To everyone who doesn't know what Southbound has been upto...

So we've been away from South-Africa for about 5 and a half months now! Here's some news on what we've been upto as a team as just some personal growth and all kinds of things. Basically a brief overview this rollercoaster year so far...

Okay in the beginning of March we started off in Brazil. There our main ministry was strengthening the ties between Global Challenge and the Agape church. We were commissioned to disciple 5 people from the church and meet and pray with them regularly. We also went to the tribes in the forest with Agape where they shared the gospel with children who had never heard it before, did some ministry at high schools. I got to share my testimony at one of the schools! So that was a first for me (now I've done this a couple of times as the year went on!) Up to now Brazil is probably still one of my favourite countries we've been to, because I really loved all the friends we made, the culture (they like to laugh - all the time and they almost never sleep!) and the little surf town that we stayed in.

Next stop was Colombia. I don't know if you know about the situation with the Gorillas, but a lot of missionaries have been kidnapped in the past and crime is quite hardcore. At the mission station in Fusagasuga (just 40minutes outside of the capital city) where we stayed, we did some hectic digging! It rained most of the time so it was pretty muddy, but nonetheless, we redirected sewerage lines and also put new pipelines in. I learnt so much from Jaun and Stella, our Columbian missionaries who took us under their wings. They showed us what a God-seeking lifestyle is!

Peru!!! Wow! After a crazy week of handing out Gideon Bibles at schools, doing dramas and visiting churches, we headed into the Andes! Wow, God is amazing. It was so so beautiful. Hardwork though... we hiked between 6 and 8 hours a day (2000m above sea level) to get to small schools in the mountains to give them Bibles and share the gospel. And then we moved from our homie mountain hut and hiked further in so we can get to unreached schools and communities, this is where it got really exciting because we stayed with the locals in their mud huts and ate mielies, goats chease, potatoes, roots and kamsha (inside out pop-corn) for about a week straight. ;-) I also got to preach for the first time - it was to children, but still a bit nerve wrecking. When we got to one of the schools Partor George looked at me (with no warning in advance) and said "okay, you're preaching the gospel" so I asked God for a word and he was faithful in coming through.

Okay then we went to Guatemala! By this point the honeymoon phase was over and it started getting quite tough being away from home. But God came and re-energized me and gave me a new hope again! We got introduced to Pastor Ben and Lilly. Now Ben is an ex-tattoo-artist/witch/drug-addict but now him and his wife are probably some of the most on-fire for God people I've ever met! (Ag just writing about them makes me miss them). We did physical labour during the day (which includes digging a well and planting peach trees) and had teachings at night. We often sat till 2am, but loved it! We learnt about fire baptism, casting out demons etc. We also learnt new dramas from the Mi-Reto church and came along side them with some youth events. And 7 of us got baptised (me included!) So God brought even more freedom in my life! Now I have a new revelation on what it means to walk in the Spirit.

Good Bye South America :-(. Hello Asia :-).

Our introduction to Asia was the Philippines. The people are ridiculously friendly. "Evangelistic campaigns" was our main thing here. Every day we would go into a different area and hand out flyers to our Jesus-movie night. So then at night we had an outdoor meeting where we did some praise and worship, preached the gospel and showed the film and then pray for people afterwards. And then after a week of doing this in Lapu Lapu City we moved to Olango Island and continued "campaigning". We planted a fence in coral rock, which means we had to literally chisel through the rock to in order to "dig" holes for the poles. So my days started at 3.30am so I can have quiet time before we start work at 5am (we had to start early because it was way too hot to work late afternoons) and after work we went out handing out flyers again for the campaigns. I have so many shell necklaces now, because the local ladies went all-out in blessing us.

After the Philippines we ventured off to Thailand. Here I was so fortunate to have my sister come visit and be a Global Challenger with me for a week! We stayed with Pastor Wasan, where we painted his house and did gardening. We also got involved at his church and heard the stories of tsunami survivors! We were so blessed by the pastor, he took us on a boat ride to see James Bond Island (apparently some scene from a James Bond movie was shot there) and went out of his way to let us try all his favourite Thai food.

So after being spoiled a bit came our Luke10 journey. Luke 10 says: 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 "When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.' 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
So we set out for 9days in teams of 4 with nothing - no food and no money, praying God to give us words and show us where to go. 5 days later, after traveling for 60hours in 5days (this includes hitch-hiking and getting free bus and train rides) we met Van and Alisa on a bus and they invited us to come stay at there house in Phnom Penh for a couple of days. So the family welcomed us like we were one of them. After having mostly bread and water for 5 days this was quite a treat! (one of our meals also included whole swallows - you eat everything except the beak and feet - and also crickets!) We could testify to them of God's goodness in our lives and we're still praying for them and trusting for the harvest!

So the whole team is together again. We're still in Pnom Penh, Cambodia. For the last 2 weeks we've been doing Veritas Bible studies and playing with kids at orphanages. I also preached at a church for the first time!




There's about 2 and a half months left of our journey. Our next country is China, so that will be hectic and then orphanages in India! Stoked! Shoh, so God has been taking us on an epic journey and teaching us to trust him more. I've just been so wowed at how amazing God actually is and the fact that there is no greater thing to strive for in life than to grow closer to him.

 Bless you all. Lots of Love!