Sister Parish, Inc.

Strengthening Community -- Across Borders as Brothers and Sisters

Embarking on a New Journey for Sister Parish

Dear Friends and Family,

As many of you know, I have been involved with a wonderful organization, Sister Parish, Inc. for over 10 years. Through this organization I have traveled to my own church's sister parish, Tierra Nueva Dos in Guatemala.
My experiences with Sister Parish and in Guatemala have changed my life in the most wonderful ways I can imagine. For all that I have gained from Sister Parish, I want to be able to give something back and enable others to join in the Sister Parish experience.

This August I will embark on a two week bicycle journey down the Oregon and California coast with a companion - about 475 miles from Portland, OR to Eureka, CA. I venture into another new experience as I did over 10 years ago on my first Sister Parish delegation to Guatemala. This time I will travel by bicycle and carry with me my basic necessities. I will work my body, relax my mind, join my spirit with the many people involved in Sister Parish, and raise some money (my goal is $5000). I'm donating my time and the cost of the trip. I invite you to join me by pledging monetary support (see how below) and/or through spiritual support of my journey.

I'm amazed how much planning it takes to undertake such an adventure. I've poured over stacks of library books on bicycle touring and searched for many different maps to plan our route and stopping points. Then here is the food to plan and making sure we have all the necessary equipment for camping and emergency repairs. Also there is training on the bike. I did a trial run last weekend to get an idea of what the trip will be like. I rode my bike 150 miles in three days with 40-45 pounds of gear and food strapped to my bike, camping overnight. I know from my recent experience that this August trip will not be easy, but will come with many rewards much like the experience of a Sister Parish delegation.

Now since this is a self-created fund raiser, I don't have a slick website with all my pledge information, but Sister Parish, Inc. does have a website for donations and information. I encourage you to look around the site to learn more about this fabulous organization at www.sisterparish.org. There are three ways you can donate:

1.. The simplest way is to write a check payable to Sister Parish, Inc. and mail it to me at my address below.
2.. You can go to the Sister Parish, Inc. donation page at www.sisterparish.org/donate.html and click on the Make a Donation button. Please type in "Mindy's Bike Ride" in the Item field and the amount you wish to donate in the Amount field. You will need to register with PayPal to donate this way.
3.. You can print a pledge form from http://www.sisterparish.org/pdf/SP%20-%20Pledge%20Card%20v3.pdf. Please be sure to put in honor of "Mindy's bike ride" and mail it to the address on the form or to my address below.

If you let me know you pledged that will help me to track how I do against my goal. Also, let me know if you would like updates on my fund-raising and bike trip adventure.

Biking on,

Mindy Ahler Olmstead