30/01/11
Just 9 days now, it's starting to become a reality.
I've done lots and lots of planning (with a great deal of help from both parents):
- booked the 4-day trail to Machu Picchu i.e. where I have dreamt of going for around 5 years, and also booked the flight to get me to Cusco which is where the trail leaves from. I am unbelievably excited.
- bought a camera + case + 4gb memory card for about £160, not bad at all. just hope it doesn't get robbed.
- practised packing my rucksack and everything I have so far fits, which is always a good thing when going on holiday. if the worst comes to the worst I'll go wearing multiple pairs of boxer shorts and tshirts and a shoe on each hand.
- developed an itinerary for my travelling after the mission. the first 2 months is ALL sorted by OM, but between April 10th and May 30th I'm left to my own devices.
My proposed route has me flying from Panama City to Cusco, doing the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, heading down to La Paz (Bolivia) via Lake Titicaca, heading on a slow train to northern Chile, visiting many of the picturesque lakes, towns, glaciers, hot springs etc. in Chile including a tour where you drink whisky with ice that has been frozen for millennia! then I'll cruise back up to Panama City and fly home.
Not bad.
Really excited because I pretty much know that this is going to be the best experience and best time of my life so far, so the prospect of that is awesome. but having to leave my family, Harbury, my friends and everything I know and love about my life is really damn scary.
Because I really do love my life, I have a lot that I take for granted and a lot that I wouldn't change if I could and I'm privileged to know a really amazing and inspirational group of people who I am lucky to call my friends and family (you know who you are).
And I suppose that's why I'm going.
Because although things are good and comfortable, that makes my life unchallenging to a large degree. and if I'm never challenged, I'll never develop in any facet of my life whatsoever.
My primary cause for doing this mission is to spread the word of God ("make disciples of all nations") because I am lucky and blessed to have the life I have and to know God, and I want other people to hear about His love and His message and the fact that there is always hope no matter where your life has taken you.
and although I could have done that in the UK, I think that the only way I can fully commit to the mission I'm doing is to have that as my complete focus and therefore, not be in familiar territory.
And Panama is definitely not familiar territory.
So that's why I'm going.
JG
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Saturday, 22 January 2011
#2 - Growing up
22/01/11
I am now 19 years and 2 days old.
don't really feel any different - after all why would I - but 19 sounds a lot older than 18. I guess that's because 18 is still just a school pupil age whereas 19 is when you either go to Uni or get a proper job or decide you'll claim benefits full time.
went out for a meal with my friends who I know mainly through First Sunday, our monthly event in Leamington where 'youth' from all the local churches organise and enjoy an evening of worship in various forms. really going to miss it when I'm away.
but anyway, went for a meal at Ask then to The Fox and Satchwell's, and had a genuinely very nice evening indeed.
that was last night, and tonight I went for a meal with my parents and my sister, which was also very nice.
On an aside, I'd like to mention that a very good friend of mine, Alasdair Munday, left last Thursday for his trip to Nepal (pronounced Nep-AL rather than Nep-ALL apparently) and I'd basically like to wish him the best of luck. he's with a charity out there providing education for children, and he'll be teaching maths so an extra dose of good luck will be needed. A few of us went out for some drinks to toast him farewell, and it's worth a mention that Al was instrumental in forming the institution that is Wine Night.
When we discovered that whiskey from The White Horse was too expensive for our liking, he proposed a perusal of the wine list and we then found out by chance that on Tuesdays, bottles priced £<14 are just £7.95 and £14-20 are £11.95. I've lost count of how many Wine Nights there have been, but they have all been brilliant evenings and I sincerely hope that Chris, Matt, Rob et al can continue it while I am away.
I'm pretty much there with all the prep for Panama now - bought some walking shoes for when I scale Machu Picchu and also some socks that will keep my feet 'not too hot, not too cold' apparently. difficult to know whether that was just sales-pitch hyperbole and her colleagues were secretly laughing at me or not, but I bought them nonetheless.
Not sure how often many more posts I'll do before I go away, seeing as this one has been essentially a self-indulgent recollection of my birthday celebrations and the point of this blog is in fact to update people on my adventures in Panama.
but I'll do a couple to finalise my writing style, which is difficult as I'm trying to appeal to a wide audience ranging from probably 14/15 year olds up to my grandparents and that generation (no mention of ages of course).
so until then, farewell and thanks for reading, even though you probably found large amounts of it uninteresting. just 16 days until I will have something interesting to write about, bear with me.
JG
I am now 19 years and 2 days old.
don't really feel any different - after all why would I - but 19 sounds a lot older than 18. I guess that's because 18 is still just a school pupil age whereas 19 is when you either go to Uni or get a proper job or decide you'll claim benefits full time.
went out for a meal with my friends who I know mainly through First Sunday, our monthly event in Leamington where 'youth' from all the local churches organise and enjoy an evening of worship in various forms. really going to miss it when I'm away.
but anyway, went for a meal at Ask then to The Fox and Satchwell's, and had a genuinely very nice evening indeed.
that was last night, and tonight I went for a meal with my parents and my sister, which was also very nice.
On an aside, I'd like to mention that a very good friend of mine, Alasdair Munday, left last Thursday for his trip to Nepal (pronounced Nep-AL rather than Nep-ALL apparently) and I'd basically like to wish him the best of luck. he's with a charity out there providing education for children, and he'll be teaching maths so an extra dose of good luck will be needed. A few of us went out for some drinks to toast him farewell, and it's worth a mention that Al was instrumental in forming the institution that is Wine Night.
When we discovered that whiskey from The White Horse was too expensive for our liking, he proposed a perusal of the wine list and we then found out by chance that on Tuesdays, bottles priced £<14 are just £7.95 and £14-20 are £11.95. I've lost count of how many Wine Nights there have been, but they have all been brilliant evenings and I sincerely hope that Chris, Matt, Rob et al can continue it while I am away.
I'm pretty much there with all the prep for Panama now - bought some walking shoes for when I scale Machu Picchu and also some socks that will keep my feet 'not too hot, not too cold' apparently. difficult to know whether that was just sales-pitch hyperbole and her colleagues were secretly laughing at me or not, but I bought them nonetheless.
Not sure how often many more posts I'll do before I go away, seeing as this one has been essentially a self-indulgent recollection of my birthday celebrations and the point of this blog is in fact to update people on my adventures in Panama.
but I'll do a couple to finalise my writing style, which is difficult as I'm trying to appeal to a wide audience ranging from probably 14/15 year olds up to my grandparents and that generation (no mention of ages of course).
so until then, farewell and thanks for reading, even though you probably found large amounts of it uninteresting. just 16 days until I will have something interesting to write about, bear with me.
JG
Monday, 17 January 2011
#1 - 3 weeks to go
17/01/11
As the title may suggest, just 3 weeks until I leave for Panama.
can't believe it's actually a reality and not just something in the future, as it has been for ages.
I've done most of the preparation:
had so many jabs I'm essentially invincible, apart from rabies.
bought loads of quick-drying breathable clothes - apparently sometimes the atmosphere over there is sometimes so humid that clothes simply can't dry. and it's extremely hot.
earned and paid the money for the trip and flights - partly with compensation from when my nose got broken 3 years ago, partly from money I've earned working at Starbucks and I also received a more than generous donation of £750 from my church, which I can't thank them enough for.
but the biggest obstacle in my way is the mental challenge I'm going to face.
the longest I've been away from home before is 3 weeks (holiday to USA in 2001) and that was with my family.
this time, I'm away for 16 weeks with literally no-one who I know.
in a continent I've never visited.
where they speak a language I don't.
As I say, going to be tough.
but I didn't want a little holiday when I applied for it, I wanted a challenge and to be out of my comfort zone and in at the deep end and any other appropriate cliche. It's difficult enough not to get robbed in Central/South America let alone trying to help their communities out and talk to them about God.
but that's my challenge.
Just 3 weeks away.
It's my birthday on Friday btw. 19 years young. probably about a quarter of the way through my life already.
JG
As the title may suggest, just 3 weeks until I leave for Panama.
can't believe it's actually a reality and not just something in the future, as it has been for ages.
I've done most of the preparation:
had so many jabs I'm essentially invincible, apart from rabies.
bought loads of quick-drying breathable clothes - apparently sometimes the atmosphere over there is sometimes so humid that clothes simply can't dry. and it's extremely hot.
earned and paid the money for the trip and flights - partly with compensation from when my nose got broken 3 years ago, partly from money I've earned working at Starbucks and I also received a more than generous donation of £750 from my church, which I can't thank them enough for.
but the biggest obstacle in my way is the mental challenge I'm going to face.
the longest I've been away from home before is 3 weeks (holiday to USA in 2001) and that was with my family.
this time, I'm away for 16 weeks with literally no-one who I know.
in a continent I've never visited.
where they speak a language I don't.
As I say, going to be tough.
but I didn't want a little holiday when I applied for it, I wanted a challenge and to be out of my comfort zone and in at the deep end and any other appropriate cliche. It's difficult enough not to get robbed in Central/South America let alone trying to help their communities out and talk to them about God.
but that's my challenge.
Just 3 weeks away.
It's my birthday on Friday btw. 19 years young. probably about a quarter of the way through my life already.
JG
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