4 days to go! Rwanda here I come...

4 days left, I still haven't fully wrapped my mind around what is about to happen.

I have been spending the last week and a half with my family in Chicago. We have been hanging out, gathering necessities for my trip, and being blessed day after day with the generosity of people that I am so blessed to have in my life.

On May 23rd, West Aurora High School invited me to their Global Night Out event. It is an overnight event where the students stay overnight at their school in solidarity for the conflict in east Africa and have raised almost $40,000 in the past 3 years they have held this event. They had a choir sing, dance competition, dodgeball tournament, etc...
I went to this school for a screening last year when I was a Roadie, and got very close to the students and teachers. An amazing teacher, Christina Tammen, asked me to come and speak to the students. Not only speak but to tell my story, and really relate to the students. So I spoke, and afterwords the club advisers Christina Tammen and Mr. Sustersic presented me with a check and then continued fundraising for me throughout the night. The total amount that they raised for me was $1,303! This school has been such a blessing in my life since day one. They supported me as a Roadie, showed up every day at the Rescue, and is continuing to invest in my as I'm on my way to Rwanda. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the students of West Aurora, the IC club, Ms. Tammen, and Mr. Sustersic. I love you all and cant wait until I come back and can share the stories I am able to capture in Africa.

The rest of my time has been spent with friends and family. Seeing movies, having cook outs, and just loving on each other. I am going to miss every one so much, but right now it doesn't even feel as if I am leaving. My mind cant process the fact that I will be flying off to Rwanda on Tuesday, but I know when it hits me, IT WILL HIT ME! All I can do at this point is pray, make sure I have gotten all of the last minute things done, put some amazing music on my ipod (if anyone has suggestions, PLEASE let me know), spend as much time with my fam bam as possible, and then get on that plane and let go and let God.

13 days left.... last day in San Diego

Thirteen days left until I fly out to Rwanda! My ticket is bought, but it still doesn't feel like this is happening! Today was a BIG day for myself and making progress in raising money for Rwanda.

1. Today was my last day at Invisible Children. I have been here for 10 long months and had the privilege of seeing more life change in myself and others than I have seen in the last 18 years of my life. It has been such an honor working along side these amazing and influential individuals, I wish I could just take everyone with me to be apart of this next journey in my life. But instead, I will say my goodbyes, shed many tears, and know that God placed these people in my life for a reason! I feel that they have been strategically placed in my life to teach me, help me understand my strengths and weaknesses, believe in me, and show me that I can move mountains. It is only goodbye for now, I will come back to San Diego because this is where my journey began, this is where I fell in love with helping others, and this is where I discovered my passion for film. But most importantly, I am going to come back to see the family I have made here.

2. YESTERDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY! 19 basically feels like 18, the only difference is that this is my last year of being a teenager. So I am going to soak up every last drop of these 525,600 minutes left of my teenage years, live it up, and love every minute of it! It was a fabulous birthday by the way! Here at the Invisible Children office, they had a surprise birthday celebration with my IC family. I am always the one who notices surprises, but yesterday it was completely under my radar. I walk in the conference room, and it is filled with faces that I love! There was a huge pink card that every one signed and had an EPIC Chicago Rescue picture! Beautiful bright flowers, and if you know me, you know I like bright! And finally, every one pitched in some money for my trip to Rwanda. Then later that night we went to Laurens house and had a fun get together.... so much love bunched up into one day, It was magical, and I will NEVER forget May 19, 2009.

3. Today was a HUGE day for raising money for Rwanda. I have only 13 days left until I go, and I began to panic yesterday because I only had 2 weeks left to raise money and had only raised $1,427... So my friends and family spread the word of how urgent it is that I raise this money so I can go to Rwanda and document people's stories that deserve to be told to the rest of the world. Every one spread the word via facebook, word of mouth, and calling people. Yesterday, in 24 hours, I was able to raise a little bit under $1,000! That blew my mind! The best birthday present ever, so THANK YOU! You know who you are! Now I have $2,438.87 raised, and $4,061.13 still needed!

To every one at Invisible Children, I love you! It hurts to leave because I have so much love for everyone here! There aren't enought words in the English language, Spanish, or Chinese to express my time here and those of you that I have had the privilage of spending that time with. I LOVE each and every one of you more than you can imagine, and I thank God every day for placing you in my life!

So much LOVE!

Rwanda, here I come!

Upon graduation, I have spent past year volunteering for Invisible Children. My adventures have been incredible, ranging from visiting Northern Uganda, to traveling across the U.S. for 4 months in a van educating the masses of the atrocities of Northern Uganda [including this story], to helping raise millions in funds for Schools For Schools, to coordinating cities across the country for Invisible Children's worldwide event "The Rescue" and finally being on Oprah.

The opportunity for another incredible adventure has come up to work with an amazing organization in Kigali, Rwanda called KEZA, as a productions assistant, helping a film team to document several movements, people and overall stories of Africa. This is what the next four weeks of my life are looking like:

• Staying in San Diego with Invisible Children for another week and a half.

• Flying back out to Chicago to be with my family and continue working on logistics for Rwanda.

• My golden birthday on May 19th and turning 19 years old

• Raise $6,500 (HELP!) for all expenses - see paypal to your right if you feel led to help

• PRAY PRAY PRAY... When I pop in your head, please send up a prayer for me...

• Then I'm leaving on a jet plane to Rwanda on June 3rd whether I have $6,500 or not.