FUNDRAISING UPDATE
CURRENT: $4180, GOAL: $6350

Preparing to go to Africa has been it's own adventure. It feels like an experiment in faith. For the first couple of months, I would get nervous when donations stopped coming in and rejection letters from different organizations I approached,landed in my mailbox. It is awesome to be aware of my own faith growing through this process. Money has not been coming in and I received another rejection letter from National Geographic-kind of saw that one coming but figured it was worth a try. But I have not been stressing out about it-I haven't felt worried or stopped being convinced that I would be flying to Uganda on January 26th. I think the Universe will take care of me. So far, it seems that the Universe is conspiring to get me to Uganda.

This weekend something wild happened to take me a step closer to Uganda and I wasn't even that surprised-it's just another memo in a series of memos from the Universe saying 'get going, have fun, help people, learn alot.' I spent the weekend in Yosemite with a group of friends on a retreat titled 'Serenity in Yosemite.' It was pretty incredible. They held a raffle on Saturday night and a bunch of my friends bought tickets. My friend Pam asked me to hold some of her tickets and check the numbers-turns out she won a flat screen tv. Crazy, I know. I went up to claim the prize ticket, then walked with Pam to the pick up area. On the way Pam pulled me aside and told me that she wanted me to take the tv, sell it and use the money to get to Africa. Pam is rad, my faith grows.

What is faith anyways? What do I have faith in? I'm not convinced that whatever I ask for or want, it will be granted to me. It is not a faith based on "ask and ye shall receive". It's not a faith based on the idea that a man sits up in the clouds and directs things from above. My experience tells me that fighting the natural flow of the Universe is truly painful and pointless. That while I might not always like what happens, I am always supported and loved through it-and able to grow from it if I choose to. I look back on my life and things happened that I hated at the time, didn't seem to make sense and I fought against them. From my vantage point now, I feel grateful for where those experiences took me. Lessons learned, people met, courage gained...those were the fruits of those experiences. So my faith is in a Universe that continues to teach me. It's also faith in myself that I will walk through whatever comes my way-probably not gracefully or without bruises, scars and maybe even some permanent injuries but I will walk through it. And I will learn.

So what did I learn from Saturday night's experience? It certainly supported my belief that Pam is a special woman that I'm lucky to have in my life. What else... Right now what I'm thinking is that I am stoked to be a part of this human race. That I'm down for the thrills, spills, surprises, heartaches, adventures-all of the things this life has to offer. That I am so INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL to be awake, alive, aware, wide-eyed and finally paying attention.