Expectations
So what are my expectations about going on the Race?
Outside of the common sense expectations, I really have no expectations since the best way to approach going on the World Race is to have no expectations (as I learned from others) at all because we really don’t know what we are going to be doing serving wise until we actually get there, and the experience is different for everyone. But what I know that I can expect to be challenged and pushed to my limits physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and to me that is something that I crave for I love being challenged cause if I don’t get that then I get bored. I know that there will be down time during the week where my squad will just spend the day, chilling at the house/compound/wherever we are staying for the month, and that is also fine with me since even I do sometimes enjoy downtime, but thankfully it won’t be all work and no play since the one thing that I have come across in my research about others out in the field is that besides their “work” week, they also have an adventure day, and a rest day which is something that I hope my squad does as well (keep in mind I will have no idea who my squad is until August), but there is one thing that I do expect to do on one of our adventure days while in Belize, and that is to go see some Mayan ruins, and going to visit Ankur Wat while in Cambodia as well as hopefully getting to see some other noteable sites in the other countries as well since if we really stop to think about it all, it was God who created it all, and to be able to see his creation is just an awesome thought to keep in mind as I’m traveling around the world while serving him above all.
(so if there are any of my potential squadmates reading this take note we ARE going to see the Mayan ruins during our month in Belize hahahaha)
Preparation
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible”-Hebrews 11:3
Even though it is still just under a full year before I leave for my World Race tour, I have been doing things to help prepare myself in all aspects for the Race.
Physically: This will happen once the craziness of 4th quarter in the retail business & after people have already given up on their New Years resolution early, but I need to start working out on a consistant basis once again, I do have a gym membership so my plan is to restart lifting weights/running on a treadmill once again since now I have motivation to workout even more, plus I also have to train for my full tough mudder/warrior dash races as well as golf season in addition to going the Race.
As well as brushing up on my European football (otherwise known as soccer for us Americans, again gotta start training myself to call it that too) skills since I have a feeling I might need them as well during the Race.
Mentally/emotionally: This might sound strange, but this is not really a hard one for me since I am pretty strong on both of these fronts, and if I do feel down, I do have things that I can do to help me combat those negative thoughts. Although I must admit that even if I do have 10 months left before I leave, it is already driving me nuts since it has been on my mind 24/7 since I got accepted to go, this is something that I know that this is what God wants for me, and I’m actually impatient waiting for next October but I am trying hard to pray for patience as one thing you will learn about me and one of the things that I struggle with is patience (which I’m sure I am going to be talking about that at some point as well).
Spiritually: I have already done quite a bit of this and not even realized it until this past summer, but the more I think about it I know that everything that I have been doing as far as attending BSF, having served as a deacon for 3 years and being on the mission & outreach committee at church have all in their own way spiritually prepared me for the Race. Now I know that I still have a long way to go in preparing myself still, but I am looking forward to it.
Financially: As I said in my previous post about fundraising, the bulk of the money that I need to raise for the Race will be coming from my awesome supporters like yourself! I also have a few other ideas in mind to help with fundraising such as designing and selling t shirts (which seems to be a popular thing to do to raise money among racers) as well as my hand turned pens, sending out my fundraising letter, and hopefully be doing a presentation at my church during out mid week fellowship night. I will also be putting a good portion of my money towards it as well since I feel that demonstrates my personal commitment to going on the Race. So if it in your heart to give, please do because trust me, It’ll be worth it!
It is also funny how the past couple of weeks in my pastor’s sermons he has mention points that turned out to be relevant to what I’m facing in the coming year especially when he talked about Moses and the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years with nothing but what they could carry on their backs, which is what in sense I’ll be doing, only with a backpack and only for 11 months (my friend pointed this fact out to me after service during coffee hour). I see that as a sign that it is spiritually meant for me to go on the Race, and that helps me in case I ever question why God has me going down this route in the first place. Sometimes just hearing the word of God can help prepare oneself for a journey, and to me that is a pretty cool piece of food for thought.
One of the things that I have been reading other racers blogs who are out in the field now, so that has given me some kind of idea of what I might be doing out in the field. Reading their blogs has made me even more pumped up for whatever I might be doing, and I especially love reading the blogs about other racers who are serving in some of the countries that are on my route, so that helps me to kind of get a picture of how I might serving the people of that country.
I know that will also be doing a lot of research about each country, and dusting my geography knowledge as well (I can’t help myself for that’s the Historian in me).
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Til next time your fellow sister in Christ,
Bonnie
Psalms 18:2
