of a backpack for a year, I have a lot of stuff that I no longer need. We are going to be having a HUGE yard sale later this summer. The date has not yet been decided, but keep an eye out for that.
2. Preparation
I am slowly but surely collecting all of the gear I need for my trip. We have made multiple trips to REI and online orders from Back Country. A lot of people ask questions about what all I am taking. Closer to when I launch, I plan to make a packing blog/video that shows everything I am taking and how I get it all in my pack. (That last part is something I am still working on. Let me know if anyone knows the best way to utilize compression sacks.)
3. Training Camp
I have training camp next week! Training camp is 10 days long at the Adventures base in Gainesville, Georgia. It starts on the 7th, on my 22nd birthday! They try to keep training camp somewhat secretive so that future racers don’t know what all to expect, but here’s a little about what I know:
- Meeting & Bonding: I finally get to meet everyone!! I will spend a lot of time with my squad, W squad. My squad is the 55 people who will travel to each country together. By the end of training camp, I will be put on my first team. My team will be 6-8 people who I will be with every day for the first few months. (So all 55 of us will go to India in August, but the teams will split up to different areas and ministries once we get in country.)
- Squad Wars: In August, there are 4 other squads that are going to different countries than I am. We will all be at the same training camp. Squad wars is just a fun way to bond with the people that I am going to be spending the next 11 months with. It gets competitive and colorful. W squad will be rocking all blue.
- Preparation: Training camp will be the time for me to practice using all my gear and have a better idea of what I want to take when I launch in August. We will have several worship times and messages. We will learn about different cultures and have interesting foods to eat. There are also simulated situations that we will likely face while we are gone. (Think sleeping in an airport and losing our luggage.)
The next blog I post will be about what God taught me at training camp! I am so excited that what I have been thinking about for 4 years and actively preparing for for almost a year is finally here! Thank you for all your support!
