First I just wanted to say a big thanks to all of my supporters who have helped me be able to go on this amazing journey. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. A billon thanks from the bottom of my heart.
IT’S FINALY HERE!!
IT’S TIME TO LAUNCH INTO THE WORLD AND START THIS JOURNEY!
To start our world race journey we had 3 days of Launch Atlanta, Georgia.
After some really hard goodbyes I left Roanoke at 7 in the morning and started my journey with a 9 and a half hour drive to Atlanta. Along the way I GOT TO EAT CHICK-FIL-A AT THE ORIGINAL HOME OF CHICK-FIL-A!!
The first day and a half the parents were invited to stay but both of my parents had to work and I didn’t think it would be hard because I don’t get home sick but when my team was taking pictures with their families and during worship I felt very alone and sad. But my teammates and their parents were amazing. They said they would all be my adopted parents and it really felt like that. I ate with them and worshiped with them and hugged and cried with them. (So I just wanted to make sure I thanked all the Aslan’s Army parents and all of the P Squad parents for being so kind.)
After our 3 days of launch it was time to actually fly out. But thanks to Irma our flights were cancelled. So we got to go join our friends in Squad N at a church 45 mins outside of Atlanta that was kind enough to house roughly 70 racers. Thanks to their generosity we all remained safe and happy and waited out the storm and got to hang out and worship and get closer to our friends on N Squad.
We woke up the next morning around 8:30 to mostly clear skies and no more wind and were greeted with the best news, “Pack up all your stuff and be ready to leave by 11. We are flying out today.” The day was finally here! We were going to India!!
Our first flight was a 13 hour flight to Qatar. I have never been on a flight that long. It was so strange, after a while you forget it was a plane because even though it was light outside, all the windows were shut because it was the middle of the night back in Atlanta. Our second flight was out of Qatar and after 4 hours and a 45 min bus ride we finally made it to our host house at 2 o’clock in the morning.
At first India was so over whelming. There is so much color and life and color and honking and color and crazy drivers, oh and have I mentioned the color? This morning I woke up, due to jet lag, at 2 in the morning. To the best of my ability I tried to sleep but couldn’t. So I decided to give up on sleep and just go upstairs and watch tv shows I had saved on my laptop. As the morning went on more and more people from my squad were waking up so we all went up to the roof to watch the sunrise. Watching the sunrise over the houses on one side and the city waking up on the other side. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. In my entire life. You can just feel the spirit everywhere.
We also have to wear traditional Indian clothes so we got to go to the mall and buy kurthas and scarves and flowy pants to wear for the next two months. You feel so much more connected with a community when you fit in to their custom in every way from eating curry… for every meal, to eating with our right hands, taking off our shoes before entering houses, and wearing the clothes they wear. You can’t really mission to people until you have broken down the barriers that western culture puts up.
We have only been in India for 3 days and I already don’t want to leave.
