Participant Blogs

  It is our first morning in Yogyakarta in Indonesia. I wake up at around 4:30am to the now forgotten but still familiar sound of the call to prayer being boomed into the neighbourhood from the rooftop of ten plus mosques. Not long after as the dawn starts breaking another strange sound claws its way through my sub-conscience. It's a clanging empty noise accompanied by the shouts of a man...    Later the day I see that the centre where we are staying at is surrounded by rice paddies. And it is a ritual for the workers that sleep around the...

  Weet jy nie, weet jy nie jys 'n tempel? / Don't you know you are a temple?   The last little while I've been reminded of this children's song; being a temple and what that means. The song speaks of being a temple for the Holy Spirit. Spending some time in 1 Peter as a d-group we discussed what it means to build our "spiritual house" on the cornerstone of Christ. Not by chance I am also busy journeying through Kings, the story of the extravagant building by Solomon; a place for God to live, for His glory to...

Thursday-morning in rainy Panajachel, a day like any other, time for work right Think again. True to the name us Global Challengers were given a challenge for the day! Having challenged a few times in our small team today things were shaken up a bit. Instead of challenging in our respective small teams, the white team had the privilege to embark on the adventure through Panajachel and its neighbouring towns.  Take a little bit of green, pink and purple and what do you get, the amazing white team! The day was filled with many different memories, taking as much as...

From the north to the south, the beaches of the Galilee to the stone-cobbled streets in Jerusalem, the country shouts the name of our Emmanuel - God with us. But the echoes in the religion and the hate and the noisy youth murmur the depravity of our human souls. This is my second time in Jerusalem, and again the wailing wall is exactly that, a cause for despair. Against the wall an old woman is rocking back and forth.  Pilgrims come from afar to leave their prayers rolled up in wads of prayer, stuck in between two rocks. On the...

Grace. It's a beautiful thing. The one word that we have really journeyed on this year. And every day I continue to learn more and more. And of course our Luke 10 journey was no different. Grace. The only reason why the God of the universe in His all-knowingness would choose to speak to us, in our brokenness, in our selfishness, in our little faith. The only reason why the God who is able to do all things chooses 4 South Africans to go to a small town in the Andes mountains of Ecuador. Grace. The reason why I am...

Our journey took an unexpected turn due to the civil unrest in Venezuela and we were detoured to Santa Marta. The team has had a great time just pouring out what we have received, serving with La Esparanza chuch and South American Missions.    And what an interesting time we've had! The South-Americans have quite an outward focused culture. Since that first week in Sao Paulo I've been amazed by the sense of community facilitated by living on your front porch and in the streets. As a result, outside-church seem to be the order of the day. We've had church...

Global Challenge. Sharing the good news with a world in need. What a good salespitch!   Training has been amazing: learning and discovering a whole lot of things about God, dying to self, His Story, myself and my teammates. We're also busy with teachings on how to actually spread the gospel, moving from the idealistic salespitch to genuine tools and approaches.   Learning to strike up conversations with "I'm part of a search and rescue team, saving the lost" and "I'm a body-builder, building the body of Christ" to actually sharing  the story of our Saviour giving the ultimate sacrifice...

Not from here   The Northbound journey is purposefully set up in a way to expose us to so many different aspects of the world. In the past 8 months we have visted nations with dominant religions of Islam, Hinduism, Bhuddism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christians and even atheism. We saw the effect of human governments on nations through failed capitalism and communism. We were confronted by the brutal effects of war, both current and historic. The Syrian refugee crisis followed us from Jordan through Turkey and into Europe. A historic natural disaster was fresh on the face of the nation of...

Oh Zanzibar You greet me with a white-toothed smile A glimpse of breakthrough behind veiled face Poa you shout from your squeaky bicycle Skipping through the streets in your fancy dress You laugh at my attempt to speak with you. Always room for one more in your dala dala Your karibu the sound of a warm openness Explaining your history of nations walking through your cobblestoned door. Your search for knowledge keeps you young Asking and seeking, eager to learn. Behind the salaam in your mouth A question in your eyes meets mine Revealing a deeper ancient quest for Peace....

This being my second year on global challenge hitchhiking has become one of those skills that I might consider putting on a CV, I've been working in the hours and can honestly say that I love the adventure of putting out my thumb and expectantly waiting to see who will pick us up. My heart is filled with fond memories as I think back to drinking late afternoon coffee on a smallholding close to the border of Costa Rica - Panama, and then being stranded in nomansland on the same border a few hours later. Going at hair-raising speeds down...