How many countries will you be going to and how long will you be there?
I will be leaving August 2nd (like next month!!!) and will be gone until July of 2019. The trip is set to cover 11 countries in 11 months. We will be in each country for roughly a month each. There will be a debrief time at the end of each month when all of the teams will come back to one central area and work through/process through what we have been working through.
What are all the countries you will be going to?
I will be traveling to 11 countries, spending a month in each country, across South America, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. In order I will be visiting (by month): Chile (August), Peru (September), Colombia (October), Rwanda (November), Uganda (December), Kenya (January), Cambodia (February), Thailand (March), Malaysia (April), Haiti (May), and the Dominican Republic (June).
What will you be doing?
Nothing is set in stone at this point. There is so much time that we will be covering that we are not specifically told what it is that we will be doing in each country. It will be very dependent on the needs of the country when we get there and the skill sets of each group that is going.
In most of the countries we will be partnering with other nonprofit organizations, churches, hospitals, orphanages, and/or just the community to meet whatever needs they may have.
What is the World Race?
The World Race is an 11-month Christian mission trip with the sole purpose of sharing the love of Jesus Christ and serving others around the world. Adventures in Missions (AIM) is a nonprofit that sends teams into countries all around the world to serve with local churches/ministries. Our main goal is to go out and reach the least of these, we are the hands and feet of God.
How many people will you be with?
AIM is launching more then just my group this upcoming August! It is such an amazing organization that they will actually be launching about 150 people in August of 2018. That being said there are 5 different “squads” that make up the total 150 people. Each squad is assigned to a different route (set of countries that they will be traveling to). My specific squad is the “L” squad and we will be going on route 4 (countries listed above).
My Squad is made up of 24 people. Out of those 24 we are broken up into teams. This is an even smaller group of people that I will be working more closely with throughout the year. Each team is made up of 6 people! We do not want to go in and overwhelm any church/organization/people group. We want to work on building relationships and really connecting with the people which is easier in smaller groups. These groups are subject to change and be adjusted within the year but also may stay the same for the entire 11 months.
What are some prayer requests you have?
Pray for the hearts and minds of the people in my squad and group. As we have been preparing for this for a long time now it is definitely something that we will never be able to fully prepare for. We will be molded and changed in so many ways over the next year, I want to makes sure that I stay open and accepting to all that God has for my life.
Also pray for the hearts and minds of those we will be coming in contact with. We will for a time be within the 10/40 window which is a large area of unreached people. Also the organizations we will be working with. We want to make sure that we are coming in and helping in ways that they actually need the help not that we think that they need it.
Time away from family and friends is also a stressful topic. I have had a hard time working through the fact that life will be going on for everyone else while I am gone. I know that I will be out experiencing amazing things and growing and changing but other people will also be doing amazing and life changing things as well. It has been hard for me to accept that I will be missing out on big life things for a lot of my friends and family.
What about your job and your house?
This was the final step I felt God telling me to let go. I informed the school I was teaching at that I would not be returning this next school year. Crazy me, the same week that school ended, I moved out of my house and into a storage unit.
Towards the end of the school year I began to feel God calling me to quit my job. That was the final security blanket I as holding on to for myself. It was the thing that was keeping me from fully giving this next year fully to God.
Where will your dogs be staying?
This is the one thing I HATE to talk about.. It makes me so sad to think about leaving my puppies for a year. But… yet again God has provided. There is an amazing couple from my church that actually approached me abut watching the dogs. So they will be staying with some incredible huge hearted people.
