I guess there are a couple reasons why I wanted to do the world race. For starters, I have always wanted to travel: to experience new places and cultures, to meet different groups of people and to explore new corners of nature. Ultimately, I want to break out of the little suburban American bubble I've been in my whole life and gain some perspective on how I want to live the rest of it. But that's certainly not the only reason why I've decided to leave everything behind and partake in the race. Throughout this past year, it's been all about, ¨What do you want to do with your life?¨ and I guess I've always been one of the people who haven't had a clue whatsoever. But recently, as I've been serving more and talking to more people in ministry, I've been very curious to explore more of what it's like to be living in fulltime mission/ministry. I guess it just feels like this would be a different sort of educational experience for me that is interactive and hands on. I'd rather fully immerse myself and learn about something that I'm really passionate about than to spend a bunch of money at a college with no aim or goal for why I'm there. I also believe this will be an experience that will transform my faith in a way I can't really understand yet. It will give me an opportunity to step into a radical lifestyle that is a lot closer to the way I think Jesus calls us to live. Moving around without all of the comforts I'm used to, serving those in need, living in community, spreading the gospel to strangers. I think I do these things to a small degree, but I think there's so much more I can give, so much more I can understand about what it looks like to really surrender everything and follow Jesus. Truthfully, I don't know what I need to learn and what I need to unlearn in order to put more of my heart into this kingdom, but I'm taking this step of faith in hopes that God will use this year to change the very threads that hold me together. It's not going to be easy missing Christmas, missing Thanksgiving, leaving my family, my friends, my home, but I find comfort knowing that I'll have new friends around me to join in that experience. I'm excited to see the relationships I build on this trip serving alongside a bunch of random people from across the country, Hopefully I find some lifelong friends and make some tremendously fond memories to look back on. That should be good enough for now, appreciate you for reading. Stay blessed

Sam Valverde