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Good afternoon loves,

So my mind has been racing about as fast as the snow is falling in Michigan (very fast)!

For the last two years, my passion has been to travel the world, go everywhere! The unsettling reality is that I am a lower class woman with no degree and a full time job with ten days vacation time per year. Now don't get me wrong, I am truly blessed to be where I am, but I really do want to experience new cultures and open myself up to all of their experiences.

About a year or two ago I researched Mission Trips from different websites here and there and was discouraged because though I am a faithful Christian, I don't go to church. Firstly, because I don't believe that I need to attend church to believe in God, but second, because no one will go with me. Yeah it's lame, but I have horrible anxiety and my church is PACKED out the wazoo.

So I was upset thinking maybe missions weren't for me, but then my friend Chelsea took off four The World Race at the beginning of January and she is going to 11 countries in 11 months to provide ministries, food, water, clothing, education, prayer, and fun with the locals that need help. They have four different routes/countries for September that I've been looking at and there's one that caught my eye. Here's the route:
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, India, Nepal, Mozambique, Swaziland, and lastly South Africa.

Now there aren't any european countries in there which is sad, but I figure that when I go travelling later in life I can just hit up all of Europe and visit then.

My mission now is to pray for guidance from my Father and ask that He show me if this is the right path for me right now. I have nothing holding me down, no man in my life, no children, just my little dog. I don't know what I would do without him and since I adopted him I have no idea if he would die when I am gone, but I also don't know if he will pass in five years or more. I don't want to leave him and my friends behind for 11 months, but to help others and learn and break out of my shell to try new things...yeah it's worth it to me. I want to live like God and help others, learn about them, teach them what I know. I may have missed ALL of the childhood where you learn about God but I came in at a good time to love Him. He will provide for me and He will show me what He has in store for me.

The one bummer besides my dog, is that this trip for 11 months costs: $15,500. I am in NO way wealthy. I am not even well off. I have no money in savings because I have bills and payments, so I will solely be saving one $20 a month and relying on donations and parties to raise money. I might have to get crafty and make some shit  to sell online as well.
Now, if you are inclined and want to maybe donate to my cause, I have to wait for them to call me and interview me, but if I am accepted, I will set up an account with their website where donations may be made to me for the trip.

I figure that I can make shirts, bracelets, etc. and sell them on etsy or ebay or something. I also have lots and lots of books that I can sell as well as my furniture and such. About my car...IDK what to do, maybe I will try to sell it or talk to the bank and see if they can stop the payments for the 11 months - idk if they do that even, but if I have to continue payments, I will have to sell it because I won't be making money while gone of course.

I really do hope that God can help me to figure out my path here. If He wants me to go, if He continues to lead me on this path in which I absolutely crave the knowledge and history of different cultures, I will be sure to. I must. I might even have to put little cans around local stores for donations. I have started with change jars and such but prayers are definitely welcome.

If you can pray for me, I just want to thank you. I don't know if anyone reads this, but it would mean a whole lot. If you want to leave any ways of raising money, I would also be interested. Maybe a car wash or something. I know that some restaurants do percentages of meals for prizes or people that have passed on, so perhaps I can do this also. It would be lovely.

I appreciate the love and prayers.

Will update more when my head isn't so clouded with this dream.

xo Amanda