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Staff Photo/ANTHONY WEBER
Troy resident Tiffany Blount, a member of Living Word Church in Vandalia, has plans of being part of a mission trip which includes 11 countries in 11 months.
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By David Fong
Executive Editor
[email protected]
For most, completing the Chicago Marathon would have been item No. 1 to scratch off the "Bucket List" – a pinnacle of achievement all wrapped up neatly in a 26.2-mile race.
For Troy resident Tiffany Blount, however, completing her first marathon in 2012 wasn't the end, but just the beginning – a mere primer for the thousands of miles she's going to be traveling around the globe in the next year. Starting July 1, Blount will depart as a participant in "The World Race," a Christian-based mission trip that will take her to 11 countries in 11 months. After leaving at the beginning of July, she won't return to the United States again until the end of May 2014.
"We'll be helping orphanages, feeding the hungry, setting up clean water systems, teaching English, rescuing girls from human trafficking," Blount said. "This is something I've wanted to do for a long time now. I've been wanting to do this for four years – it takes a long time to get everything together."
Blount said she gets her desire to help others – and her traveling spirit – from her parents, Randall and Gina Blount. Tiffany was born in Baton Rouge, La., but didn't stay there for long. Her father is a specialty welder and his profession required him to travel all across the country, forcing him to be away from his family for long stretches of time. Rather than allow the family to be split up for extended periods, Gina Blount quit her job, the family sold the house and traveled the country in a camper, following Randall from job to job.
Tiffany said she figures she lived in 20 different places before her father got a new job and the family finally settled down in Michigan when she was in middle school. While the family may have lived a vagabond existance, however, Blount said one thing always remained constant.
"My parents have always been very giving people," she said. "That's the way I was raised."
She said she remembers her parents inviting people with no place else to go to stay with the family, buying meals for strangers and buying groceries for families in need. When she graduated from high school, Blount said she was ready to keep giving in another way – she was set to go to nursing school – when her life took a different path.
"I was planning to be a nurse, but I took a year off to take an internship as a youth pastor," Blount said. "That was seven years ago and I just fell in love with it. When my pastor came down here to work (at Living Word Church in Vandalia), he asked if I would come down here to work. That's what brought me here. I love it here."
Even if she won't be staying much longer.
Blount has been on mission trips before, but nothing quite like this one. When she's not working at the church, she spends most of her free time either trying to raise money for the trip or trying to figure out how she's going to pack. Blount, who says she owns more than 100 pairs of shoes and is "definitely a girly-girl," will spend nearly a year sleeping in a tent and carrying with her only what she can fit in a backpack.
"I'm definitely not a camper," she said. "But I can do it if I have to. It's definitely going to be a stretch for me. But I think it will help me grow as a person."
That's hardly the only concern, however. The journey will take her to Ireland, Romania, Ukraine, India, Nepal, Swaziland, Mozambique, South Africa, Thailand, Cambodia and Taiwan. While she doesn't have many concerns for her safety – "Honestly, I'm more worried about fitting everything I need in my backpack," she said – she says her family members have expressed some hesitation.
"I'm always going to be the American girl in a foreign country – I stick out like a sore thumb," Blount said. "My mom is really worried, but I'm really not. I think part of it is because I've always been a positive person who has always tried to see the best in people. I don't think anyne will want to hurt me. I've got all my vaccines – the sick thing is kind of a concern. It's definitely in the back of my mind."
While she'll be forced to give up many of the ammenities she's used to, Blount said she'll miss one thing more than anything else while she's out of the United States for 11 months.
"I'll miss my family, for sure," she said. "I'm super close to my family. My older sister has four kids and I'm definitely going to miss all of them. Leaving my family is going to be the hardest part. I'm going to miss Christmas and birthdays and all those other things. But I'm going to bring my laptop with me, so hopefully I'll be able to Skype and keep up with everyone."
In the end, Blount said the sacrifces she's making will be well worth it. She said after this adventure is over, she'd like to become a full-time missionary, helping people around the world for the rest of her life.
"There are so many different cultures out there I want to experience," she said. "There are so many things I'm looking forward to. I want to be able to see things from other peoples' perspectives. This is my calling. This is what I want to do with my life."
In other words, it's an incredible journey that's just beginning.
To donate to Tiffany Blount's mission trip or to follow her once she leaves, visit tiffanyblount.theworldrace.org |
