On Tuesday 24 August, Dave, Carnsey, and Sav left Cairns after a send-off by students at Freshwater Christian College. Hundreds of students walked the first kilometre, carrying helium balloons which they released when they farewelled the trio.
23 year old Dave (David Carnell), 30 year old Carnsey (Andrew Carnell), and 48 year old Sav (Andrew Sav) have hit a stride and are well on their way to meeting their goal of arriving in Stanthorpe on 11 November. They're walking on average more than 30km each day, often starting before dawn in order to finish before the hottest part of the day. When walking in the dark, they wear reflective vests and blinking lights to help keep visible to drivers.
'The hardest part so far has been walking on the highway,' says Sav. 'The noise and danger of passing vehicles takes away a lot of the pleasure of walking. Sometimes we are less than a metre from passing trucks. When we left Babinda, we chose to walk a quiet back road, even though we knew it would add an extra four kilometres. It was worth it to have a more relaxed walk.'
Each kilometre of the 2000km distance represents a unique language that doesn't yet have the Word of God – not even a single verse. In addition to walking, Dave, Carnsey, and Sav also hold evening meetings at local churches and town halls en route. They show a short video and share about the 350 million people who don't yet have access to the Bible in their own language. Dave, Carnsey, and Sav encourage people who are interested in getting involved to contact the mission organisations Operation Mobilisation – for which Carnsey is Queensland's State Director – and Wycliffe Bible Translators.
'One of the greatest encouragements and joy has been the support of the local Christians in each town,' says Carnsey. 'Not only in their support of us, but in their response to the need of these 2000 Bible-less languages. It's been interesting to hear their comments after we tell them the statistics. They range from, "It's hopeless" to "It's not impossible." But generally, people say, "I never knew."
While many kilometres still stretch ahead of Dave, Carnsey, and Sav, they've already had plenty of adventures. After walking 27km on the first day, Carnsey suffered heatstroke. But after drinking plenty of water and getting a good night's sleep, he was back on the road the next day, a little wiser and better prepared. On another occasion in Tropical Queensland, the trio stopped to cool their feet in a creek. They were horrified when locals later told them never to go near any of the creeks because of crocodiles.
Follow the progress of Dave, Carnsey, and Sav during The 2000 Walk, by visiting www.the2000walk.com and subscribing to their daily blogs.
Also at the website, you can get involved by prayerfully 'adopting' one of the 2000 Bible-less language groups, or making a donation. You can also follow The 2000 Walk live on Facebook and Twitter.