Hi friends! Excited to share all these updates with you! I have some fundraising & COVID-19 updates, as well as personal updates & what the Lord has been teaching me recently 🙂 ALSO if you haven’t read my last blog, be sure to check it out & share it – I’ll be selling t-shirts for the next few weeks!
As of now, just a few minor changes have been made to our plans. Originally, gap year racers were supposed to have a training camp in July at the Adventures in Missions headquarters in Gainesville, GA, to meet our squad mates, build relationships, and receive training in preparation for the trip. After that, we would have come home & then headed back to Georgia the first week in September for launch, which is basically a few days of training (for racers and parents) before we leave to our first country.
Launch is now September 3-4, and training camp will be right after that, from September 5-16. If all goes as planned, we’ll be leaving for our first county immediately following training camp.
AIM is looking into alternative plans in the event that we are still unable to travel internationally come September, and any changes in plans will be finalized no later than July 1st. I’m confident the Lord will be glorified in whatever happens!
And as for some personal updates, I finished high school a few day ago (crazy!) & will be having graduation over zoom in a few weeks, which is not the way I had imagined graduating, but at least it’s something! These past few months have been pretty frustrating, as so many of my plans for my last semester of high school & the summer have been cancelled. While in the grand scheme of the things I know that this season is not the end-all-be-all, it’s still been hard.
I had a conversation with one of my good friends recently & she challenged my mindset during this time. She reminded me that whatever God gives, He can take away. The Lord has blessed me with so much. Along with many others, I had so many plans, trips, and opportunities that were made virtual, postponed, or cancelled. It’s disappointing, but really, those things were all blessings from God. I didn’t need any of them, but the Lord chose to bless me with them out of His goodness. I’m thankful even for the possibilities of those trips and plans, but also for the people in charge who cancelled them, because they chose to prioritize the health & safety of those involved.
The past few months have taught me a lot about perspective: yes, it sucks that so much has been cancelled or changed around, but at the end of the day this situation is a lot bigger than those things. I’m beyond grateful to have a healthy family & safe environment, and that far outweighs the disappointments I’ve felt the past few months.
Things haven’t gone the way I thought they would, but I’m ready to move on & am ready for what’s next. The Lord has shown me in this time that not much is certain & I’m grateful for this experience because it’s allowed me to break down a lot of expectations.
No matter what the plan is for our 9 months, I’m still working towards my fundraising goal of $15,800. Currently, I am just about at $5,500! I’ll be posting more updates in the coming months to continue communicating about fundraising and giving updates once all our plans have been finalized.
