I have received a lot of information in the past few weeks and I wanted to pass said information to you, my lovely supporters. Some of this may be a repeat, however, I wanted all of the important info in one easily accessible spot.
MSquad’s Route:
I know there has been some confusion as to my route (or, at least, I’ve been crazy confused), but this is it as I know it as it stands right now. (Obviously, subject to change.)
October- Cambodia
November- Thailand
December- Malaysia
January- Philippines
February-Zimbabwe
March- Zambia
April- Malawi
May- Ukraine
June- Romania
July- Albania
August- ???
Month 11 (August) is still up in the air. We were scheduled to go to Greece, however, the need there now is for long-term professionals (doctors, etc), so it has been decided that we would go somewhere where our time and efforts would be a better fit.
Launch:
The morning of October 2nd I am flying from Minneapolis to Atlanta (2 hour flight) for Launch. One of the biggest blessings is that my friend/teammate, Mariah, is going to be on the same flight! From the first moments of my Race, I will be with family! <3
We will be spending a few days in downtown Atlanta as a Squad, worshiping, training, and growing together as a family.
Our First Travel “Day”:
October 5th, we will be flying from Atlanta to Chicago (2 hour flight) and hanging out in Chicago for about 10 hours until our next flight.
We have an 11:55pm flight that night out of Chicago to Incheon International, Korea (14 hour flight). We will be arriving at about 4:00am on October 7th for a 15 hour layover. I hope to get out and explore a little bit; Korea will be my first time out of the US! However, I expect I will want a little sleep as well!
At 7:20pm October 7th, we depart from Incheon and arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at about 11pm (5.5 hour flight). My Squad will then divide from here. My team is staying in Phnom Penh for the duration of the month, so this is where our “travel day” ends. We will be staying the night in a hostel then head to where we are staying for the rest of the month the next day. Other teams will continue on, by bus, etc, and spread throughout Cambodia.
Our First Ministry:
Team Anchor Depths will be staying in Phnom Penh and working with a ministry called Shalom Mission to Cambodia (more specifically, Shalom International School… I think?)- I believe we will be helping with children’s education but I really don’t know anything other than that.
We will be living with our ministry hosts and they have offered to cook our meals for us- what a blessing! We will be staying in a relatively safe (malaria-free) area and I am excited to explore the area.
That’s what I know. I probably won’t know this much this far in advance ever again, but I will try to pass on information as I get it.
One day a week, every month, we will have a day where we don’t have any ministry time scheduled- our “off” days or “adventure” days- time for us to rest and explore.
It’s semantics, but I don’t like thinking of it as our “off” time- a huge part of the Race is living every moment “on mission” instead of viewing our scheduled “ministry time” as a job and the rest of the time is our “free time”. My prayer is that I, and my team, will live in a way that we are attuned to how the Holy Spirit is leading us and that we don’t “switch off” when we are at home, etc.
(That being said, I know a few on my team would love to visit Angkor Wat (myself included) while in Cambodia, but with it being in a different part of Cambodia, visiting would have to include an overnight in a hostel- we will have to see if it works out.) 🙂
Fundraising:
AIM has given us multiple deadlines for fundraising- they do not require us to have our trip completely funded before we Launch. To Launch, I need to have $10,000 raised, which, thanks to you awesome people, I have passed! Woot!
I am actually on my last fundraising goal- fully funded by January 31, 2017- currently, I have $1,549 to go. I have a few months before this deadline, however, I would love to leave in October having met this goal. Leaving the States, knowing my trip is covered would be a HUGE blessing! Regardless if that happens, I know God will provide!
I also have some bills to pay while overseas, and I am saving as much as possible from my paychecks to be able to personally fund all of those needs, as well as any “adventure day” activities, toiletries, coffee…., etc, I may want/need.
Communication:
I will not be having my phone while on the Race. This is for multiple reasons- but mainly because I want to stay “present” while overseas.
I will still have social media when I have access to Wi-Fi, however, I plan on using it sparingly (once a week, if that).
This blog will be, by far, the best way for you to follow my journey, feel free to subscribe.
I also will be vlogging. My goal is to post at least one vlog a month. I will be uploading the vlogs to my YouTube channel but I will post the links on here as well, to keep everything centralized.
If you would like to get in contact with me, you can shoot me a message via this blog, or you can email me at [email protected]. I welcome any communication- questions, thoughts, advice, and encouragement…
I think that’s it.
Thank you for all of your support! I couldn’t do this without you!
