Day 28-

28 Days Later... isn't that a zombie movie...

My walk towards a well in Sierra Leone continues. I have spoken to many about the need for clean water and many have asked about my "jugs". Awareness is being raised, but that is not enough. Unlike breast cancer, it isn't enough to simply be aware. Not that that's enough for breast cancer either, although many times I see walks for breast cancer awareness and think to myself, can't they walk for breast cancer cures or breast cancer solutions... but then I thought about it, and it is good to be aware so that women will go see a doctor regularly to catch it early. With the water crisis, there's no longer an option to try and catch it early... it's here. And it will stay here until we do something about it.

My nephew, Isaac, wanted to help. At least he tried.

With all the downed trees, I lost power... I took a picture.

Count Down

Day 22-
Count down... already? Okay, it may be a little too early. As the days pass, whether or not I can walk the 40 days becomes less of a concern and whether or not I'm going to be able to raise enough money to rehabilitate the well becomes the more important question.
Giving at my office continues to trickle in. With big checks from my big bosses at Torti Gallas and Partners, Inc., one day sponsor donations from principals like Brian O'Looney, I'm sure to make the goal.
Thanks for all the support TGP!
More to come!

Half Way There!

Day 20-
At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.

Pretty amazing when you think about water. Small problems become giant problems when you don't have clean water.

The other amazing thing is that this problem can be solved. Statistics show 1 Dollar can provide clean water for 1 person for 1 year. This is within our means to do. Many people tell me they just don't have anything to give. Sometimes that may be true. If you're starving and you're not sure where your next meal is coming from, then you're right, you have nothing to give. Although this is probably not the case for most. For most people, if a dollar was taken out of their wallets or purses, they'd never even notice. In fact, I'd even go as far as saying two dollars... maybe even two dollars and 50 cents. Why $2.50? Because that's the amount that a little over 50% of the world lives off of everyday. But before any thinks that I'm trying to give them a guilt trip, please remember, as one finger is pointed at you, three fingers are pointed back at me. I need to remember to think of others more highly than myself and love them as I love myself.

Here's some good news...

Last Thursday, I went to Domino's to get a pizza, and a young man waiting for his food asked me "what's up with the jugs". After I explained the situation and what I was doing, he asked "so what can I do"... This sophomore from Central North Carolina Something College gave me $5.

Last Friday, I was waiting in Downtown Silver Spring for some friends, just standing on the corner across from the Majestic Movie Theater and bam! Two kids give me a dollar each, I think their mom gave it to them to give to me. I shared with them what I was doing too.

Last Saturday, I attended a wedding for my friends Sherry and Andy. Just beautiful. After the wedding while the caterers were cleaning up, one of the the guys gave me a dollar. I guess he read the sign on the side of my jerry can. I shared with him too.

Yesterday, I went to lunch at Woodside Deli in Silver Spring. I love their food. A waitress gave me a dollar after I explained what I was doing. She wasn't even my waitress.

Today, my boss gave me a pretty big check... he's a pretty big guy too.

See it's not how much they gave, but that they saw a need and wanted to act. Many see the need, and turn their heads. What will you do?

"EARTHQUAKE"

Day 16-
I awoke early this morning a little after 5am. The room was shaking, I sat up in my bed, startled. Then suddenly, it all stopped. I got out of bed, looked out my window. It's still a bit dark, everything's quiet. Still half-asleep, I got back into bed, thinking, "Oh it was all just a dream, we don't get earthquakes in Maryland." When I finally got up this morning, I saw this... and knew it wasn't a dream.

http://www.razoo.com/story/Greyson-s-40-Day-Water-Walk-Marathon-Walk-With-Me

"A child dies every 15 seconds because of a lack of clean water. It costs us an average of $.98 to provide safe, clean water to one person for one year. Every dollar makes a difference." Living Water International

Two Weeks Down... and a Bunch More to Go

Day 15-
Since I have now finished week 2, I thought I'd give an update on how I'm feeling. I'm super tired, I need more sleep. This morning when I picked up Rachel and Leah to go to the bathroom and do my usual morning routine, they felt heavier than they did yesterday. My shoulders are the most sore part of my body. Now, I'm starting to understand people's doubts as to me doing this for 40 days...
Oh, but here's a cool story. Tuesday night, after visiting my grandmother in the nursing home, I went to Domino's to pick up some pizzas for dinner. Yes, the "pizzas", meaning more than one, meaning plural pizzas. And yes, they were both for me. But here's the cool part. While I was waiting, a young man who was also waiting for his order, asked me what was up with the jugs. So I shared with him the need for clean water, the women carrying the water over long distances, and about Living Water International. Then he asked, "so what can I do". He gave me $5 to help build the well, and he did it without blinking an eye. That was so awesome. He's a sophomore at Central North Carolina, where he plays football. I should have taken a picture. I should have also taken a picture of me trying to get back to my car carrying the jerry cans and two medium pizzas. I made it, but one of my pizzas was a hot mess when I got home.

Water-related diseases cost 443 million school days a year.
More than 150 million school-age children are severely affected by waterborne parasites like roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm. These children commonly carry up to 1000 parasites at a time, causing anemia, stunted growth, and other debilitating conditions.

Day 13- Wow, it's almost been 2 weeks with Rachel and Leah (my jerry cans). The time has just flown by. Although, I'm not even at the half way point yet. Fortunately for me, after 40 days, I can put them down. Others in the world don't have that option. During a time when our economy is so uncertain and we are concerned with our own financial stability, I hope we can still look past our problems to focus on others; others who would gladly switch places with us, even during this time. For me, I don't have to think about how I'm going to afford my next meal or am I going to eat tomorrow. This questions are real questions for so many in the world. Clean water is not something I think too much about either. I turn on the faucet and expect water... not only do I expect water, but I expect clean water. I look forward to this well being built and hopefully being able to go visit the well and the people it has effected. Not so that I can feel proud of what I've done, or so that they can thank me for thinking of them, but so that I can tell them about God's love and his amazing grace. And I'm hoping with each drink they take they will think of Him and drink for his glory...
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Day 7 -
"1 Child dies every 15 seconds due to water related diseases."
This is an amazing fact, but one of those many will read and say "wow, that's horrible" and then continue on with their own lives. The world isn't changed by a horriffic fact, nor is it changed by a poorly written blog (for example, mine). The world is changed when a single person decides to take action, no matter how great or small. I'm reminded on a story about a man walking along the beach after a great lightning storm the night before. As he's walking he stops to notice thousands and thousands of starfish washed up on the shore. He's so astonished by their number that he needs to sit down. As he continues to watch the dying washed up starfish, he notices a jogger on the beach. The jogger takes a few steps, bends over, picks up a starfish, and throws it back in the ocean. He then proceeds to take a few more steps, bends over, and again throws another starfish back in the ocean. The jogger continues this process a few more times before he is within shouting distance to the man sitting down. The sitting man yells out to the jogger, pointing to the entire beach, "Do you see how many starfish have washed up on the sand. There are thousands upon thousands. You are just one man. You can't possibly think that you can make a difference." The jogger looks at the man, bends over, picks up a starfish and throws it back in the ocean. And he tells the man, "I made a difference to that one". He bends over again, picks up another starfish, throws it in the ocean and says, "I made a difference to that one too."
I may not be able to change the world, but if I can change the world for one person, then I'll be happy to do that. Each of us are capable of doing this, the question is do we want to. I would like to encourage all of us, including me, to remember the story of the starfish. As it was said in Mulan, even one grain of rice can tip the scale... Or was it be a man.
I am not an important guy, by the world's standards. I'm not a powerful guy, by the world's standards. I'm just an average guy, and I'm short, so I'm actually a below average guy in some ways. But I am a man who loves and serves an ALL POWERFUL GOD. And with Him behind me, who can be against me.

In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours of labor are wasted each year carrying water over long distances.

When I think about how much time is spent gathering water I'm always amazed. Just carrying around the ladies, has showed me how much more time it takes me to go places and do things. I try to think about the best way to get things and make as few trips to different places as I can. I find myself thinking, do I really need to go to the bathroom yet. And I hate forgetting things upstairs when I've gotten downstairs and vice versa. Today after church, a few of us went to Five Guys for lunch. Later I visited my grandmother in the nursing home. She was only recently admitted into a nursing home after fracturing her pelvic bone from a fall. I got an opportunity there to share with some nurses why I was carrying around the ladies. One of the male nurses, Shai, was from Nigeria and knew all too well of the water situation in Africa. He gave me $2. So awesome!

An Update of the Past 5 Days

http://www.water.cc/water-crisis/

Day 1-
So I've begun my journey of walking with the jerry cans for the next 40 days. When I woke up on Thursday morning I turned to the right, and there they were, two bright yellow tanks staring right back at me saying, "Good morning!" Day 1 just happened to fall on the last day of the ministry portion of our missions trip to Ocean City, Maryland, where we preached and shared the good news of Jesus Christ on the boardwalk. Walking around the house with them was difficult, but nothing compared to walking with them for long distances on the boardwalk. Still, that's nothing compared to what so many women do everyday in providing water for their families.

Day 2-
It's time to return home after a week of stepping out in faith and relying completely on God. But before returning home, I wanted to at least touch the sand with my feet, so to the beach we went. Before heading home our team went to have some fun at the boardwalk. It's certainly a different experience walking on the boardwalk with the jerry cans. I have now named the cans Rachel and Leah, after Jacob's wives in the book of Genesis. So I will now refer to them as the "ladies" or the "girls" and I hope no one takes offense to that. I definitely think twice before I decide to walk places and think about how much additional time would be needed to make the trek.
While on the boardwalk sitting on a bench, I heard a gentle whisper saying "come, commme..." I turned around only to see the ocean. Okay, honestly, there was no voice, but I really did want to get to the ocean. So I went for it. I had my target in site and I walked about 40 steps in the sand and had to stop. After about 15 seconds, I picked up the girls and started again. This time after I had to put them down, I beach patrol police guy on a big wheel motorcycle stop me. He asked me if I had a permit. I told him I didn't and he told me I wasn't allowed on the beach. So I apologized and walked back to the boardwalk. When I finally got there he was waiting. Uh-oh, I thought. But he began to tell me where I could get a permit, so I explained to him what I was doing, why I was carrying the girls around, and what I had been doing this week on the boardwalk. He told me he misunderstood my intentions and thought I was soliciting and asking people for money. I told him I just wanted to take a picture by the ocean. He then apologized to me and offered me a ride down to the water. I thanked him and told him if I was going to get down there, I'd have to do it on my own. He suggested using the wooden catwalk to get closer because it would be easier than walking in the sand.
So was I going to try again? I thought this was a good excuse to not kill myself... but hey, how often does one get the opportunity to walk with 80 lbs. and touch the ocean. So again I went.
After many steps and many stops I made it to the ocean. When I got back home and weighed the ladies I realized, I filled them with too much water and they weighed 52 lbs. each. I have made them both go on diets, and I am happy to report that they now weigh the appropriate 40lbs. each.

First Blog Ever

Hmmmm... Since this is actually my first blog entry and I've never done anything like this or read anybody's blog, I'm not too sure how this works. So bare with me and I do this test

Sharing Water.

Did you know that 884 million people around the world lack access to clean water? Nearly 90 percent of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene. Every year, there are 4 billion cases of diarrhea as a direct result of drinking contaminated water; this results in more than 2.2 million deaths each year. These deaths can simply be prevented through sanitary water wells that would provide access to clean water for a whole community.

I am committing to carrying this Jerry cans for forty days along with others is to raise awareness about the water crisis, raise money to drill wells, and also to express the love of Jesus Christ. For He calls himself the living water.

Jesus said "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13

All proceeds will go towards Living Water International (LWI), a faith-based non-profit organization that helps communities in developing countries acquire safe drinking water in response to the global water crisis. LWI currently operates in 26 countries and the organization has drilled more than 6,500 wells that serve an estimated 9.5 million people.

You can support this cause by sponsoring one day for $40! My goal is to raise $1600 over 40 days. Every dollar counts because statistically $1 provides water for 1 person for 1 whole year.

Visit my Razoo fundraising website http://www.razoo.com/story/Greyson-s-40-Day-Water-Walk-Marathon-Walk-With-Me

Thanks,
Greyson Goon