Participant Blogs

Thursday-morning in rainy Panajachel, a day like any other, time for work right Think again. True to the name us Global Challengers were given a challenge for the day! Having challenged a few times in our small team today things were shaken up a bit. Instead of challenging in our respective small teams, the white team had the privilege to embark on the adventure through Panajachel and its neighbouring towns.  Take a little bit of green, pink and purple and what do you get, the amazing white team! The day was filled with many different memories, taking as much as...

 “ oh, what would happen if we were beautiful” - Tim Timmons   Sunday-afternoon in Guatemala City. The morning we took part in a beautiful church service, abounding in truth and peace. Now, however, the echoes of a woman preaching and screaming at the top of her lungs rise from the hill across the busy highway. My limited Spanish can make out a few things: glory and Holy Spirit and receive, receive, receive. I'm sitting a good kilometre away but my head wants to burst at the hysteria and the screaming. And with that a sadness engulfs my heart.  ...

  Weet jy nie, weet jy nie jys 'n tempel? / Don't you know you are a temple?   The last little while I've been reminded of this children's song; being a temple and what that means. The song speaks of being a temple for the Holy Spirit. Spending some time in 1 Peter as a d-group we discussed what it means to build our "spiritual house" on the cornerstone of Christ. Not by chance I am also busy journeying through Kings, the story of the extravagant building by Solomon; a place for God to live, for His glory to...

  The adventure of getting to and away from Venezuela was fast-paced and exciting; to such an extent that after our whirlwind stop in Trinidad and Tobago we sat on the plane and thought... oh yeah, we're going to Guyana. Having a sneaky suspicion that we might end up doing a Luke 10, while flying into the airport and seeing the expanse of the jungle around it, I had visions of trying to find a man of peace in a local village with the sloths as bystanders...    At the airport the travel team was charged with the task of...

"You opened up my ribs and played your melody, when my brokenness was all I saw in front of me..."     So, I broke my arm. In Colombia. Playing soccer. Can someone say Waka Waka?   Since that first night in casualties I've been comforted by God's promise that it is part of His plan, that He wants to use my casualty for a greater Kingdom reality. Having never broken any bone in my body despite some perilous adventures and other silly games on roofs, you have to be convinced of God's hand when this happens on my journey of...

Our journey took an unexpected turn due to the civil unrest in Venezuela and we were detoured to Santa Marta. The team has had a great time just pouring out what we have received, serving with La Esparanza chuch and South American Missions.    And what an interesting time we've had! The South-Americans have quite an outward focused culture. Since that first week in Sao Paulo I've been amazed by the sense of community facilitated by living on your front porch and in the streets. As a result, outside-church seem to be the order of the day. We've had church...

Awestruck by a Holy Creator God   There has always been something about the Amazon that enthralled me. As a child I dreamed of going there but that was all it was, a very far-fetched dream... So imagine my excitement when I learned that our journey will take us right to the famous river and forest. In the airplane on the way to Manaus I was already blown away by the sheer magnitude of the river from above, just to realize that it is only an artery of the big river! To add to the excitement the plane literally landed...

I have always loved aeroplanes. I remember the first time I flew (PE - Joburg) and how my eyes were glued to the window the entire flight, just marvelling in the geography lesson below that books could not teach me. Even after flying a few times I would find my neck being kind of stiff by the time that we land because I was looking through the window the entire time. There was a time when I convinced myself that I'm studying the right course because I might end up working in an airport, and even spend my one vacation...

Global Challenge. Sharing the good news with a world in need. What a good salespitch!   Training has been amazing: learning and discovering a whole lot of things about God, dying to self, His Story, myself and my teammates. We're also busy with teachings on how to actually spread the gospel, moving from the idealistic salespitch to genuine tools and approaches.   Learning to strike up conversations with "I'm part of a search and rescue team, saving the lost" and "I'm a body-builder, building the body of Christ" to actually sharing  the story of our Saviour giving the ultimate sacrifice...