No Moose Left Behind

I arrived in Atlanta on July 2, 2013 for what Adventures in Missions calls “Launch”.   Launch is a five-day preparation period, or conference, where experienced racers and other speakers share encouragement, safety tips, cultural considerations, and stories of God showing up on their World Race.   We spent time in worship.  We practiced certain scenarios, regarding safety, which might occur on the field.  We spent time sharing our anxious thoughts and anticipations with squad mates and teammates about the upcoming journey.  After five nights, we packed up our belongings for the year (in one backpack) and headed out.

The trip almost ended very abruptly for me.  I want to document all of the places we go, including our starting point, so I asked Ms. Minkel to take a picture of me next to the sign of our hotel in Atlanta.  She gingerly placed me in a pot of plants decorating the outside of the hotel and snapped a lovely photo of me...and then she walked away, leaving me in the pot.

Luckily for me, someone on another team found it strange that there was a moose sitting among the plants outside our hotel and scooped me up.  I was reunited with a very distraught Ms. Minkel at the terminal gate in the airport. It was obvious that the 3am wake up call had left her in a fog and the attempt to leave me behind was not intentional.

After a quick flight to Miami, Florida, we left the country for our first stop in Guatemala!  I hope you all will keep up with my travels better than Ms. Minkel has kept up with me so far!

Lovely photo, isn't it?

 Forever an Explorer,

Amelia