Around the World in 17 Days

I just returned from a trip, literally to the other side of the planet. I traveled to Asia, where I was able to get valuable insight into my future plans, and meet some incredible people. The Father truly did a lot in my life in a very short period of time. It was pretty crazy, seeing and experiencing more than I have even been able to absorb at this point, and probably never will. So here are some highlights, as seen through the lens of my really expensive camera.

Quick note- I will be sending out my first newsletter via the Postal Service in a few weeks with more details about my future. If you would like to receive that, please email your mailing address to grainofsandman@gmail.com. Thanks!

On to the snapshots...

My friend Jacob and I, in fierce preparation for our impending trip. Our friend Erin gave us an emergency care package- top of the list, stroons (straw-spoons with famous Kellogg's friends attached). Nothing gets you ready for a global trek like a good stroon race.

It was great having Jacob on the trip, even for more reasons than stroon support. He was an invaluable encouragement, confidant and in the future will understand places and faces when I talk about them. Goooo Jacob!

Jacob stretched out in the luxurious business class fully-reclining wonderment.. that we briefly walked by on the way to OUR seats. 15 1/2 hours in the air enroute to Asia- but they treat you RIGHT. All the food you could possibly imagine and individual tv sets with over 100 movies, 800 CD's, tv shows and games... and I guess you could interact with each other if you really wanted to.

We spent our first night in Asia on a 17 hour lay-over... luckily in cities where virtually everything is foreign to you, there is McDonald's... We are evidently "lovin' it".

Traveling overseas always entails strange and exotic foods. Move over burger and fries, here comes an entire duck and fried grubs. Dinner is always enhanced when your food watches you eat it.

... gross, but hey, when in Rome...

Faster than a speeding bullet, you can barely see me, but here I come screaming over crocodile infested waters in the dangerous Asian jungles, surely doing something heroic.

...speaking of heroes...

... sinister poses with the 'phants...

...we even got to steal one...

As you can tell, we soaked up quite a plethora of new and exciting adventures...


... drank in spectacular scenes...

... and dove into some amazing relationships...

(a friend from the States with some of our young new friends)

Our friends abroad had a whole host of amazing experiences planned for us, but the most memorable was one none of us saw coming. We were visiting a local village when we ran into a man on a motorcycle who had traveled from his village to buy some local vegetables. He invited us back to his home so he and his friends could play some music for us on these really cool guitars they had made by hand.

When we got there, he had invited the entire village. In they streamed one by one, just to see us! By the end of the night, not only had they played for us, they had taught us to dance, fed us an enormous meal, played games with us, and taught us some of their own local language and songs. Despite a language and culture barrier as wide as the ocean, we had bonded with these new friends. We walked away that evening shaking our heads in disbelief at what He had just allowed us to experience. What an amazingly intimate snapshot of things to come! This night will no doubt stay in my mind as I prepare to move to Asia to serve these lovely people.

There will definitely be more challenges, adjustments and moments of fear as I move ahead, and that was even more highlighted being there. However, it was such an encouragement being able to meet with friends who are currently going through these things, and finding rest in Him. It was good to hear their struggles and advice about what they've been doing.

My plan is to be in Asia full time by next fall. Please be thinking of me in this time of transition and preparation. I will be doing a lot of traveling and sharing with others about my future. It has been easy to be fearful and anxious, but He has been so good, reminding me of truth and I am excited about what He has in store for me down the road. If you would like to know how you can help, please email me at grainofsandman@gmail.com.

Goodbye, Humidity....

Click on image to enlargeAfter spending four months in considerably warmer weather, which was nice, I am back in The Last Frontier for the summer, getting out just before the wall of humidity and torture hit. I guess I've become a snowbird already, and I'm only twenty-four. But with these hips, I guess I could qualify for the elderly.

Click on image to enlargeAfter graduating in December, I spent the last four months with my girlfriend, Christin, who is preparing to head overseas to be involved in the same work as myself. It was really good to meet her family and grow in our relationship, finding out a lot about myself, for the good and for the not-so-pretty at times, but learned a lot. I was able to take a trip to Mexico with her and her family's organization to help people out down there, which was cool (see pictures below).

We helped some local friends build a storage facility for goods distribution toward the less fortunate in the area. Do not be fooled by the hunch back in yellow- Martine is doing all of the profitable work here.

Concrete. That's the way they roll in Mexico- EVERYTHING is concrete. These are the forms we made for the roof. By this point I've scared all the other workers away- that's intimidation.

Making rebar forms. This is me fending off a local rebar thief.


Christin and I developing teamwork. Improvising is key in a situation like this. We had to create a pulley system out of scraps to get heavy buckets of concrete and water up to the second floor. I can't see anything going wrong here.

It's been great to be back again and see so many friends, and encouraging to hear how many people have been thinking about me and checking out my letters and blogs. That means a lot. I'm up to my old tricks again, interning- working with college students and anywhere else I can help, space camp counseling and manny-ing (that's being a male nanny) with my buddy, Vince. (remember the golf club incident from last summer? See my first post for a refresh)

I've been preparing for a trip to Asia in the fall to see where I will most likely be working in the future, meet the team there, get exposure to the language and culture, and take cool videos and pictures to bring back and share with you all! Things are coming together pretty well for that. Tickets have been bought and we are in the process of gettings visas, shots and insurances of all kinds. There's a lot that goes into international travel, as I will probably be experiencing for the rest of my life! So thank you for thinking about that trip with me.

Things continue to go well with Christin. She is coming up to visit me in August for a couple weeks, then we will fly back to her home for a little while before the Asia trip, which she will be a part of. I would appreciate if you would be thinking for wisdom on our behalf in that relationship, as well as wisdom and clarity as to what the future looks like with heading overseas- time lines and rest in the midst of ambiguity, which is never easy.

This is actually at a friend's wedding, but, being the best looking couple at the reception, we were confused for the bride and groom and flower petals were immediately dumped on top of us.

If we haven't had a chance to bump into each other, shoot me a note and I'd love to catch up with you while I'm in the area. I'm here until the end of August. Thanks again for all the support from so many friends and family- couldn't do it without you!

But you said...

When we last left our hero, he was making bold claims of graduating and heading to Alaska. Wow, things have changed since then. (Guess I should update this thing more often) I DID graduate in December, and spent the holidays with my family in Indiana, which was wonderful.

I DIDN'T head to Alaska. But it's not my fault, honest. Blame her.


Christin. That's the name of the girl from school who mandated that I move to Pennsylvania and date her. And I learned a looong time ago not to argue with that intimidating gender. (the picture is of her and I at our graduation) So sorry ladies, I'm off the market. (the female community collectively mourns) It has been a ride both exciting and scary, but as much as I miss Alaska and am bummed I couldn't come up there as soon as I wanted, there isn't a place in the world I'd rather be than here with this incredible girl. I'm having a great time meeting her family, looking for a temporary job and beginning to develop partners for my future opportunities.

Welcome to the Quaker State.

The tentative plan is to stay here until June, then hopefully travel up to Alaska for the summer (don't want to make any promises though- look what happened last time!). I am also beginning some plans for a trip to Asia in the fall to check out where I will possibly be moving to in the future.

If you would like more information, I will be sending out a newsletter in the next few weeks. Please email me your email and/or physical address (however you'd like to receive it) if you are interested. Also, if you would like to partner with me in my future endeavors, please feel free to contact me. My email address is justinfranchino@gmail.com