We were welcomed by a bunch of crazy, ukulele-playing servant leaders singing "Welcome to the Global Challenge. This will be the best year that you ever experience." My excitement overcame my fear and uncertainty, and before I even knew it my parents were gone and I needed to become a part of this whole new family. Like my dad described it, he isn't losing his 2 children this year, he is receiving a whole lot more of them.
We were made a part of this community from the very beginning, going to Baviaanskloof for the first weekend and just having true fellowship with awesome people. Thereafter we were surprised by possibly one of the highlights of training: SURVIVOR. Competing for your food against other teams, building a shelter, cuddling with strangers (now family), eating food meant for 4-legged friends and having to feast on your pet chicken are just a few aspects of survivor. Through that you are challenged with giving over to God and seeing Him provide and overall realizing how small and insignificant you are and therefore seeing how much you need Him and how much you need your team
The second week consisted mostly out of sharing testimonies and learning from teachings. I would love to write down everything that I have learned up until now, but you will probably be reading for about two days if I were to do that!! But I will tell you that we learned how important stories are...so I would love to share one with you. Thursday morning after breakfast we had a teaching about how our stories ultimately form a part of a bigger story that God is busy with. We were encouraged to go out to the people of Jeffreys Bay and just listen to their stories out of love. The first thing that sprung to my mind was "I've always wanted to do hospital ministry...I want to go to a hospital!" But so we set out; Andri, Sabra and I; ready to listen to many stories and asking God to lead us to the people who so desperately want to share their stories...but we seemed lost. Even after praying we were unsure of where we should go and started towards the mall, thinking "Many people in one place is always a good place to begin". As we started walking I kept thinking about the hospital ministry, and I shared that with my team. We knew the closest hospital was in Humansdorp about 20km out, but if that is where He wants us, that is where we will go! While I am trying to figure this whole thing out I realize that I don't necessarily think we should minister to the sick, but feel called to listen to the stories of the broken people that take care of the sick and dying, in other words, the nurses. This I also shared with my team, and as we walked around a corner we saw a group of ladies wearing uniforms and waiting for a taxi. So, very awkwardly, we walked up to them and asked "Hi. Where are you ladies on your way to?" And they answered with a simple "Humansdorp"...with joy on our faces we continued "What do you do for a living?" "We are nurses. We work in an old age home caring for the people"
And so we started talking, we started encouraging and praying, and they started opening up. They shared amazing testimonies and we could pray for healing and forgiveness. The lady I talked to even admitted that their taxi was supposed to be there already, so even there God set up that meeting. And so we realized that God is a God of perfect detail, even though He doesn't always choose to share every detail. Guess it's part of the adventure. We also realized that God speaks through normal thoughts and desires. Kind of like a whisper in the wind rather than a big storm, and how we can be open to that in any situation.
The weekend after this we helped to facilitate a high school camp for Global Leadership Academy, the school that is part of the Global community. The whole school is divided into 3 teams, and the whole Hidden World team, together with two Work Your Way men, went to Oesterbay with the orange team. An awesome weekend of basically just building relationships and loving the teenagers, as well as our own teammates.
Lastly, this week we were camping in the Jeffreys Bay Caravan Park, learning how to do Kids Ministry and having to buy and prepare our own food as a team, with a tight budget in order to practice for eating on a budget overseas (and definitely getting to know our teammates better in that as well) We have learned so much more than I can possibly explain over one post...
We, as a team, will really appreciate it if you can help us pray for all the finances that still need to come in, and we trust in His provision for that.