We are almost a month from Launch, so here are the answers to the biggest questions that I’ve been asked until now!
Q: How did you find out about the World Race?
A: Short answer: I heard about it from someone I went to college with, and then someone who went to my church. Hit me up for the long version! It’s more fun to hear in person!
Q: So you’re going to be on TV?!
A: Nope. Not quite. That’s the Amazing Race. They get to do some pretty cool things, but not quite as cool as what I’ll be doing next year. On the Amazing Race, people are in teams of two and spend their time going from place to place looking for clues. On the World Race, we will spend 3-4 weeks in each country living in community and doing ministry.
Q: What countries are you going to?
A: West Africa: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo
Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines
South America: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru
Q: When do you leave?
A: Two part answer: I go to Atlanta for the first part of Launch on January 3 – so technically January 3. But I don’t actually get on an airplane for Cote d’Ivoire until January 7th or so.
Q: When do you come home?
A: I will be home November 22, 2019, one week before Thanksgiving.
Q: What will you be doing in each country?
A: That’s a good question! We are given a general idea of what we will be doing in each country, but we will not know specifically what we will be doing until about a month prior to each country. There are a couple reasons for this: in the event that one of our 11 countries change for whatever reason, we won’t be attached to a country and a ministry that we thought we would be going to; they also don’t want us to be overly excited about our ministry in month 9 while we are only in month 3, so we will not know what the ministry is too far out (don’t worry – AIM knows though).
Q: Where will you be staying in each country?
A: That’s another good question! We will be paired with a ministry in each country. Sometimes we will be staying with the ministry that we are working with, and sometimes we won’t. We will find out soon though!
Q: How is fundraising going?
A: Check out the top of my blog to see! There is a bar that moves and will tell you how much I have left to raise! (Don’t be afraid to hit that donated button while you’re there too! Every little bit helps!)
Q: What country are you most excited for?
A: The Philippines because I have friends that were adopted from there, and it’s R Squad’s Parent Vision Trip (!!!), but I’m just excited to go to all of them!
Q: How many people are going with you?
A: This is a two part answer. There are 32 other people that I will be traveling to each country with. That is called my Squad (R Squad). Within R Squad, there are 5 teams. Each team has 6-7 people on it. We were matched with our teams at Training camp, and we will be working with these teams for the first few months.
Q: What does your leadership staff look like?
A: There are 5 Squads launching in January, and each Squad has their own leadership staff.
- Squad Mentor: This person works full time for AIM, and is stateside for a majority of our Race; comes out to visit for debriefs a few times throughout our Race; one of our biggest support systems.
- Squad Coaches: A married couple that doesn’t work for AIM; pray for us, love on us; another big support system for our Squad; they will also come visit us a few times throughout the Race.
- Squad Leaders: My Squad will have four next year; they rotate between teams for our first few months and help us get acclimated to life on the Race.
- Team Leaders: Each team on our Squad will have an alumni team leader with us for the first two month of our Race; they stay with us for the entire two months unlike the Squad Leaders; at some points we will have both the Squad and Team Leaders with us; after the first two months, a member of each team will be chosen as the Team Leader
- Advisor: from the moment we were accepted to the World Race, we were given an Advisor; our advisor answers all of our questions to help answer our questions and to help us in the process leading up to Launch in January
- Squad Logistics: Each Squad has a person in charge of logistics and finances that remains stateside to help in both of those areas; this person coordinates with some of our team members in leadership roles to help with our travel plans and money
- Training Staff: Our Squad had 2-3 people who remain stateside who helped primarily during training camp; full of advice having done the Race
- Regional Directors: Our Squad has 4; they each specialize in a specific area of the world; they prepare us to do our visas for each country and prepare us for each culture that we are going to enter
Within each Squad & team there are specific leadership roles as well, including logistics, finance, storytelling and worship. These are all held by current Racers on the Squad.
If you have any other questions, let me know! I would be happy to answer them!
