Drumroll Please.........

I have finally found out which country I will be in. In just four weeks I will be on my way to Sierra Leone. There is some very basic information on the bottom of this page about the country, and much more sure to come in the very near future. In light of this placement, I'd like to renew my invitation to read "A Long Way Gone" with me. To be honest- it is difficult to read about a lot of the things that happened. It is incredibly heartbreaking, but if we ever hope for change, we must first be aware of the situation. The book is a moving personal account, and also helps to explain a lot of the the problems that Sierra Leone is currently facing.

I can't tell you how thankful I am for all of the support. I know I am saying that a lot and don't mean to cheapen it, but I feel so incredibly blessed. The amount left to fund raise is dropping so quickly, so thank you! And of course, thank you for all of the prayers. With how wonderfully everything is falling into place, I'm sure that there must be a lot of prayers.

Also thank you to Youth Enrichment League! I've work for YEL for the past year teaching after school enrichment classes. They were very excited when I told them about my trip this summer and volunteered to send classroom supplies to Sierra Leone. This will be such a blessing to the children, as they often lack basic supplies, not to mention many of the fun things American children have access to. If anyone else is interested sending supplies (toys, books, reading glasses, ect...) I'll be sure to post an address and make sure they get into good hands.

In other news- look for me in the Chaska Herald. While I'm gone, the Herald will be publishing a series of travel journals from me. Very exciting! Thank you so much to Mollee Francisco for helping me line this all up. There will be an intro article soon, so keep your eyes pealed.

That's all for now, but look for lots of more information very soon, as well as an update on 24 hours with no/very minimal electricity. I've decided to make a few small concessions, but am doing it for the overall integrity of my experiment. I could easily sleep most of the day (since I have an overnight at Simpson shelter the night before) and then sit around with a guitar or book and candles and use no electricity whatsoever, but then I would just do the things I could have done on a different day. So instead I plan on doing all the things I would do on Friday if I had electricity, but do them with as little energy as I can use and as creatively as possible. I feel that using some energy (ex. the public transit bus to Chaska) and living life normally has much more integrity than just taking it easy for a day. After all, people who routinely have limited electricity and transportation still have everyday lives. It shall be an adventure (as a preview, I plan on trying my best to get to a gathering of old high-school friends with an interesting mix of public transportation, roller blading, walking, and smoke signals)!