Let me be clear, the World Race isn’t a glamorous trip around the world where we stay in fancy hotels, eat only the most delicious foods, and stop to help some people whenever it is convenient. It’s 11 months of living out of a backpack, sleeping on the floor in a tent, no alone time, and constant service. It’s giving yourself completely over to the Kingdom’s cause and not looking back. It’s long nights of prayer, and long days of serving in whatever ways we can. It’s giving up our homes, our jobs, and the ability to provide for ourselves for 2017 so that we can live lives of selfless service, completely devoted to helping our fellow man. It’s knowing that for 11 months, there will be limited communication with the people we love, and milestones in their lives we will miss because we have been called to this life of mission.
Applying for the World Race was not an easy decision to make. It took months of God shutting doors that I so desperately wanted open, and weeks of back and forth with God to finally put in that application. Mission work isn’t something to be taken lightly. It’s takes special people to be willing to live this way, people with eyes so divinely focused on God that the idea of living out of a backpack for a year stops seeming scary. It takes people willing to give up jobs that provide healthy income only to rely on the generosity of people who believe in them to keep going. It takes people willing to lean solely on their father every second of every day for guidance and provision. People willing to truly see those who are so often overlooked by society, to meet them where they are, and to show them the love of God. So, no, these people that we call missionaries, don’t live cushy lives full of the latest and greatest amenities, however, they lives lives so full of Jesus that those other things stop mattering.
Yes, I’ll admit it, I’m a little bit scared. This isn’t an easy life I’m choosing to live in 2017, but I know in my soul that this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing with my 24th year on this earth. I have absolutely no doubt that God has called me to live this way, and because of that, I have so much peace about the World Race. However, I, like any other missionary, cannot do this alone. I need support in several ways.
1.) Prayer: For travels, ministry, life on the field, team bonding, finances, and guidance.
2.) Finances: I am still $2,300 short of my fundraising deadline that was on December 16th. I cannot leave the without the first $10,000 in my account. I don’t want to leave my team without a team leader and miss out on a year of service with my squad. The rest of my deadlines are:
ASAP: $10,000
February 28th: $13,000
April 30th: $17,017 (AKA FULLY FUNDED!!)
Here is a breakdown of where the money goes:
3.) Letters: I would love to receive emails/messages of encouragement and updates from home while I’m on the field. I am also looking to take some “open when” letters with me. So if you are willing to write one of those, please feel free. I would love it!
I’m praying big prayers for finances to come through, and for the ways God is going to move in and through my team the next 11 months. Will you join me in the journey and in prayer?
