I am someone who kind of “lives in my own little world.” Sometimes I forget that people don’t follow my thoughts as they’re flying all over, and I’ll just blurt random things out like “isn’t it crazy how smells just smell for no reason and you can’t even see them?” I often get lost in my own little world, thinking about how forever goes on… well, forever, and how my color red might actually be your color blue, and what ACTUALLY is a black hole, and how every single person I’m sitting by in Starbucks right now has their own thoughts and hopes and dreams and life and allergies and favorite foods. Like what?!!
All that to say, I have just come to the revelation that most of you actually don’t know what the World Race is, and what I’m even about to leave for… tomorrow. My bad 🙂 So this blog post won’t be very insightful or inspirational, but hopefully will clear up some confusion and questions! If you have any further questions after reading, feel free to shoot me a text or comment below and I will respond with some answers!
SO, first things first, YES, you CAN fit 10 pounds of groceries in a 5 pound sack.. I somehow managed to fit everything for a year in a huge hiking pack and a small school backpack. Next, yes, I leave tomorrow morning, AH! I will be in Atlanta, Georgia for just a few last days of training, flying out Monday to the first of my 11 countries! Here is a breakdown of where I’ll be for each month:
1. Cote d’Ivoire
2. Ghana
3. Togo
4. Thailand
5. Malaysia
6. Indonesia
7. Philippines
8. Argentina
9. Chile
10. Bolivia
11. Peru
I will be in each country for approximately 1 month, and will either be staying with a host family, in a hostel of some sort, sleeping in my trusty tent, or on a church/shelter floor. I’ve got a really nice sleeping pad, so I should be nice and comfy no matter the situation each month:) Although I’m not 100% sure what specific city we will be in in each country, we will be partnering with local churches and organizations who have specific needs for help in various areas such as teaching English, farming projects, health and sanitation efforts, orphan care, preaching and teaching in local churches and villages, and much more! I will get back to the US sometime at the end of November this year.
I have about 32 people on my whole squad, but we split into smaller groups of 6-7 so we can go to different cities and villages in each country. My small team is 6 girls, and we were told they had to pray a little extra when they decided to put us all together… we’re a bit rambunctious, and we will definitely be having fun! We will typically have some days off during each month depending on what our ministry placement will be, so we will be able to venture out into the cities and find some adventures. I have seen pictures of bungee jumping, shark cage diving, and volcano surfing from past World Racers, so expect some exciting adventure updates along the way!
I will not have an international phone plan, but I will be able to connect via social media and WhatsApp if/when I have WiFi! I will try my best to have some more incredibly inspiring blog posts throughout the journey as well 😉
I cannot believe this is actually happening. To answer everyone who has asked, YES I am beyond excited!! And only a little nervous 🙂 I am so expectant that the Lord is going to move in big ways around the world and in my own life, and I trust that He knows what He’s doing no matter what happens along the way.
I’m sorry to have kept you all in the dark for a while, but in my defense if you could just learn how to be in my mind maze of thoughts then you’d be a little more up to date 😉 Thank you again for all of your support, prayers, encouragement, and love– I am SO blessed to have such an incredible support team by my side. As I said earlier, please do not hesitate to reach out or comment if you have further questions, and I will do my best to answer them! And if anyone could give me more definite information about black holes, hit a girl up.
