Participant Blogs

So our time in Kenya is coming to an end. . .Maasai land was awesome. Had a great time building a bush kitchen and a shed. Spending time with the Maasai people and learning their culture - how they do church was also a highlight. Some of us had the opportunity to preach and share our testimonies. We also bonded as a team and set the cornerstone for the year to come. Afterwards we travelled to Kilifi, Mombasa to debrief our experience of Kenya. Our time at Distant Reletives eco lodge and backpackers was really edifying. Thanks to the expedition...

  Take a deep breath of Kenya, and your senses highten. The people are a integrated part of this land, constantly busy day and night. The arrival in Maasailand was truly breathtaking... In isolation we where able to appreciate the full measure of the creation. Even with the wildest expectation of what the Maasai would be like, we were still amazed. We arrived at night after induring the taxi for 160km from Narok at a village with the name of Olkoroi between the Maasai Mara and Kilimanjaro. The near death experience of getting to Maasailand was an expedition on its...

  Taking a 16 hour bus ride to Nairobi was quite an experience. Our bus driver was so confident in his driving ability that cars on the road seemed insignificant; he would proceed to gently run others off the road if they were in the way. There was no toilet on the bus and we stopped about every 5 hours, one being a break on the side of the road with no bushes… This poses as a much easier break for men than women. We arrived in style at our ministry point taking a taxi that lit up the night...

Our journey started in the airport at Johannesburg as the last of us said their final goodbyes to family and friends. The feelings racing through our hearts were of a variety—anxious for the unknown and excited for what is to come as we follow in obedience of God’s calling for our lives. Our first stop was Tanzania. Our time in Tanzania was supposed to be just a pass through, however our team felt the need to stay a night. A day of sweltering heat, broken toilets and interesting smells, we decided to do some street ministry after getting to a...

Our first ministry point in Kenya was with Joy in her 3 layer house. Almost like her impressive cakes she bakes. Usually a house has floors but this one is special. It's layered against a little hill just off Forest line road in Ngong. We were privileged to help out at Harvest School. The amount of pupils...21. This means very personal attention from staff that really love what they do. Kids in Kenya are well behaved and educated. They greet you around every corner, always smile, and even let you take the occasional nap with them while listening to a...

Our first trip as a group...destination...Dar Es Salaam. We arrived at 04:00 and opted for a snooze on the airport...which is actually a pretty cool roof with a bunch of merchants snuggled under it. We rolled out the sleeping bags and slept like babies at the back of an adventure shop thing. Our travel teams soon became pro at bargaining. So here we are in Legho Hotel in the heart of this bustling city filled with friendly people. We had supper on the roof with a panoramic view of the city. We officially are backpackers on a mission. It creates...

Smiling Swahili people everywhere, greeting us with "Jambo, kariboo sana!" (Hello, welcome here!), buzzing marketplaces, yummy chapatti and fried banana, tuk-tuk's piled with cashew nuts driving up and down dusty streets, African woman carrying bunches of bananas in big woven baskets on their heads, coconut trees, squatting toilets, mosquito net covered beds, team time at the end of the day on a roof in Dar Es Salam, and the excitement of the start of our journey as tangible as the hot, humid Tanzanian air! Everywhere we went and where we prayed with locals and answered their questions about Jesus, it...

I love Ephesians 3:17-18: "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." Being ROOTED and ESTABLISHED in love. That is so cool to think about. I spent most of my life believing I was not worth being alive. Having felt so much rejection from a mother who chose addiction over her children, a lie was planted in my core. Even after I had been placed in a loving foster family, the devil...

Good Day friends. My global challenge training is finished and went well. On Wednesday 3 teams will be flying to Dar essalam, Tanzania from where we will go our separate ways. The last couple of weeks the Global family has invited us into their community and trained us well for the nations. We have been exposed to teachers and mentors from all over the world, importing value into our lives. I've learned so much and experienced practical Christianity. If you step out in faith god will mobilise you through his Spirit. I can truly say Jesus is at the centre...

I remember the day I went to my first Leadership forum meeting.  I literally only knew one person and today, with a heart overflowing with thankfulness, I can say that strangers became family, brothers and sisters in Christ.  New things are just around the corner, but that doesn't mean forgetting.   After 7 weeks of being away from home, I got to go to church "one last time". Man, it was bittesweet.  I will forever hold every memory close to my heart.  Laughing, crying, dancing and singing.  Oase gemeente has left its mark in my life.  Jesus, Daddy, I celebrate...