Japan

So…I went to Japan last week!! That was pretty crazy, right? The whole trip kind of came about out of nowhere (for me at least) and I only had 2 months or so to get myself all ready for it. But I’m so glad it all worked out because it was a really great trip! I went with Team Expansion of course, with Doug Lucas (President), Betty Byrd (Prayer and Personnel), and 3 younger girls, Casey, Cassidy , and Whitney. Whitney had just finished college a year or so ago, Casey was in college, and Cassidy was only 16 and still in high school, but really had a heart for Japan. We took this trip for a couple of reasons: 1) To visit the missionaries we have in Japan, 2) So Casey, Cassidy, and Whitney could see if Japan is somewhere they’d want to serve long-term, and 3) So I could get experience in leading these types of trips for the future.

Just a warning: I’m about to give you a detailed recap of the entire trip…so if you don’t care that much (which I don’t blame you for) or don’t know how to read (which is sad, we should talk about that), please feel free to stop here and go get a snack or skim the rest of it to see if any exciting words pop out. Just to keep you interested, I might add in random words to catch the attention of all you skimmers. Things like DRUGS and PUPPIES and TACOS. We’ll see.

Ok so I’m probably just going to go day by day here, since that seems easiest.

FRIDAY/SATURDAY: So we met at the airport Friday morning at 4 am. Needless to say that wasn’t fun. Plus, if you’ve been getting my e-mail updates, you know I’m slightly terrified of flying…so I wasn’t super excited about the whole travel part in general. Our first flight was from Louisville to Dallas and it was fairly miserable. I got super air sick and I was really pretty nervous so it was just a bad few hours. But we got to Dallas and I ate some crackers and took some DRUGS (legal ones, just to be clear) and felt much better. The flight from Dallas to Tokyo was much better. The DRUGS really helped, as did the whole “being able to watch movies on your own screen on the headrest in front of you” thing. It took about 12 hours, but I slept for most of it so it wasn’t too bad. We got to Tokyo on Saturday afternoon. There was a delay on one of the trains we had to take (a number of people told us there was probably a suicide—apparently it happens pretty often, people just jump in front of the trains on an almost daily basis. Very sad.) so we missed the last train to Ishinomaki (the city we were headed to). Needless to say that created a pretty crazy series of events where we were rushing around train stations and random city streets trying to find a very specific bus stop so we could get the absolute last bus to Ishinomaki. Luckily we made it and arrived in Ishinomaki at like, 11 pm, and were greeted by the distinct Tennessee accent of one of the missionaries yelling “Konichiwa, ya’ll!” which was wonderfully amusing after 30+ hours of traveling.

SUNDAY: We had a pancake breakfast at the church in Ishinomaki, which was delicious. It was a really cool experience getting to worship with Japanese believers, the missionaries, and a few other short term teams. After that we headed to Onegawa, one of the cities hit the hardest by the tsunami last year. Ishinomaki had also been hit badly, but Onegawa lost something like 80% of their buildings and ¼ of their population. We went with 2 Japanese believers, Ahbay-San and his daughter. He had lost his wife in the tsunami when she tried to seek shelter on the roof of the bank she worked at. Sadly, it wasn’t high enough. He and another man, Suzuki-San (a community leader trying to rebuild the city) explained to us that the evacuation center for the town was a hospital pretty high up on a hill (but still right beside the water).  They said it was pretty cold the day of the tsunami and a lot of people were in their cars in the parking lot of the hospital trying to stay safe but also keep warm. They could see the shoreline very well from where they were, so they were trying to keep an eye on the water levels. However, the mountains behind them apparently forced the water to funnel back toward the hospital, where no one was looking, so many of the cars and people at the evacuation center were swept out to sea when the waves came rushing toward them from behind. It was pretty surreal to stand in that parking lot, overlooking what used to be a thriving downtown area but was now just empty lots, knowing that dozens of people died where we were standing. Not to get too morbid here…but all I could think about was the fear these people must have felt while they were being swept away inside their cars, knowing there was nothing they could do to save themselves. Knowing the statistics of the country, it’s also pretty safe to say almost none of these people were Christians. It’s scary enough to know you’re being swept out to sea and won’t survive…but can you imagine knowing you’re going to die and not knowing where you’ll go or what will happen to you once you do?

While we were talking to Suzuki-San we asked him what we could pray for and all he said was that he wanted to be remembered. He asked us not to forget him or Onegawa and to not let everyone in America forget what happened and how they’re all still healing and rebuilding. The tsunami might be over, but the recovery is a long, painful process for them.

MONDAY: Monday morning we woke up to a 6.2 earthquake around 5 am! So that was an exciting way to start the day! The rest of the day we spent with the missionaries, cleaning up Ishinomaki. Since the missionaries in Ishinomaki moved there about a year ago (from Osaka, where they had been doing church planting) they’ve spent almost every day helping the community clean up from the tsunami. Almost every day is a “work day” of grueling physical labor for them. On Monday we spent the day with them, cleaning up a number of small apartments that had been ruined by the tsunami. And by “cleaning up” I mean we emptied the houses of the owners’ ruined, muddy, moldy possessions, removed moldy floors and walls and doors, and took multiple truckloads of debris to one of the dozens of massive city dumps. The dumps were one of the craziest things to me. I had never really thought about it before, but all the debris from the tsunami has to go somewhere. Every piece of broken furniture, every moldy item of clothing, every ruined house and car and office building has to go somewhere. The size of these dumps is almost unfathomable. They’re stories and stories high and some go for miles. It’s just unbelievable how much debris is leftover.

One of my favorite parts about Monday was all the different stories we heard about the people who lived in the apartments we were cleaning. One woman and her children were saved by a neighbor who told them to run, not take the car, which saved their lives. Many people got in their cars to try to outrun the tsunami but ended up getting trapped inside and washed away. We heard about a few other families who used to live there and were so excited about the prospect of moving back into their ruined homes. It really made all the hard work that much more special, knowing we were doing it for real people with real stories who wanted their lives back.

One of my other favorite parts about Monday was that I got to use a sledge hammer. Turns out, I really love knocking out walls and hitting things with heavy objects J (TACOS)

TUESDAY: We left Ishinomaki Tuesday morning and traveled (for like, 5 hours on 3 different trains) to Karuizawa, where we met with another missionary family. (PUPPIES) Karuizawa is in the mountains of Japan, right next to an active volcano (which was pretty exciting!). The missionaries in Karuizawa work with a Christian school and camp. We were able to stay in a beautiful cabin on the camp. The missionaries let us participate in their Tae Kwan Do class they teach at the school---which was super fun! We learned all sorts of good moves so I’m pretty dangerous now.

That evening we went to dinner at the home of a Japanese Christian couple, Mikio and Kazuko. Mikio is the minister at a church near Karuizawa. It was really neat to be able to eat in the home of not only a Japanese family, but a Christian Japanese family! After dinner they took us to a Buddhist temple high in the mountains to pray for the people of Japan. It was pretty crazy to see an actual Buddhist temple with all of their creepy statues and idols that they pray to and make offerings to.  One of the craziest things, to me at least, was that some of these weird little statues had tiny knitted hats and aprons. Mikio told us the Buddhist monks put those on them to keep those “spirits” dry and warm. How sad is it that the gods they worship need someone to keep them warm? How pathetically un-powerful is a god that needs a human to put a hat on it to save it from the elements? While it was incredibly sad to know a lot of the people in that area pray to these false gods, it was also incredibly comforting to know that our God is all-powerful, he doesn’t NEED us to do anything. He doesn’t NEED us for anything. But he wants us and he loves us anyway.

This was the night of the typhoon, so while we were praying at the temple the winds and storms were blowing like crazy. It was definitely a powerful experience to be praying that God would knock down the high places of these false gods during a huge storm like that.

 After that we went to a Shinto shrine to pray, as well. It was still storming and while we were praying that God would show these people that praying to their ancestors was empty and pointless, the light that was shining on the shrine went out. We continued to pray and as we left we started singing Here I Am to Worship. As we sang “light of the world you stepped out into darkness” the light came back on. I’m certainly not saying this was a sign from God or anything like that. Lights do tend to go off during typhoons quite regularly. But it was a pretty cool reminder that God is still in control, even in places like Japan that don’t know Him at all.

WEDNESDAY: We spent Wednesday morning helping an English school move to a new building. The school was run by 2 young missionaries that use the English school as part of their ministry. I learned how to use a drill and take shelving apart, which was pretty exciting! (UNICORN) That afternoon we went to downtown Karuizawa. Apparently, the town of Karuizawa was founded by a missionary in the 1800s and is home to the oldest wooden church building in Japan. We also got to see the tennis courts where the current Emperor of Japan met his wife and where they return every year to play a game of tennis. Very fun.

Karuizawa was really one of the coolest little places I’ve ever been! The streets were all brick and lined with the cutest specialty shops. One of which was a French bakery that John Lennon and Yoko Ono used to frequent (Yoko Ono was from Karuizawa).  The streets and buildings perfectly framed the awesome, smoking volcano too, which was pretty cool. Since the entire town of Karuizawa is in the mountains there’s a lot of forest around, so a lot of the restaurants were nestled back into the woods. They all had outdoor seating with Christmas lights all around, so it looked like you were just eating in the woods. It was really pretty cool. (TACOS) Also, Bill Gates is building a house there---so you know it must be a great place!

THURSDAY: Thursday we traveled to Niigata to visit another one of Team Expansion’s missionary families. They took us to a really neat conservatory with all sorts of Japanese gardens and flowers. There was one sort of flower that looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, it was just a straight green stem with a ball of purple on top. Very weird! The conservatory overlooked most of Niigata so we spent the afternoon praying for the city and the work the missionaries were planning to start there.

FRIDAY: We spent lots of hours on trains again Friday, but ended up in Tokyo by the afternoon so it was worth the train rides! We got to spend the whole day in Tokyo, just sort of exploring and shopping and seeing the city. We took by far the craziest train ride ever through Tokyo! It was more packed than I could’ve ever imagined. I honestly thought for a second I was about to get crushed to death! (DINOSAURS) It was already packed when we got on the train, so we were uncomfortable to begin with. We thought for sure no one else could fit…but we were clearly wrong. After we got on (and thought it was full) at least 10 more people shoved on. Probably more, but at that point I couldn’t see anything past the person in front of me, and there was no room to turn around, so I have no idea how many people actually got on.  We were packed in there so tightly we couldn’t even hold on to anything, but it was ok because we were so squished we couldn’t have fallen down anyway!

SATURDAY: We headed to the airport Saturday morning and spent about the next 30 hours traveling…which was crazy because our flight left Tokyo at 6 pm and we got to Chicago at 4 pm, so technically it was a -2 hour flight! We had a short flight from Chicago to Louisville and we finally got into Louisville around 9 pm!

So I think that’s a pretty detailed trip summary! I won’t add anything else on here at the end because if you’ve actually read through this entire thing you deserve to go take a nap. And a medal. But you won’t get one, so just go take a nap and know that it’s your reward for reading like a champ!

The Story of How My Life is Awesome....Finally!

For those of you who have kept up with my blog I have some great news for you! YOU WIN A PRIZE! Just kidding. Well sort of. Your prize is that you get to continue reading my blog…. Or Marshall will lick you in the face. Those are your prize options. What I was actually going to say before I started typing haphazardly was that for those of you who have kept up with my blog, I know they’re usually slightly depressing. It’s been a rough couple of years. However! You’re in for a pleasant surprise. This one is not depressing. In fact, one might even say it is (gasp) happy. So hold on to your seats because Kelsey’s in a great mood (this could partly be due to the fact that I have a bag of delicious snacks next to me but we’ll say it’s only partially because of that).

So as you know, for approximately 43 days now I’ve lived in Louisville and have been officially working at Team Expansion. And I’m not gonna lie, it’s been pretty awesome. Let’s start from the beginning. Day 1: I moved in. Morning of Day 2: Marshall jumped in bed with my roommate at 7 am while she was still asleep. She did not get mad. She laughed. Awesome roommate. Evening of Day 2: My niece and nephew were born. Awesome day. Day 7: Went to the Post (Southeast’s Sunday night service) and afterwards met an awesome group of people who invited me to join their small group. Friends by Day 7!? Winning at adulthood already! At some point between Days 8 and 12 I cooked for myself (like a champ)—I made chicken bruschetta and some delicious bread. Well, I didn’t make the bread, but I didn’t put it in the oven and that counts! Days 13-20 were spent working from Chicago and spending time with my fantastically adorable niece and nephew (because I have the best boss ever and he let me work from home for a whole week before I’d even been here a month!).

I’m not going to lie to you—the rest of the days are kind of a blur and I can’t remember what really happened. I could make up day numbers and activities but I’m sure you’d all see right through me when I started saying things like “Day 58: Rode a narwhal to the Megashark vs. Dinocroc fight and stopped for Taco Bell with Margaret Thatcher after.” But the point isà so far, life is awesome. Let’s start with why my job is awesome.

My job is awesome. Not only because I have the most awesome boss in the world (which is true, he’s pretty fantastic and lets me go see my babies when I need to) but because I really do love what I do. I love what Team Expansion does. This is not in any way meant to belittle anyone else’s job—but I really do feel like I’m part of an organization that is doing THE most important thing in the world—reaching the unreached with the Gospel. I honestly can’t think of anything else in my life that would be more important than that. Jesus straight up said “Go and make disciples of all nations…” That wasn’t a suggestion, that’s what he told us to do. That was his final thought before he left earth. And I don’t think it was one of those “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this before, so do it if you want, no big deal” kind of final thoughts. I’m pretty sure he planned this one out ahead of time. (Just to clarify one more time—I’m not saying anyone else’s job isn’t important or that people can’t do mission work in their other chosen career fields. I absolutely think they do. I know they do. People can be involved in mission work and spreading the gospel in millions of ways. So I’m not trying to say you’re not as good as me because your job doesn’t involve working for a missions organization. I’m actually fairly certain that you’re better than me in multiple ways. Unless my Dad is reading this in which case Dad, I am better than you always and don’t forget it.) My point in all this is—I’m incredibly lucky to only be 24 and be totally and completely happy with my job. There’s nothing (so far—I’ve only been here a month you know) about my job that makes me dread coming into work or makes me wish I could do something else or leaves me feeling unfulfilled. Fulfilled. That’s the word I’m looking for. Finally, after years of working toward this point, I feel very fulfilled. I love what I do. I know what I’m doing, even when I’m making spreadsheets or e-mailing people I don’t know about events I don’t completely understand, is directly affecting the souls of people that don’t know Jesus (in a good way, just to be clear). That’s a pretty cool feeling. What else could you possibly ask for in a job?!

Other reasons my life is awesome--- I’ve met some really amazing people since I’ve moved to Louisville. There are awesome people I work with for sure. But even outside of work I’ve met some incredible people that have been ridiculously nice and welcoming to me considering they don’t know me at all. Within the first week I was here I met a great group of people and I’ve been in their small group ever since (which has led me to meet more incredible people).  The first night I met them they got my phone number and started inviting me to do things with them. Who does that!? Really nice people, that’s who. It was pretty cool. I met another great group of people through a person I’d never actually met. I had a friend who had a friend that lived here so we got in touch and she invited me to her small group too even though I’d never met her and as far as she knew, I was completely insane. I went to that small group also and those people were ridiculously nice and welcoming too! I don’t know if it’s Louisville or if this is what “southern hospitality” feels like or if I just happened upon some really wonderful groups of people…but either way, God has put some pretty great people in my life down here so far.

More reasons my life is awesome—Marshall and his new puppy roommate (my roommate’s dog) get along super well. They run around and play and Marshall gets all his energy out before bedtime, which is great. Plus, he’s always happy even when I’m at work all day because he has a puppy buddy. So that makes me feel much better about leaving him while I go to work. I’m not going to say I haven’t thought about bringing him to work with me…but I haven’t been able to come up with a conceivable way to sneak him in so if anyone has any ideas please share. I’ve considered dressing him up like a baby and telling everyone he’s my nephew but that hasn’t panned out so well yet. I’ve also considered getting him a Seeing Eye Dog vest and pretending I’ve been temporarily blinded. So that’s an option too.  

Let’s see, what else is awesome… Louisville is awesome. So far, it’s been a very fun city to explore.  I know there’s still tons I haven’t seen but from what I understand there’s all sorts of exciting things to do in the summer: Shakespeare in the Park (free!), random festivals and fairs (free!), lots of pretty parks and things to wander around (also free!), tons of great restaurants (not free but worth it!). I hear there’s a pretty fantastic local music scene too which I have not checked out yet but am super excited to find out about. So basically, Louisville’s a wonderful city so far.

So to sum up…my life is pretty great right now. It was a rough couple of years with all the fundraising and waiting and having little to no social interaction with people other than my parents for about a year….but it was absolutely worth the wait! I’m so so happy to finally be down here and to finally have a life.  I may not be completely winning at adulthood yet (I may or may not eat frozen dinners and Taco Bell 73% of the time) but so far I’ve paid all my bills on time and I haven’t died from malnutrition yet so I’ll count that as a win! High five for being awesome at adulthood!  

The Story of How I Am Already a Terrible Missionary and Why It's Ok

So. This is sort of it. I have officially raised all my support to work at Team Expansion in Louisville!! I can't even begin to describe how crazy it is that this is actually happening. This whole thing has been in the process of happening since August of 2010. I've been raising support since January 2011. This is the goal I've been working toward for almost a year and a half now. I've never committed to anything for that long in my life (except for my love of The Office and Taco Bell but those are really different situations...) And now here it is. Right in front of me. About to happen. I have lots of mixed feelings about this that I'm about to share with you. Don't worry, I'll start with the bad so I can end with the good and hopefully you'll leave feeling smiley (rather than unsmiley. No one wants to be unsmiley.)

As excited as I am about this whole "having a real adult life" thing I am also the same amount of horrified and bone-chllingly scared. I've never had a life before. I've never been an adult before (I'm not sure I will become an adult even once I move but I'm sure I'll be closer than I am now...living at home, letting my Mom do all my laundry, staying up til 3 am and sleeping in until 11...) and it's terrifying to think I have to become one now. I was on CCU's campus the other day and I realized that whole phase of my life is over. I had such an amazing college experience but it's done. That can't be my life anymore. And that made me sad. Because my only options are grow up or end up on Dr. Phil as one of those 30 year old moochers that still live off their parents and refuse to have real jobs. But there's nothing fun about being an adult...and everyone knows I only like to do things that are fun. Being an adult seems lame. It's all bills and stress and waking up to the miserable sound of an alarm clock every morning. Eugh. I don't think I hate anything more in the entire world than waking up in the morning.

In addition to being a grown up and paying bills and waking up at a reasonable hour, I'm going to have a job. A real 9-5 every day sort of job (Did you know jobs happen every day? Not ideal for my lifestyle, really). Now don't get me wrong, I'm super excited about this particular job. I don't think I could make myself get out of bed every morning for a job I don't absolutely love and I'm already convinced I will absolutely love this job I have waiting for me. However, having a real job means (once again) waking up in the mornings. Taking regular showers. Wearing real clothes (I'll only have to do this until the Pajama Jean company comes up with a classy pajama work pant design). Planning my meals more than 3 minutes ahead of time. Having social interactions on a daily basis with people that aren't my parents. Going to bed before the infomercials come on at 1 am. And most terrifyingly, no more $5 matinee movies where I'm the only one in the theater. I do love that. I think I will miss that most of all....that or not wearing real pants (I really hate pants).

On top of all that, I'm moving to a new city. I've never really moved to a new city before. I kind of moved to Columbus for 3 months but I don't feel like that really counts. This is so much more...permanent. This isn't an internship, it isn't a summer job or a trial run. This is the real deal. A real job, in a new city, 2 hours away from home. I've never lived more than 30 minutes away from home before. I realize that's slightly ridiculous considering I'm 24 years old but I haven't and it makes me sad so deal with it. I like my house. I like my parents (even though my Dad is worse than Toby and my Mom only does my laundry like, once a week. Really Mom, could you be any more of a slacker?). I like living in a city that I know how to get around. I like Cincinnati. And now I'm leaving....and it's not like going to college leaving or going to Africa for the summer leaving. It's forever leaving. When I move out of my parents' house this time it's for good, there's no coming back for summer vacation and Christmas break. I'm for real moving out (well, unless I lose my job or something and am forced to move back in with my parents but that would really just be sad and not quite the celebratory homecoming of a summer break). Once I move that's it. My room at home won't really be my room anymore (despite my attempts to have the Historical Society preserve it as a national historical landmark). The permanence of this is really a terrifying thought to me. I hate things that are permanent (hence why I've never colored my hair or or signed up for a gym. You really can't quit the gym once they get you.) I like things that are flexible, undo-able. I like having options and escape plans and back up plans for my escape plans and alternate routes to get to my back up plans. I hate permanence. But I guess that is part of being a grown up...committing to things and permanence and forevers. Blech.

As terrified as I am by all of that...I really am also very excited. I'm excited to explore a new city, meet new people, have friends that live within 30 minutes of me, spend weekends doing something other than embroidering and watching Hoarders. I'm also super excited to start working at Team Expansion. Everything I know about Team Expansion and the people that work there is just amazing. Plus, I am genuinely thrilled to be doing the job I have there. I won't go into all the details again of what I'm doing (I assume most of you know and if not then...make up something really cool and pretend I'm doing that. Something like super secret spy or Taco Bell food taster). When I was in school I never really knew what I wanted to do or what kind of job I wanted to have. I had an idea of general things I wanted to do (like not have to wear a visor or hair net to work) but I didn't have a specific idea of what it was I was working toward...but I think that's just because I hadn't heard of Team Expansion yet. I know it sounds cheesy but at this point, there is no doubt in my mind that this job is exactly what God had in store for me all along.

Most of you know about the awesome way I came upon this job...it was really nothing short of God throwing it in my lap and saying "DO THIS NOW!" (I like to think of God yelling at me the way Baby Pearl would in The Landlord) But ever since then, time after time, God has shown me this is exactly what I should be doing. And for many of you who know me, it takes a lot for me to say God wanted me to do something. I tend to be very wary of throwing around phrases like that (with the exception of saying God wants me to eat donuts 3 mornings a week. He and I have a very clear understanding there) but in this case it was pretty undeniable.

Now that I'm fully funded I feel like I can say this without fear of much repercussion...I am horrible at fundraising. I mean absolutely awful at it. I didn't follow half of the rules I was supposed to***, I chickened out of more phone calls than I made, and when I actually did get up the courage to meet with people they were the ones that usually ended up having to ask about my ministry and what I was doing because I couldn't find the right way or time to bring it up myself. It was really just embarrassingly bad. I can speak in front of big groups and churches and stuff, but when it comes to one on one meetings I get weirdly socially awkward and I do a lot of that nervous laughter thing and I make a lot of bad jokes and I ramble about lawn gnomes and how the consistency of cottage cheese freaks me out and how many times I ate cookie dough that week. But despite how much it seems like I was trying to sabotage my own efforts, the money still came in. People still got excited about this ministry. I would get random e-mails or letters or checks in the mail from people I barely knew or hadn't even talked to saying they wanted to support me. Months after I mentioned what I was doing in a casual conversation someone would say they wanted to be a part of this with me. Friends from school who barely had enough money for rent just freely volunteered to support me without me ever even thinking of asking them. It really was nothing short of an absolute miracle. During some of the rough times when I was crazy far away from my goal and felt like I was running out of contacts I'd have people say "So what happens if you don't reach your goal? What's your Plan B?" And that always caught me off guard because I didn't have a Plan B (which is exceptionally odd for me. I have Plan B's for everything. I have a Plan A, B, and C for what happens if I run out of Mt. Dew before I'm finished typing this). But I didn't have a back up. I didn't have a "what if." I just knew I was going to work at Team Expansion. This is exactly what I've wanted to do for a long time now and it seemed odd to me to plan for disappointment. I just knew this was where God wanted me (that's not to say I didn't have moments/weeks of utter terror wondering what would happen if I never was fully funded...but I also have moments/weeks of utter terror about what I'll do if I contract a flesh eating bacteria or if the zombie apocalypse really happens but I never really plan for the possibility of those things either).

I'm not saying all of this to make you think I am some sort of awesome missionary who is so tight with God that I don't worry about anything or that I'm so great that people just throw money at me as I walk by (although that would be super awesome and I wouldn't complain.) I'm telling you all this so you can see how AMAZING God is despite me. I did nothing to make any of this happen for myself. If anything I hindered the whole process a good bit. If I hadn't sucked at this so much I probably could have started working at Team Expansion a year ago. But God still prevailed. He provided, He reassured, He gave me confidence in what I'm doing. He gave me an amazing team of prayer partners who have been utterly fantastic and faithful. And THAT is why I'm so excited to move to Louisville and start at Team Expansion. Because God showed me, time and time again, despite everything I did to prove Him wrong, that this is where He wants me. This is where I'll be useful. This is where I can best serve Him. This is where my life will matter.




**Disclaimer-- Just to be clear, Team Expansion's fundraising tips and coaches are awesome and super helpful and things probably would've gone WAY better for me if I had actually done what they said all the time. However, I am a chicken and I am lazy and I ended up doing it my own (much less practical) way. I wouldn't want anyone to think I was advocating not doing what the experts tell you to do. The experts are experts because they are awesome at what they are doing. I am not an expert because I was awful at what they are doing.