Participant Blogs

"What we do, does not define who we are. What defines us is how well we rise after falling." It has been a while since I've seen words come to life in such an inspiring way. Rwanda is a beautiful chapter in this journey. So beautiful that there aren't any words to truly express how much influence it has had in my own thoughts and especially my relationship with our beautiful Saviour. I look forward to more chapters with you in it. You have taught me so much. Not only about your people but also about myself. I loved spending...

I have learnt a lt this year. I learned that things don't always turn out the way you planned, or the way you think it should. And I've learned that there are things that go wrong that don't always get fixed or get put back together the way they were before. I've learned that you can get through bad times and keep looking for better ones. This year wasn't always pretty. It wasn't always comfortable. Some things and situations even break your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you - it should change you. It leaves marks on your...

Turning water into wine. Telling fishermen to be his followers. Followed around by spiritually-hungry people, searching for truth. Feeding five thousand people with a little boy's lunch. Setting people free from law and leading them into grace. Yes, that's my Jesus. This same Jesus allowed Distant Worlds to get a taste of what that felt like during our week in the Andes mountains.

It was a dream come true. Rattling, shaking and bumping up zigzag mountain passes to the village of Incahuasi. This was where we would sleep for five nights. We drove for four hours on 100km on a single-lane, dusty, serpentine path. In the Andes Mountains. I almost couldn't believe it.

The mountains were colossal, stretching 3130m into the heavens. My eyes were as wide as saucers as we drove past mountain villages, with hand-sown rice fields and horse-drawn carts. The women wore the most beautiful, colourful, handmade clothes. Not much has changed in these villages from 100 years ago.

We shared bibles with many far-away schools in isolated towns. The average amount of students were 40 in the whole school. It was interesting to note that most of these people had never even left their mountain town. They didn't know about things such as beaches, skyscrapers of drive-thru McDonalds. They knew more about mountain trails than LonelyPlanet and their diet consisted of things they had planted and cultivated themselves. A whole new world. "Lord, what do I say to these children? We come from two different worlds. We don't even speak the same language - they speak Quechua and I only speak primitive Spanish. Holy Spirit, speak through me please..."

Anyone that knows me will know that I absolutely love being outside and that being in or around mountains is without a doubt where I am in my happy place. So imagine my excitement and anticipation for our visit to the small town of Incahuasi high in the Andes mountains of Peru with Oom Hendrik. This stop on the journey was one of the main reasons why I decided to do my particular journey to South America in the first place and my expectation was well-met - the first day I wanted to jump out of my skin with excitement....

Today we visited a remote village in the middle of the Andes mountains - people who never have or very seldom see any other people than those in their village and has never heard the gospel. What a privilege. We saw how 7-year-olds walk hours of VERY steep mountains, up and down, in the rain and in the cold just to go to school, alone. Wow. We had the awesome opportunity to give them the living word of God!!! We felt God lead us to do a drama about how we so easily make recipes of "How to pray..." Of...

  Im busy reading this book on vulnerability and shame. Apparently shame does not like it when we talk about it and this is where vulnerability comes in. Its to open up a part of yourself that may be assaulted or hurt by others. So its about the courage to open up. To step into the arena and fight the fight with others who are courages enough. And people who are not in the arena don't have a say or should not influence the way you think about yourself. Your worthiness is in your courage to step out in faith...

  For 12 days we stayed in a church in Gamboa, across the panama canal. One of our verses for the year is Isaiah 55:5 'Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you.' Everyday, huge ships travel through the Panama canal from the other side of the world and we got to watch them sail past. They didn't exactly come running but instead these nations came slowly sailing past us. It was Gods word spoken in the beginning and we got to see it being fulfilled and that's exactly...

Davis, aka The Ambassador greeted us with his white smile and a dashing white suit on Sunday morning. He was ready for church. Marié and I ran some last errands, I all the while thinking how the heck is this guy going to keep his white suite white. Why would he even bother with one? It won't stay white, I could guarantee him that. Everything is dusty in Busia, Uganda. Even the tar road has a thick layer of dust making it unrecognizable – and we were far away from the tar road anyway. We were to go on The...

A beginning and an end. The obvious is that this was our first country and that this was the beginning of our journey. From the onset of our journey God has come and shown me the joy in serving other's, specifically those that serve Him where others dare not stay. The end is less obvious and, more... An end to self deception, an end to self pity and most importantly an end to past fixation. I  had been clutching like a corner stone. Wearing a grudge like a crown, unable to forgive. But not anymore! I can gladly say that...