Participant Blogs

Upon arriving at the airport of Grand Cayman after a beautiful Caribbean flight the mood was quickly changed. The immigration officer’s eyebrows rose as he saw the empty space on our immigration form. The space for the address where we would stay in Cayman... Like many other countries on our itinerary, Grand Cayman was again another pioneering country. The immigration officers stood up and called Gerrie (our leader) into a room to question him. As he was being questioned we met a South African husband and wife who helped us to get an address of a place where we could...

"Cuba is a communist country and there is no internet". This is all we knew as we entered the first country on our list for this year. We had no contacts, accommodation or mission that we had to accomplish, except to follow the Holy Spirit. After 32 hours of travelling from South Africa we arrived at Havanna airport in Cuba at 2 AM. After spending the night on the airport we went into the city the next day to find accommodation in Havanna. After a few days of rest and prayer we felt led to go to Santiago, which was...

As light amidst the darkness we went out with our hearts excited to apply what we learned the previous 4 weeks. We all got into a bus ready for some of the most beautiful but also spiritually dark places in South Africa. Two weeks of hard labor and great ministry opportunities laid ahead of us!   Our Distant Islands team All our journey groups went to Coffee Bay and Canzibe. The first week we went to Coffee Bay where we served at a Christian primary school. The school was on the top of a hill and it overlooked the whole...

Yes you heard correctly! I am doing my second year of Global Challenge! My last journey was North Bound 2010. This year I am in the Distant Islands team. I am so grateful for my team! They are so supportive and loving. I also have a new vision this year: To impact and serve the team to the best of my ability, and to apply the lessons I've learned in my previous Global Challenge journey and through last year.

-Land of the smiles- Upon arriving in Thailand I couldn't help but notice the smiles of all the people. This is probably which makes Thailand such a great tourist destination. It is a culture that was created. I thought about how in my own life as a Christian I also need this culture that pulls people closer and makes all the problems seem smaller. Our flight arrived in Bangkok and we took an overnight bus to Phuket. In Phuket we stayed at a special needs school and also at Asia Foundation center which supports many schools and safety houses for Children. Immediately...

I read a book called The Way Of The Master that radically changed my view about the Gospel. It talked about the basic purpose of the Gospel. Some of us started to believe that the purpose of the Gospel is happiness on earth instead of righteousness with God. I realized that I also conveyed Jesus to other people as just a way to improve your life. I didn't want to offend people. I wanted to share the gospel so that there was no way that people could be offended by leaving out details. Details like that your sin makes God...

Northbound (Our team) went to China after Russia. We were on the Trans-Siberian train for 4 days and used the great opportunity to reflect on our busy time in Russia. We arrived in Beijing at the main train station and was shocked to see so many thousands of people. It was very hot and the smog (low hanging smoke) was very bad. We couldn't go out of our hostel without returning wet because of the heat. Beijing In Beijing we could get physically and spiritually ready for our time in China. We ate in restaurants all the time because it...

This a real photoblog so I am sorry for all the internet costs!  I am in China so it doesn't really cost anything. :-)Sit back, imagine and enjoy! We were in Russia (Siberia) for a bit longer than a month. Each week we were in a different city. When we first entered Russia we were shocked by how depressing and broken all the buildings and cars seemed. Buildings were without paint or painted in dull colours. Cars were falling apart and many were missing bumpers or was dirty and bumped. The roads were also falling apart and to drive faster...

We had the privilege of going to Los Angeles, California to sort out some of our visas for China and Russia. Because of our one world ticket we could also stop in Hawaii for about 4 days. Firstly LA. We had some time to experience the real American dream. We stayed in Anaheim in a nice hotel where we had dough-nuts and pastries for breakfast each morning. We also went shopping at Wall-mart an Target and it was an experience! The 1 dollar shop was also frequently visited by the Global Challengers. We saw all the big American cars and...

Hey there again! The past time in Guatemala was difficult, fun and educational. Guatemala probably made the biggest impact on me of all the countries we visited so far. I learned so much from the pastor and the church. We visited many cities but stayed in Panajaechel. This is one of those times which felt so short because there was so much going on. (A view from the city Panjaechel where we were staying) Firstly I want to tell about the revival in the team. We have been working on our unity as a team so much this year but this revival...