Wow! How do you even start to put the past two weeks in to words? Trainig started off with a bang! Well, no guns were included, but after a lot of heart warming stories from the Global community, and visiting all the awesome schools, we had our first challege!! From catching a chicken (we named her Sally, and no, she cannot dance), to surfing and eventually hiking down to a farm where we spent the next 4 days doing "Survivor Global". With nothing but he clothes on our backs and few "luxury items", we were bushing it out,we...
Participant Blogs
Global Challenge Missions Blog Archive: These are real blogs, from real people, bringing real change...
"We must be known for hope for the day we live in, as the purposes of God are always great. He will do everything needed, according to His promises for His victorious bride." - Bill Johnson If God doesn’t build the house, the builders only build shacks. If God doesn’t guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know He enjoys giving rest to those He loves? (Psalm 127:1-2 MSG) It takes wisdom to build a house,...
We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place. We stay there even though we go away, and there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there. Kenya is such a place. It is truly like Narnia. There is something beautiful about Kenya that is thousands of years old. Too old to be truly captured by poems and songs. Loved by everyone, loved so very deeply. Kenya is everything real in a world of make believe. But even though I left some part of me behind, I also found...
When I first laid my eyes on you and the rolling hills you sat upon. I thought what amazing luck I have that God had created such beautiful things and gave me the eyes to see them. I am forever changed by your existence. You are a place filled with so many stories and I feel so privileged to share some of these stories with you. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again....
Please spare me a brief moment to just testify how faithful and powerful our Provider is. Global Challenge has been a dream of mine since I've first heard about it in 2008. I was just fascinated by the idea of visiting a dozen or so countries, seeing new places, experiencing foreign cultures and making memories that would last a life time. Due to the incredible amount of money needed to go and the fact that I already took a gap-year after school, it only stayed a dream. Thinking back now, it was truly God's plan because I wasn't nearly ready...
In all honesty, I have grown accustomed to thinking of God as some spiritual being way up in the atmosphere, looking down at us humans with disappointment. With Veritas Training this week, that mindset has shifted. The first time God spoke to Man was in Genesis 1:28 - "Be blessed". A two-worded statement that sums up the Lord's heart for His people. After the fall of Man, God did not first reprimand them for their sin. His first words were "Where are you?" It is as if He was asking their permission to approach them , testing to see...
Hello everyone!! So this is officially the first blog post of the year- hopefully the first of many!! So I will be writing a little unconventionally- I feel like there is a lot of explaining going on about what we have been doing for the last 3 weeks. I don't really feel like explaining today, so instead I will give a few word description of what we did and and how I felt about it or what I learned. I hope you enjoy! Training started January 9th: After 2 days of traveling, I am...
Names are not always what they seem. For most of us it means identity and belonging. The identity that names give speak of description, which in most cases leave the negativity of prejudice and pride behind and also often leads us to form a stereotype. During my stay in Macedonia I was introduced with the thought that people and places are more than just a name. Macedonia for instance, may be known for it's rich history and important people, but for me Macedonia is like a good find in an antique store...timeless and...
Last week we had our small groups in Global Leadership Academy, like we had every Tuesday and Thursday the last month or so...but this was no ordinary Tuesday... The six girls in my group and I chatted about the Holy Spirit and about how there’s so much more available than what we are usually satisfied with...that if letting Jesus into your life, just to get to heaven, is like receiving a book, then being led by His Spirit is like opening that book just to find there’s a receipt for a brand-new Ferrari in it!!! I shared that only when...
New year...new beginnings Second last week of training and with it one week left I can honestly say that I am not ready yet. Rewind on all the weeks of training and learn everything again. That said I don't think I will ever be ready for a privilege like this. Going out into the nations and speaking His love over them...I'm wonderstruck. These past weeks I have learned to know and feel God in the stillness but also in the storm. I have learned that He calls me beautiful (Song of Solomon 2:10) and that He loves me with...
Wait! What? This is not about me? So I am selfish. Done. That's it. What else is left to say? Listen to this sentence - it tells you values that Global Challenge decided on. We share the Good news to a world in need. Guess what I concentrated on. Yup, good guess! The 'we'-part. Luckily I can promise you this: God will reveal unto you if in anything you are otherwise (than what He wants) minded (Phil 3:15). Because He is faithful to His word, He came to show me how absolutely selfish I am. I started realizing how...
Hello everyone ! This couple of weeks, I could experiment deeply what was the meaning of the verse 8 from the chapter 55 in the book of Isaiah: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Everything started at the border of Suriname. Pastor Deo brought us al the way from Timehri to the Surinamese border with a Bus. So we all went out of the bus and had to hurry to embark in the ferry. We went for the check of our passport, everything was fine for everyone EXCEPT for me...
As it has been shown, I am clearly not one for rating my experience of each country along the way. Being part of the communication team for hidden world, I have found that my own feelings are already reflected in the team blogs and newsletters, that when it comes to writing my own, I have nothing left to say. But I have finally figured out what to write on my own blog- only took 5 months. Reflecting back on the last 6 months of my life, I can't believe how much has changed- besides moving to a different country...
On the fourth of march we arrived in Istanbul, a city with about 10 million people. By God's grace we found a very cheap hostel right in the centre between the famous mosque "Hagia sophia" and the sea (Bosporus)! Already at this place we experienced the hospitableness and kindness of turkish people, just amazing! A week later we arrived in Izmir. For the first time in my life I saw Christian believers worshipping God in an underground church! An incredible experience! So many different nations, but all having the same father! A completely filled church! A lot of joy!! Our...
...The adventure of a lifetime.For those of you who don't know what a Luke 10 is let me quickly explain it. You can read Luke 10:1-9 and that sums it up pretty well, but for those of you who don't have a Bible on hand a Luke 10 is where they send us out without money and limited supplies. What is taken differs from team to team. Our team had just enough money to get to and from Mae Sot with a little left over for buying drinking water, our toothbrushes, a change of clothes, Bible, and a rain jacket.Starting out...
