Participant Blogs

Leadership gets defined when you are thrown into the back of an airplane wondering if all the team members are on board. Or when, a supposedly agreed upon, 5 minute per person shower, turns into a self proclaimed 10 minute spa treatment with 6 other people waiting for their turn with a "what are you going to do about this" expressions on their faces. Or even that moment when someone tries to convince the guys that lentils have the same amount of protein as a steak. And all this before breakfast. Our team is neatly divided into 5 smaller teams....

I'm being reinvented. Trying new things. Beliefs are broken. New ones are being formed. It's not an easy process. The values Jesus taught are treasures. They bring life. They bring meaning to a world in need. They make our world a better place. The values will change humanity and the way we are living. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Love your neighbor. Take care of the widows. Honor your parents. Don't kill someone. Don't take stuff that don't belong to you. Treat others the way you want to be treated. And then in the end...do this all out of...

We departed from Turkey almost two months ago already, but it was such an overwhelming experience to be a pilgrim in the country where a big part of the new testament plays off that I struggled to put it into words. Here is my attempt at celebrating the highlights! We arrived in Istanbul, a cosmopolitan city located halfway in Asia and halfway in Europe with a strong Middle Eastern influence. The streets smell of incense and turkish delight and various kinds of fruit teas can be found in every sidewalk cafe and street market. Here I found that Psalm 16:5...

Our time in Panama was split in two - the first few days in Gamboa, a beautiful, tranquil cul de sac little town on the Panama Canal with pastor Bill and the last few days in buzzing Panama City on the 15th floor of a hotel with the vibrant YWAM students. Gamboa is situated in a lush green jungle, where sloths hang in trees and howler monkeys cry out loud from deep within the jungle. Here we had the great opportunity to do prison ministry and pray over a notorious political figure who was charged to life sentence in jail...

A year ago I made a definite decision about 2015. It's a year later and we are debriefing the past 24 weeks of the journey. I am not sure who I am quoting now, but this is truly a life like no other. And this is what I mean by that:   We have lived in dodgy hotels with almost no facilities and grand hotels with warm showers and coffee machines. We have lived in musquito nests and random islands. We have slept in airports and busstations. We have travelled with ALL kinds of buses and taxis (including a truck...

Well its been quite some time since i wrote, but only because it is so difficult to put my experience into words.. Over the past 5 months we have been traveling in brazil, guyana, suriname, jamaica, cuba, panama and now colombia. It has been an incredible journey so far with many, many, many challenges. God has really gotten to the bottom of our hearts challenging our way of thinking, of doing, how we make our decisions and coming to that place where you have nothing else to depend on than Him( which is the most scariest area i have journeyed...

Good day, friends and family from a cold land down under.   The last 7 weeks, Work Your Way 2015 spent working on sheep farms doing lamb marking. Global Challenge expeditions has been working with Noble Management Australia for the last 5 years. Each year, the Work Your Way group spent about 2 months with the Willersdorf family.  This year, we lived with them for about 6 weeks, travelling around New South Wales and Victoria.         Working with the Willersdorfs was a great experience.  They are dedicated in what they do, working sheep with a lot of...

Wide open spaces, a strange, familiar landscape, country music playing " loud-az"  in their "utes" (utility vehicle). Strange accents with words that take a while to get up to tabs on. When someone would ask or tell you something enough times, you stop asking, "what" and just say, "yeap".    This island of a continent is Australia and is largly underestimated! It is our saving grace for the year as we would need to work with sheep on farms to pay the for the rest of the year's travels.    On our arrival in Sydney we where organized a place...

Australia what a Country.   I can understand why so many of South Africans would consider it a home.   But, more than that we have met the culture of farmers and life stock managers. A family of 11 siblings 8 are still staying with their mother. This is where I have learned more of what selfless living really is, always looking out for others. In this home we started every day with the Psalms and discussion of GOD'S love, grace and power. And even more than that, this family lived it out, the word of GOD. I could not...

The world turned upside, not because it changed, because JESUS changed me. Scriptures, prophecies, dreams, direct words from God, these were all part of God's plan to set my soul on fire and make me burn with hunger for more of Him. Thank You Jesus, for none of this was my own doing, but by Your grace alone.  The result of God's plan:  Face down I laid.  Dumbstruck,  flabbergasted and paralysed. Praising God. Silently crying out in desperation. For what God reveled to me, changed my life. For the first time I saw. Before I only heard and knew of...