Fundraising – Only $1,200 left until I’m fully funded for the travel and insurance part of the trip!! I am still raising a few thousand to cover needs on the trip, and the bills I still have to pay even though I’m gone.
Locations – We don’t have many details about our trip yet, but this week I learned a few things. First, we are meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chiang Mai is a city in northern Thailand. I’m really excited about this because I sponsor a little girl named Bee through Compassion International. Bee lives with her grandparents four hours west of Chiang Mai in a mountain village, and her parents live and work in Chiang Mai! I don’t know yet if I will be able to meet her, but at least I will be able to see where she lives.
Second, we applied for our China visas this week. We will be in Tianjin, China, a coastal city south east of Beijing, in April. I’m still in a bit of disbelief that I’ll be living with 29 people who are currently complete strangers for a year in all these countries!
Race Prep – This week I got three sleeping pads in the mail to test. Most of my shopping is done now! Praise the Lord the only clothing shopping left is to find a swimsuit that is modest and not hideous. Ladies you will sympathize with this monumental task. Gentlemen just trust me, I need a miracle!
This week Mom and I are going to lay everything out, check my packing list, and practice packing to see if my Kelty is big enough to hold everything.
Launching – I learned we are launching the first weekend of January from one of two unknown US cities. No specific date or departure city, yet but that narrows it down to a three day window. We are hoping for Atlanta. Because of Dad’s death I have had many conversations over the last week with various people at AIM: my contact at AIM, a member of the interview team, one of our coaches (AKA squad parents), and our team mentor. They wanted to be sure that I was okay to launch with my team. After a weekend of wondering if they would allow me to launch, I learned that they decided to trust my, my family’s, and my pastor’s assessment as to my ability to launch with my team. Dad was all about living and the best way to honor him is to continue with the Race.
