Participant Blogs

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Dear family, friends and all interested! I safely arrived in Jeffrey's Bay on 12 January 2010! I am in the northbound team and I'm very happy to say that I have an awesome team and wonderful team leaders. I can now also say that they are definitely almost even closer than family at the moment (more about that later…). All the Global Challenge leadership are amazing people and I am wonderfully surprised by their friendliness, helpfulness, how they make us feel so welcome and how pleasant and caring they are. We are receiving training...

Northbound with Bronwyn and Clara excited to have a feast of Doner Kebaps in Adana . Dear Friends and Family! I apologize for the extended silence on my behalf, as well as not being able to finish the blog yesterday. Adana was an extremely blessed time for Northbound! We enjoyed the time spent in serving and having fellowship with the church members tremendously! All glory and honour to God for providing the funding and means for us to visit Adana. Even having grace with the 15kg per bag weight limit for our flight, what a miracle seeing that we were almost 20kg overweight...

Northbound arrived safely in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday. We were blessed by the presence of Bronwyn and Clara, who have taken up a position of leadership while David and Dunette are absent. We had no definite plans set out for our time in Turkey, but hoped to be invited to go to one of our brothers in Christ’s home church in Adana or go to Kusadasi. Previous GCX teams have served and visited Kusadasi before and the ruins of Ephesus and the early church is also within the city. Just before Clara and Bronwyn left South Africa we received an...

What an amazing experience! I have to confess that my day started out on a really low note, definitely a bass 2 ;)   However, as soon as we entered the garden tomb it was as if I did not have a choice but to bubble and burst with jubilation. It’s as if one’s spirit and soul just automatically want to bounce around (much, much more than the energizer bunny!) and almost can’t be contained. Even thinking about it now lifts my spirit with joy!   Golgotha Jesus’ Tomb - He is not here, for He has risen. We were...

  In the early hours of the morning, 18 June, we arrived in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Unfortunately Michelle and Shanine stayed behind in China, because of difficulty with application for a Russian visa. Please pray with us for this matter. We were welcomed very warmly by our hosts at the airport and taken to our separate host families. Finally by around 4 am we had the wonderful opportunity to lay our heads down and catch some sleep. Our hosts are very friendly, kind and helpful. They were even so kind as to bless us with eggs, sausages, bread and banana’s to have...

Northbound book of records found the smallest and biggest apple of all time at the local Greek market in Athens. The market was such an invigorating experience with all the beautiful colors and fresh produce available. It was tantalizing just to look at. There were more than 9 different kinds of olives on display and we could also taste some of them. The colors of all the fresh fruit and vegetables painted the most beautiful picture. The Greek people are also very friendly! We were able to taste some of the different kinds of meat and sausage available. I was blessed by a free banana, which...

Only by a mere few seconds were the silver team able to be the first to complete the challenge in Oaxaca. At the scorching temperatures of midday in Mexico the silver team ran at least 7-8 blocks to get to the local market. We had the lovely opportunity to taste 3 different kinds of delicious Mexican chocolate as well as having to buy a very interesting local delicacy which was to be eaten at the Passeo Juarez El Llano whilst making a video recording. It was a very close call as both teams were huffing and puffing on each others...

Mount of Olives in Jerusalem What an amazing, joyous and blessed day! We attended the Baptist church service in Jerusalem and delighted the congregation by joyfully singing Jabulani. After the song the church had an influx of an American tourist group and we sang once more! The church was so full that some of us even had to sit on the floor. The sermon really spoke to our hearts and set such a wonderful tone for the events to follow. Procession with Palm branches down Mount of Olives Marching band to bring Glory to God As we watched the masses streaming down from...

    We are extremely happy to report that Northbound have arrived safely in Athens city and will be sleeping at Zeus Hostel on perfectly white and fluffy beds! We have definitely been upgraded from trying our utter most best to catch a few winks whilst shivering on the cold airport floor or  huddling and scrunching on an airport bench. Dinner at the airport last night:  Cara was an absolute miracle to our team as she wonderfully presented our cuisine dish for the evening. We would purchase cups of hot water from a coffee shop and then meticulously concoct some Maggi 2 Minute Noodles which we...

The Three Musketeers: Pieter, Shanine & Estelle embarked on our first challenge at 5am this morning. We had to dig for a liter of cola in the sand on the beach and down it as quickly as possible, after which some of us did not feel too well... ;) We packed our luggage tried to strategise about our tasks for the challenge and had a lovely breakfast. We received money to aid us in our challenge, but we also have to raise R100 each. We ventured into the location on a search for our beloved road buddy, but was unable...