Participant Blogs

The island of Java for long periods of time enchanted the minds of those in search for the largest commodity of earlier ages...spices.  Later on they came here for the good quality tobacco and world renowned coffee.  These days, People come here for spiritual enlightenment.  It's true...Indonesia has become the new India!  Distant islands came here for one reason... to reach the lost and to encourage our fellow family members in Christ!  Our journey brought us to the city of Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta is not a name that will sound familiar to a lot of South Africans and most of our team members have never even heard of it.  Well, Yogyakarta (Yogya for short) is the third largest city on the island of Java in Indonesia and is the powerhouse of Javanese and Indonesian heritage, art and culture.  And, as it goes this year, we ended up there by the divine guidance of the Lord...

Since I joined Global Challenge in 2010, I always hear about these couple of places that ex-Global Challengers always speak about, those places that have been visited by many of our teams over the years.  You hear stories of God’s provision, challenges, teams sleeping on the streets, people turning their lives around etc.  Hong Kong is one of those places.  Though, what separates Hong Kong from places like India or Guatemala, is that there isn’t an established ministry point that all teams visit. There isn’t a foundation in place for teams to build upon.  Instead, teams tend to do their own thing each year. 

Since the birth of the vision of Distant Islands, I knew that Hong Kong is one of the places we have to visit, even though it doesn’t sound that “distant” to most and even though it’s only partially island...

The desire was stirred in my heart for our team to go and establish something that will last longer than the week that we’re in Hong Kong. My dream is to see a foundation being laid in Hong Kong so that future teams can go and build upon it and so that we can one day hear of all the fruit that’s being reaped over there.

Albie’s uncle and aunt have been residing in Hong Kong for the past 9 years after his uncle accepted a job as a pilot for Cathay Pacific.  They offered to host us for the week we were going to spend there, and luckily for us they live on an island called Lantau.  This came as an answer to a lot of prayer for accommodation to suit our budget.  The hospitality we experienced from Wim and Juanita, their kids and even Stella, the lady that works for them in the house, just blew my mind!  Never did we think on a Global journey we’ll be having rusks, boerewors, koeksisters, biltong and all sorts of other little huge blessings! Furthermore, we had the opportunity of spending real quality fellowship time with each of them and really got absorbed into their world.

In the area of ministry we reached a couple of dead-ends which raised a couple of questions within myself, especially after I felt so certain about coming to Hong Kong.  In the end we found an open door at 2 very well established ministries with a lot of international acclaim. They invited us to become a part of what they’re doing in Hong Kong and most importantly, what God is doing there.  It turns out that in the future our teams might have the opportunity to get involved in outreaches to muslim minority groups, prostitutes, drug-addicts and the poor and destitute living in the city.  What an awesome provision from God!!  Our prayer is that these contacts will be fruitful and that our involvement in their ministry will bear much fruit in the future.

After Hong Kong, all I can tell you is that we serve a Living God.  We serve a God that longs for fellowship with us.  We serve a forgiving but just God.  Jesus is Lord, and that’s all I know and that’s all there is to it...

Jamaica is one of those countries like Switzerland or Morocco or the Maldives, meaning that if you ask people if they would like to go there, 90% of the replies will probably be a firm “yes”.   I wonder why that is, though.  Is it because of the publicity the country received through mediums like Bob Marley or the Cool Runnings movie?  The fact of the matter is that Jamaica is not what most people would expect.  It is probably one of the countries that resemble Africa the most outside of the African continent.  Which did make it all the...

As it goes with all pioneering journeys...we travel without a plan and purely by Faith.  A lot of people don’t really grasp how this works or why anyone would want to do something like that.  They also don’t really understand why we would go to a country or place without any pre-arranged accommodation etc.  Boy, did the authorities in the Cayman Islands NOT understand this concept!!  And thus began our adventure on the island of Grand Cayman...

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As many of you might already know, the Distant Islands team is on the pioneering journey of a lifetime.  This year we get the chance to explore the island nations of the world as well as countries we have never been to.  We started with Jesus as our tour guide and the Holy Spirit as our navigator, and the first country we were led to...CUBA!!

Some crazy things happen in Burkina Faso!!   Niger and The URN Project were definitely highlights of the year.   Beautiful Ghana...  

Fulani town of Tanout in Niger If we were all created out of mere dust and sand, the Sahara must be the palet in God's creative hand. Having tea with Saharawi people in the Western Sahara (Dakhla, Morocco)   Celebrating Magdel's birthday in the desert! "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants."(Isaiah 44:3) The Southern borders of the Sahara in Niger "He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs."(Psalm 107:35)...

The Bible speaks of provision and God the provider numerous times. Surely many of us, as Christians, has experienced God's amazing provision at some point in our lives in the same way it is written in the scriptures. This is true also for the URN project, which raised more than R60 000 in less than three weeks to feed the needy and the hungry masses of Niger.   Not only has God blessed this project in miraculous ways with finances, open doors and heaps of favour, but He is using this project as a means to reach more and more...

Dakhla in Western Sahara was our first stop in Morocco.  Western Sahara is fighting for it's independence from Morocco who occupied it in the 1970's.  In Dakhla there are only 2 followers of Christ that we know of...   Communion in Dakhla   Entrance to the Kasbah in the Medina of Marrakech.   Man in Marrakech...   Explore Africa 2010 in front of the Royal Palace in Fes   The beauty of the Medina in Fes People of Fes   We visited the tanneries in Fes where they dye all the leather   Fes is probably the most beautiful city...