So you've been accepted to the race and you know it won't be long till your leaving the country for your month one. Your nervous and intimidated thinking about being gone for 11 months and keep worrying about bringing the right stuff. Well here is some of my advice.
First off, don't freak out about what your packing, the few guidlines I would give is if you really want to have it when you get home don't bring it. If it is something WR didn't tell you to bring and you don't use at home, you probably won't use it on the race. Pack light, it's a relief to have less to pack on travel days, plus as far as clothes you will be able to buy most things along the way.
More important then packing I want to give you some advice about being on the race. The saying 'you get what you put into it' is hugely applicable to the race. I know a lot of you are probably thinking that this is going to be a life changing trip and that you will never be the same. To a certain point that is true, I don't think it is possible to go on a trip and not change a little. But don't fool yourself into thinking this will be automatic. The more you challenge yourself, the more you go outside your comfort zone, the more you give when you feel like you can't anymore, the more you dig in with your squadmates and contacts the more you will change.
The fact is you could go thru this whole year and not change a bit. Those everyday choices determine the impact of your race. Will you get up early to read your bible? Will you walk 2 miles to ministry when you feel tired already? Will you fellowship and challenge those around you when your greatest desire is to be alone.
To put it clearly, the sooner you realize this race, this year, is not about you the more impact this race is going to have on you. It's not about what you want to do, where you want to go and so on.
One of my squad mates always says 'you can sleep when you are dead'. I know it sounds crazy but on the race or after the race you'll understand what he is saying in that. On the race you'll have opportunities to do things you could never dream of back home, sometimes they are ministry related other times they are just fun tourist things. GO DO THEM! When the race is over your not going to look back and remember the Sunday you stayed home to sleep while your team visited a Buddhist temple, or went bungee jumping, but they will. Five years from now you won't remember or care that the entrance fee to the castle was $40, you'll just have the memory.
