Greetings and Goodbye

Hello friends, family, and everyone in between:

I now have less than 5 days until leave for my service in the Peace Corps. At 6:06 in the a.m., my flight takes off from the Des Moines International Airport to 'The City of Brotherly Love.' I'll spend a couple of days in Philadelphia while I receive all of the general P.C. training for living overseas. On September 8th, I'll fly to New York, then Johannesburg, South Africa, and then on to Lusaka, Zambia. There I'll spend 10 weeks being trained at a center in Mwerka and living in a town called Kitwe. In Mwerka I'll learn how to do the job that I have been assigned to while in Zambia. For those of you who do not know what my job is, I'll be helping the locals dig fish ponds, stock them, and then maintain and harvest the fish. Generally tilapia are the species used. The idea is to give the locals a renewable food source and eventually a way to make some extra income (the average per capita income for Zambians is $385). I'm sure I'll be met with many challenges and hardships along the way, but hope to do some good while over there.

I hope to update this as often as possible so check back often. Unfortunately that may be as often as every couple of weeks or every other month. It all just depends how far away from everything I really am.

Thank you for all of your love and support and please keep me in your prayers while I'm over there.

Pearson, out.