Greetings Friends! Your Pal Jeremy here.
What a wild 6 months it has been this year! We started planning your trips last year…a whole year before we had any idea of what 2020 would throw at us. And now, in just a couple of months we have edited, changed, deleted, and shifted so many things! I’m sure you all have felt the craziness of this season just as we have, and I want to say THANK YOU for sticking it out with us this far! We are so grateful for your patience as we have sorted things out this year!
We have sought wisdom from many sources, had really difficult conversations, and found hope in what is coming from everything COVID tried to squash. We cannot send any trip internationally this fall as planned. Bummer, I know! We were super hopeful that things would start to improve and the possibility would hold, but unfortunately, as you all know from being alive during this season, that just hasn’t been the case. There are international options that would be relatively safe for us to travel to, but from a COVID-19 standpoint we, as Americans, are simply not welcome right now. We’re genuinely both sad at this news while hopeful for what God is doing state-side.
Over the past few months, our team has been shifting with the information as it has changed and we have been planning, sorting, and fighting to build the best options for your trips this fall! It has been tricky at times with everything changing so quickly, but ultimately we have some seriously amazing options here in the USA!
We’ve come up with two options. These options are not your cookie-cutter missions trips. These trips in the US will largely be learning to live your life missionally to the degree that you can move anywhere in the US and do anything you want to do and also know how to bring the Kingdom without the construct of a “missions trip”. We want to show you and train you on how to live a missional lifestyle. Check out your options below!
As I write this, I have 1-month Semester teams showing up in Asheville, NC and Wisconsin Dells, WI to partner with us for the month of July doing exactly that.
North Carolina
Join our community of World Race alumni in Asheville, NC and be a tangible presence of Christ in that area. Help run a thrift store, cafe, and practically serve + love their neighbors. Your faith will be stretched and challenged in this environment. Click here for more details.
Dates: August 28th – November 22nd
Cost: $2,450
Max: 20 People (two teams of 10)
Wisconsin
You’ll get the unique opportunity to build relationships with students from the 10/40 window who seasonally come to the Dells for work. Many students are from countries where it’s illegal to be a Christian and have not heard of Jesus. You’ll also help with a food distribution ministry that has had a dramatic rise in need for help because of COVID-19 and its effects on this community. Click here for more details.
Dates: August 28th – November 22nd
Cost: $2,450
Max: 20 People (two teams of 10)
Let me answer a few questions before you ask:
Do I still come to Gainesville, GA first for training camp?
Nope. You’ll show up at your trip location on August 28th, and you’ll depart directly from there to return home. Because of COVID, we wanted to avoid bringing a large number of people together for a ‘traditional’ training camp.
If there’s no training camp, you still going to train me, man?
Yes. You will spend the first few days at the ministry site doing team builders, ministry orientation, and training. We desire to set you up for a really successful, productive month. Don’t you worry!
What if I have more money raised than $2,450?
If you choose to participate, we hope that will be a stepping stone to doing a future trip with us. Something more along the lines of what you originally hoped for this summer. Since we know you’ve already worked hard on fundraising, we’ll let you decide at the end of the fall trip if you’d like to apply any remaining funds to a future trip with us. If at that point you know a future trip is not the right path, any donors who donated after your initial $2,450 could contact Donor Relations at [email protected] to discuss refunds.
Cool cool, glad people are at or over the $2,450 mark, but I’m not. Is there a deadline for me? How does this work?
Yes. It’s simple. You need to have $2,450 in your fundraising summary (or donation receipts sent to your Advisor) before you show up. You’ve got just under 2 months, so let’s get after it! If you need help support-raising, reach out to your Advisor ASAP for suggestions!
Excuse me, Jeremy, what about coronavirus?
Yes yes. We’ve sat around the table and discussed at length what we can and can’t do, and what is and isn’t wisdom. The two trips you get to choose from, with their max team sizes, with a canceled training camp, we feel really good about.
We’ll use wisdom and care at every turn. Your teams will have thermometers to do temp checks, we’ll drop everything and take care of you if you get sick, and hospitals are not far away.
We’d love to have you and feel good with the strategies we have in place to keep you and others healthy, but this is a complex situation for many people, and I encourage you to sit down and talk with your family before you decide to come.
Alright, love it, I’m in. How do I pick a trip and secure my spot??
Email or call Ronny as soon as you want to secure your spot!
Love what you’ve come up with J, but I don’t think it’s for me, what other options do I have?
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You could defer to another trip in 2021. I am earnestly hopeful we will be able to go internationally by then (and I’ll also be adding in domestic too)! The funds you’ve raised would transfer with you. Of course, plans could change for January as well.
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Or you could drop your trip entirely and your donors can request a refund.
We’re going to do cool stuff this fall! So pumped! Please let Ronny know what you’re thinking by July 15th!
Much love,
Jeremy
Semesters Program Director
