Participant Blogs

To say that I am an animal lover is a mild understatement. My team knows that if I'm lagging behind its generally because I've found something fluffy to pet along the way. Now there's this one pup here in Mcleod Gunj, that I labeled 'trouble maker' from the start. I could've named him scar face from all the stories I'm sure he'd love to tell. I chose Bono instead. He has a constant expression of concern on his face, doesn't smile much and loves to growl at the rest of the pack. But for some reason, Bono and I clicked...

You know the song, "break my heart for what breaks yours"? There are times when I regret singing it, because God wants us to know His heart, and He will definitely fulfill this request. And that's exactly what He did over this time in Africa. When this happens, you have two decisions. You could feel guilty for everything you have and make it about you. Or, you take the opportunity to learn God's heart in this situation and step up to make a difference. Even if it's in one person's life. You get to love this person with a God...

After a year and a half of preparation and excitement overload, the journey has begun! My heart had been stirring for missions and when Global Challenges was mentioned in conversation, this overwhelming peace flowed over me and a resounding, "Yes! This is what I've been searching for!" echoed within.  One of the highlights of training so far has been the revelation of how I see God. The team was listening to some worship and a line of the song mentioned something about seeing Him. Now, I am a very visual person and an animal lover so bear with me here....

So what was the challenge? Travelling across 2000km in 5 days with no travel money. 2500km, 28 lifts and 1 train later we made it! 😬 In our prayers before our journey, the three of us had a theme of the ocean, horizon, sun on our faces and wind in our hair. I believed that God wanted us to purely enjoy the road trip that he was taking us on. Just take in all of His glorious creation and acknowledge His presence along side us. We met wonderful and generous humans, we laughed, we sang, and no, we didn't cry!...

Hallelujah! A 5 day lay over in India! Perfect for a little break, a lot of sleep and of course, exploring. So what's our budget? R1500 for 9 people. Not each. All together, inclusive of food, accommodation and travel. No sweat. Actually, a lot of sweat, this is India, the heat and humidity is next level!  Off we go, out the airport, 20kg on our backs, 5kgs on our fronts, ready to walk a short 2.5km to our hostel in the blistering heat. As we turn a corner, a taxi offers us a ride and calls his mate to assist....

It's so easy to go to bed when you do it every night.  It's so easy to relax on a couch when it awaits you in your living room.  It's so easy to wash your hands when there is a basin readily available.  It's so easy to pour yourself something nice when it's cooling off in the fridge. It's so easy to take a hot shower and get into fresh clothes when you have a cupboard full of options.  It's so easy to snack when you're not even hungry if there are goodies in the pantry. It's so easy to live...

Two team mates and I were heading back to our camp site at the Sea of Galilee. We weren't sure of the bus number we should take so we asked around but no one spoke English. A bus came by and we showed the driver the ticket of where we had come from. He told us a number in the 300's and the name of the stop. Feeling confident with this info, we sat waiting, chatting a bit, and investigating the number on each bus that headed toward us. Each number that stopped, was a single digit. This doesn't seem...