Living in Fast Forward

You know, the closer my departure date becomes, the faster everything seems to be moving. It feels like just the other day I was starting my application for this trip and now all of sudden I'm leaving for it in less than a month. And yes, you did read that right. Less than a month! Which means the next few days are going to be very full of trip preparations and hanging out with a bunch of people I'm going to miss a lot. Like last Friday was my last day at Chickfila. (It also marked one month until I leave for my trip.) Everyone at work was so unbelievably sweet and caring! I guess making sure I'm going to miss them when I'm gone. It's awesome being surrounded by all these people that really do care about me and are supportive for what I am doing.

Today we also had our last conference call before we leave (another weird realization moment). The biggest thing that we talked about is our itinerary for our trip. So here it is for you to see so that you can be praying for us wherever we are:

January 12: Arriving in Fort Wayne, Indiana
January 17- January 31: Partying in New York
February 1- March 7: Hangin in Haiti
March 8- May 1: Jammin in Jamaica
May 2- June 27: Bummin in Belize
June 28: Travel back to the States
July 2: I'm coming home!

Lastly, my roommates have a jewelry store on etsy and I get to sell these fancy cross earrings on their website! All of the profit will be going to help me purchasing all of the super exciting supplies that I will need to have before I leave. Message me on facebook for a promo code to cancel out the shipping cost and I can meet up with you to talk about life and get you your earrings! Also, check out all of the other cool stuff on their website :)
https://www.etsy.com/listing/214749604/cross-earring-benfiting-experience

Days Left: 27!!!

Places Have Names Now!

I know it's only been a week since my last post but we are getting closer so I have more exciting things to share with you! Today I had a conference call with my other team members and we learned more details about where we are going. I of course wanted to immediately share that with you because a lot of people have been asking specifically where I am going and now I know!!

 

First we will be traveling to Petit Goave, Haiti. Petit Goave was one of the places hit by the earthquake in 2010. We will have the chance to work with kids in the local school which could be interesting since I don't know French or Creole but I guess we will have translators for that. Otherwise I don't know how we will be able to teach kids we can't speak to... 

In Belize we will be in a little village called 7 Miles. Originally we were going to go to Costa Rica but recently Experience Mission has been making connections in Belize and felt like it would be a better fit. Little fun fact: English is the national language of Belize. There may be some local dialect that some of them may speak but for the most part there will not be any issues with that.

In Jamaica, we will be staying in Catadupa which is located up in the mountains. There is a train track that runs through the middle of the town. At one point it was a way for tourists to come see the town but it was shut down in the 90s and kind of threw off the economy of Catadupa. English is taught in the schools so they said we will have no problem with a language barrier there. The local language is a derivation of English so I should come back speaking like a pro which would be so cool!!

I also wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has donated to my trip. I totally just jumped in to this trip trusting that God would provide the money I need and He has totally provided in ways I could not possibly imagine! Thankfully, I have been able to work enough and save enough to where I do have the rest but it would mean almost no money when I get back. The rest of the money to pay for my trip is due next week. If you had been wanting to donate, you can go to www.experiencemission.org and scroll down to where it says "sponsor a 3&6 month immersion volunteer". Thank you all so much for all of your prayers and love! I couldn't do this without you!