Just 2 weeks left until Training Camp!! I applied for The World Race in January, and 8 months have passed. Just getting this far has been an adventure. COVID has changed this trip so much! The first change happened soon after I was accepted. We were originally supposed to go to China, but they changed that to Taiwan. But at that point, we had no idea how much COVID was going to impact the US. We didn’t know how the trip was going to be thrown up in the air.
COVID seemed to shut the US down pretty quickly once it got here. My work closed originally for 2 weeks which turned into 2 1/2 months. During that time God blessed me with full pay! I also did a lot of babysitting during COVID break, so it was like I was getting double paid. I was able to use a lot of that money toward the trip. I was also able to use the stimulus check toward my trip. God used something that could easily make fundraising harder (and in some ways it did) to bless me with money I could put toward the trip. It went from being a lot of “my” money going into it to money mostly coming from donations. Before COVID, I had been planning in-person fundraisers and having in-person conversations to fundraise, but that obviously didn’t work out how I hoped.
Fundraising became mainly letters and Facebook. I messaged a bunch of people on Facebook, but that wasn’t very personal and I felt like I was bothering people. I’m still messaging people and feeling the same way, but fundraising isn’t always fun. It’s about so much more than just asking for money! Prayers are important, and I want people to be part of this journey with me. Donations are important and helpful and a great way to partner with me, but I don’t want people to feel like I’m constantly bugging them for money. I’m still working on fundraising, but I’ll move on from that in this blog post for now.
My teammates and I waited for months to find out whether we would still get to go in October or not. We finally got an email giving us some options in early August. My squad had been around 50 people before that e-mail. I decided to stick with going in October which meant starting in the US for the first 3 months. My squad is now 16 people. While I’ll miss some of the people originally on my squad, I like having a smaller squad. It allows us to get to know each other better and to get closer.
We waited for a few more weeks to find out where we would be going in the US. We found out in late August that we’ll be going to Chicago and Wisconsin Dells. We’re in for a cold few months (December in particular)! We hope to go internationally in January, but with COVID, things are still up in the air. I’ll keep you updated on what the plans are.
People might think I’m crazy, but I think it’s great that we get to do this during a pandemic! How many people get to do this much less do it during a pandemic?!? I don’t plan on hugging every person I see and never wearing a mask. I’ll still take precautions. But this is not a time to run and hide. It’s an amazing time to spread God’s Word and show His love (although anytime is a good time for that)! I’m so glad you’re along for this journey with me!
I still need over $6,000 to be fully funded. It would be great if you would pray about sponsoring me on this trip! I’m currently doing an Adopt-a-Box fundraiser in addition to general support. You can partner with me and donate using the orange “Donate” button toward the top of the page. Any donations made through this blog are tax deductible. Please also pray that God will provide monthly supporters. Thank you so much for all of your support!
