As we have begun telling people of our plan to go on the world race we have been asked a lot of questions. Here are some of them:
Where are you going?
11 countries, 1 each month. The countries are: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Nepal, India, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania
What are you going to do about your job?
The short answer…we quit. The longer answer is that I (Rachel) work for and with some great people that have been very supportive of my desire to go out into the mission field. They have been good to me over the last 4 years. While there is no guarantee that I will have my job back when I come home, I hope to return to my job. If it is not available then I will certainly be able to find employment, and in the end we know that God will provide.
What about your house?
Good question. We are still working on that one. Our hope is that we will be able to find a few college students that will rent it and be able to cover our bills. Our trip is July to June, so that would be perfect for a college student. We are still praying that we will find the right person/people to take care of our home (and bills).
What are you going to do with your dogs?
That is not exactly clear yet either, but our hope is that we will find somebody, potentially a family member to take them on for 11 months.
Are you going to be on TV?
Um….no. While we will are going to have an amazing trip, it is not the Amazing race. Our primary objective is to reach people all over the world for Christ, not win a lump sum of money. If our objective was money, we certainly would not be quitting our jobs.
Isn't it going to be dangerous?
It's not like we are going to areas that are at war or anything. Obviously any time you go into some kind of mission work there is some inherent risk, but in the end we trust God will protect us.
Is this a medical mission trip?
No. We considered this as a possibility, but in the end decided that we would go a different route. When we went to Haiti we did medical work and Michael did not feel like he had a purpose. Both of us also went away unsure if we had really impacted people for Christ or if we just took care of their ailment for the day. We really want our focus to be on reaching people on a spiritual level rather than reaching them physically and sending them out the door.
Then what will you be doing?
A little bit of everything. We won't know for sure what we are doing until we get to each individual country. One month we may be doing construction work, the next working with the elderly, the next orphans, and the next with prostitutes. Each country we will have a specific mission, but the Spirit will lead us wherever he wants…we get to learn to be open to Him.
Do you get paid to do this?
Definitely not…we pay to do it. That is why we would be grateful for any support you could give us!
