Editor, Gazette-Journal:

As many of you know, I am a kindergarten teacher at Lee-Jackson and a leader of many mission trips and projects. I have traveled on mission trips every year since 2011 and have involved a number of children on missions locally and within the U.S. After two former students shared with me a dream of going to Japan, also a dream on my bucket list, I now find myself planning to take a group of students (ages 14-19) to Japan in June 2020! I will be taking the five students and two other adults with a group called EF Tours, the world’s leading international education organization. My first trip abroad was with my world geography teacher and EF Tours to Italy and Greece in 2002. There my love of travel began and, since then, I have traveled the world extensively—Japan will be my 20th country.

This is a very costly trip for the kids, but we are determined! We have rolled out many fundraising efforts over the past few months, which have been a great succes...