Preparing for World Race has been quite the experience. Since I have begun telling people about my upcoming trip in February to where I am now, there has been much that has happened. This newsletter/ blog is meant to be a summary for those of you who have been on this journey with me as well as those who are just joining.
Fundraising/ Ministry Partners
Starting in early March, I began the initially daunting task of having to raise nearly $20,000 for World Race. Not only that, but I had the challenge of planning for fundraising for mission work beyond World Race. To start off this process, I read a book I was recommended called “The God Ask.” This book was extremely helpful for the task ahead by providing me a Biblical basis for raising support, and it also provided good strategies and things to consider when developing a support team. World Race also provided a ministry partnership development training with several training videos and a ministry supporter advisor. With this advisor, I was required to develop a PowerPoint presentation and do a practice run with him while receiving positive feedback. After this I developed a booklet containing information about my vision, past history, past, mission work, upcoming mission work, schedule, and financial need to give to people who I met with. This then led to May 2025, when I began reaching out to individuals and churches about potentially partnering with me financially and prayerfully. This has been quite the process, but as of now I have over 20 individual ministry partners and 2 churches that have partnered with my upcoming mission work. Thank you for all who have committed to support me financially and prayerfully this upcoming year and hopefully for the years to come! I am so grateful, and if you haven’t met with me to talk about becoming a ministry partner and would like to do so, please reach out to me. All that to say, this has been quite a faith journey and one of the hardest but also one of the most fulfilling parts of the journey so far. It has required me to step out in faith, rely on God, and rely on people to be led by God to partner with me.
Gathering Supplies/ Medical Stuff
This proved to be harder than I had originally anticipated. For World Race, I am only allowed a hiking backpack and a regular backpack to bring all my supplies for my trip. Part of the requirements included me getting a tent, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and many other items I was not super familiar with. This took lots of research and time, but I believe I finally have all my supplies. Medically speaking, I went to go to various doctor and dentist visits. Some were planned and some were not, and this took a few months to finish up. I am happy to say most of my appointments are completed, and I am recovering and getting better.
Pre-training/ Learning about Upcoming Countries
Part of what I’ve been doing to prepare for this trip has been a pre-training course through Rali that talks about things encountered on the mission field and on learning more about yourself and how to function as a team. Additionally, I have gotten individual books of each of the countries I am going to so that I can learn more about the countries. I have also tried learning a little bit of Swali for language practice to some of the African countries that I am going to.
Other Things
There have been a number of house projects I’ve been working on, which have been satisfying but time consuming. Of course, transitioning out of my job as a civil engineer has been a big task with finishing off tasks with various project managers while trying to train younger workers in fulfilling my roles. It has also been hard and been months in the making of me transitioning out of my current church ministries I am involved in. I have been trying to pass on the different roles I’ve had to others whenever possible.
Conclusion
In conclusion, for the last year I have been preparing for this trip. Starting in February when I decided on going to World Race to various trainings and fundraising, God has been preparing for this season of my life. Please continue to keep me in prayer, as I had a medical emergency a few weeks back and have been continuing the recovery physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually from it ever since. I know God is greater and will help me get on the mission field. I have been seeing breakthroughs in my life and His provision since then with helping me through this process. To continue following my journey as I am about to enter the mission field, feel free to subscribe to this newsletter/ blog and feel free to reach out to me via Whatsapp, Messenger, or email. Thank you and thankful for all of you who are on this journey with me!
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