The Race is over! I still can’t believe it! It feels so unreal being back home surrounded by my friends and family and by all of the comforts I had before I left. I have to admit that I enjoy being cooked for and being invited out for lunch without having to worry about my budget or even about picking up the check. I enjoy the attention and the care that pours into me daily through text messages and phone calls asking me about my trip and wanting to set up a coffee date to talk more.
Coming back home definitely has its perks. Community has been great and family even better. I’ve never seen my parents more supportive than in this season and that brings me so much safety and comfort. A lot of this past week and a half that I’ve been home I’ve invested in seeing and getting up to date with all the people I love and missed so much and in resting and taking care of myself. I’ve also been spending a lot of time preparing for the season that will be starting for me on October 6th.
Like I told you in the last blog I posted some weeks ago (http://alessandromazzali.theworldrace.org/post/my-journey-continues-in-south-africa), in a month’s time I will be traveling to South Africa to join the organization I worked with while I was out there on the field. It’s name is Impact Africa (http://impactafrica.org/) and the work they do inspired and changed me so much that I couldn’t but choose to go back. I’ve already applied for the visa which I’m hoping to get within the next couple of weeks and now I’m starting my fundraising process, one of the reasons for this blog.
The plan is first to go to South Africa from October 6th to December 9th, for some serious trainning. After this I will be returning home to spend the holidays with my family and then will be heading back to Johannesburg in mid January, this time for the entire year. I’m committed to at least one full year with Impact Africa but something tells me it might be more. The Lord knows and that makes me feel safe. He says, I follow.
One thing that I’m sure not all of you know is that most Christian NGOs and other mission-oriented organizations don’t offer their workers a salary. Instead they require of them to raise their own salary to sustain themselves while working for the cause. I saw this model a lot while traveling on the Race and now it is my turn to make it my own. While I work with Impact Africa I will be raising my own salary to cover my expenses with the help of people around me (that means you) as it is part of their philosophy. I was amazed when I found out that even the director of the organization does his own personal fundraising aside from the fundraising that is done for the organization itself. I believe that this draws in only the most committed people and avoids any free-loaders to come on board.
For this first leg of the journey (the two months between Oct and Dec), I need to raise $3,500 by September 30th which will cover the processing of the three-year visa I already applied for, the plane ticket, food, housing, local transport and other miscellaneous expenses. My utmost important goal now is to link arms with many of you to form a group of friends with whom I can take this journey with. This is something that I know I can’t do on my own and most importantly, I don’t want to.
Your support, financial and/or otherwise, is going to be the foundation I am choosing to build my life upon for this next season. That is a scary statement for me to make. It means that I am laying down my God-given right to earn my income through hard work and have some sort of financial stability and safety. Instead, I am choosing to receive my income through love and grace, putting all of my trust in God and in those around me, so that I can have the freedom to work even harder for the Kingdom. A part of me is dying as I write down these words and it is painful. You can take my word for it.
Now I am not taking these steps as an act of randomness or pure impulse. Going to South Africa for me is only but the first step of many to move toward my life’s vision. Eventually I want return to my country and develop a nation-wide movement (thank God Costa Rica is a small country) of spiritual awakening that will unleash the God-given potential that every one of us has inside to live a life of love, joy, freedom and justice. I want Costa Rica to become God’s model society of Heaven here on Earth. I know it sounds lofty and out of reach but if our dreams don’t scare us they are not worth it.
To do this I want to invest the next 5-10 years of my life learning about humanity and divinity and where the two meet. I want to tackle and conquer myself the biggest obstacles that we as mankind face when it comes to taking God by His word. Another way of putting it is that I want to learn how to destroy all the mechanisms and systems that evil and darkness have put in place to keep us from knowing the Truth and living out our heavenly purposes.
Having said that and abruptly changing the subject and the mood, I need to start collecting the funds for this first training trip. This time I’m mostly looking for one-time donations so you’re off the hook of the monthly long-term commitment (for now!). It’s really easy to donate, whether you are in Costa Rica or not.
If you’re from a country other than Costa Rica:
* $50 (paypal.me/AlessandroMazzali/50)
* $100 (paypal.me/AlessandroMazzali/100)
* $150 (paypal.me/AlessandroMazzali/150)
* $200 (paypal.me/AlessandroMazzali/200)
* More or Less (anything and everything helps!) (paypal.me/AlessandroMazzali)
If you are from Costa Rica, my account numbers are:
* BAC ¢ 918111972 SINPE 10200009181119728
* BAC $ 918111980 SINPE 10200009181119800
* ID # 113780951
Please, please, please, even if you can’t help me now, contact me through facebook (Alessandro Mazzali Saborio), email ([email protected]) or text message (+506 83236779) so that I can add you to my list of supporters or potential donors and share with you the experiences and stories I will be having. If you want and we have the possiblity to sit down and speak more about it over a cup of coffee I would also love the opportunity to do so. My hope is that we can closely share this journey and be transformed together through it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support during this last year and for your support in the next ones to come!
