On Thursday, September 7th, I flew to Atlanta, GA for Launch–three more days of training/preparation before leaving for our first country. (Cambodia) It was so much fun being reunited with my squad and learning and growing together.
Today, (September 11th) we gathered in the hotel at 12:30am to prepare to leave for the airport. After pulling an all-nighter, we took off for San Francisco at 6:00am. Thankfully, I was able to sleep for most of the 4.5 hour flight, which made our 17 hour layover much easier. (Yep–you heard me. 17 hours.) Thankfully, for half of this time, we were able to explore San Francisco (one of my favorite cities). Right now, we’re getting ready to check in for our 14 hour flight to China, which leaves at midnight. This will be the longest length of time I’ve ever been on a plane…I’m praying that I’ll be able to sleep for the majority of the trip. Once we land in China, we will have one more 6 hour layover before leaving for Phenom Pen, the capital of Cambodia. Here, we’ll get to stay in a hostel overnight (real beds!!!!!!!) before taking a 6 hour bus ride to Battambang, the location of our ministry.
I don’t think I realized how crazy and long travel days would be…but I’m not sure there’s a good way to prepare you for them. Though I haven’t been in a bed for 39 hours, it’s amazing how enjoyable this time has been. It’s been a long day, but spending it with my team has been such a blessing. They’re the reason I haven’t lost it yet.
We still have over half of our trip left, but I just wanted to update you all on the plans so far. Please pray for safety for the rest of the journey, and that my whole squad will be able to rest and encourage each other. Please also pray for the other gap year squads…many flights got cancelled due to hurricane Irma, causing lots of rescheduling and headaches. Me and my squad were so lucky to take off at 6:00am and leave Atlanta before the airport completely shut down.
I’ll be posting more once we get to Cambodia 🙂 Thanks so much for following my journey!
