Only two weeks of training have passed and I already feel like I have learnt a lifetime of lessons. The people I've met here are already like part of my family. And as for my relationship with God.. It has never been so strong and so intense. I feel like a better, stronger person. And God is my leader, using me as a messenger to tell His story to the world. And all I can say is, "I'm ready for the change, I'm ready for the world, I'm ready for the things that I've already learnt."- Coldplay. These are the...
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Global Challenge Missions Blog Archive: These are real blogs, from real people, bringing real change...
Local Project 2014 Northbound and Work Your Way We know we haven’t introduced ourselves yet! You can keep your eye on the website because Northbound / Work Your Way will be on the roll soon! EMERGENCY ALERT! We have our first exciting local project waiting for us! Our project is to help the team that is building Jeffrey’s first private high school. (It’s ECO-friendly!!) Our mission for the next week is to complete a feeeeeew tasks. Northbound and Work Your Way is working together to build a part of the hostel. The following tasks needs to be completed by ...
Philippians 3:8-11 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him , not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may...
I know you're probably thinking that this is such a strange heading for a blog, well yes it is but it was a word i got for Nepal and on top of that it gets me super excited to write about ;) Just like when you rowing through the rapids of rough waters and it feels like a battle seemingly IMPOSSIBLE to over come.. This is similar to what i experienced in Nepal in terms of our street ministry there.( except that Jesus is way more powerful than anything we encountered).. Everywhere my eyes glanced there were idols that people...
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Date: 16 May 2009 Place: Kusadasi, Turkey to Panajachel, Guatemala Kusadasi, Turkey What difference can one make into someone´s life? By a simple smile OR a hand of support OR just a friendly ´Meraba´ (Turkish) OR ´Hola´ (Spanish)? Before departing for Guatemala, we knew we left a significant mark in Turkey. The city of Kusadasi in Turkey does not know how much they are missing...the love of Jesus Christ. During our stay in Kusadasi we met some young Muslim guys and we had great times playing rugby and fellowshipping. We also invited them to our evening Bible studies and...
Three weeks ago we arrived in Jeffreys Bay, backpacks containing all the belongings that we will need for the year on our backs, mentally and physically ready to begin with training for our Global Challenge Expedition 2015:) During the first couple of days we were introduced to the Global community. By sharing amazing stories about what God has done in and through their lives all over the world they imparted to us their heart for the nations and a new excitement to see how God wants to love His children across the globe. On day five we received...
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...
Date: 04 April 2009 Place: Nazaret Village, Israel Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up and where I was reminded about the Great Love of Jesus Christ. We have visited a place called Nazareth Village. in this Village you will experience how people lived in the time Jesus walked on earth. It was a great privilege to experience their way of living… A typical work place... During our tour though the village it just gripped my heart to reflex on His crucifixion yet again. The hours and hours of torture He endured that led to be nailed hanging...
wow!! I'm so stoked these past 42 days have been something else. Learning more about myself, God, the people around me and how situations can effect you when you beyond tired. I've really been blessed to be here with all these amazing people. From surviving in the freezing cold nights at our makeshift campsite with a sheltt that didn't even work and our fire being to far away from everything, all the "dear diary" entries made it just all the more funny. My survivor team was the orange team and already in 5days we had made a bond that wasn't...
From Biblical times until today, the Middle East has been a region subject to near constant unrest and war. Throughout the generations, the kingdom of Jordan has been a safe harbour offering refuge to countless people fleeing from war torn countries on all sides. In an oasis like this, one finds many interesting people with inspiring stories. Stories of death, pain and destruction; stories of perseverance, courage and relief; stories of hope, love and a Saviour found. On top of that, one finds foreigners from every corner of the earth with the same heart who came to bring relief and...
While our first week in Nepal we focused on encouraging the churches, the second week we focused on adding to them. After a six hour bus ride to Pokhara we immediately started walking to unreached villages, sharing the truth with the people and handing out tracts written in Nepali. We had some great conversations and people were usually willing to listen to us. God really protected us there because after we got back Ben (The Nepali missionary we stayed with) told us that the people in those villages usually attack Christians and he had been too scared to go until now....
Hello to everyone, I would like to offically invite you to follow my journey, whatever your reason may be. Welcome:) I feel that I need to give you a bit of background infomation so that you can understand the journey I'm on, and why I'm experiencing it the way I am. At the end of last year on the 7th of November my life changed for ever. My sister,Amber, 17 years old, went into a coma as a result of measels which then futher developed into menengitis and enkephalitis. Unknown to us at the time, the ICU staff didn't give...
Israel, the promised land, the country where Jesus walked, the place where God revealed so much of His character to us through the Israeli nation. Visiting this special place is an experience that can hardly be captured or described in mere words or pictures. It is seeing a piece of living history, a walk through the gospels. From Bethlehem where Jesus was born to Capernaum next to the sea of Galilea where Jesus ministered to Jerusalem, the city that Jesus loved. How strange and heartbreaking to see the same historic events being viewed so differently through the glasses of different...
Date: 06 April 2009 Place: Nazareth / Tiberias, Israel I would like to introduce our sixth team member and proud friend... he will be travelling with us throughout the year and he loves it when people leave comments for his team or any of the team members. His name is Phillipues IV aka FLIPPIE... A photo is shown Love the blue team... Marcel, Mariska, Annerie, Anelda, Chris & FLIPPIE
Date: 25 January 2009 Place: Jeffrey's bay, South Africa We have started the year's journey with the first two weeks in Jeffrey's bay. I had to learn that I am leaving everything behind. Everything that I have built up for the last couple of years... my friends, the comfort of my home, the safe environment and everything that is familiar to me. The hardest part for me by commencing on this journey is to leave everything in the hands of God and to trust God completely for His provision... a huge step of Faith... and also a new chapter...
Over a month into this adventure and the time has come for me to play blog catch up! It seems that 12 years of perfecting my procrastination skills isn't a skill easily dropped. Welcome to Global Challenge! A crazy buch of young people headed to the nations ready of anything strengthed and effective for only one reason God and God alone. ' 'It is no longer i who lives but christ who lives in me'' Gal 2vs20 Trying to sum up the last weeks is a futile attempt as so much has happened that my words have already began to fail me. Not just the events...
Date: 23 February 2009 Place: Transkei / Alabanza, South Africa Our last couple of weeks of preparations was very blessed by a visit from Joe of Scotland, a great man and prophet of God. He taught us of Spiritual Gifts, especially the gift of Faith. In impossible moments our Lord will show His countenance before man who earnestly seeks Him. With these weeks of getting ready, my last hope of getting the necessary funds were getting low... no matter what we do, it is only the Lord who knows what we need and when we need it. The departure...
So in this: my second India blog, I'll be chatting to you all about japati:) Did you expect that? I think not!! ;D So the first phase of making japati is getting all the ingredients; this metophorises ( is this a real word? Yes I create it;) ) God preparing and equipping me for my journey... He took me deeper into inner healing which refreshed my soul. Turning my face from pain Into joy psalm 40:1-3. I also lead my first session with the children sharing about being salt! Cool as salt is also an ingredient for japati along...
We departed from Turkey almost two months ago already, but it was such an overwhelming experience to be a pilgrim in the country where a big part of the new testament plays off that I struggled to put it into words. Here is my attempt at celebrating the highlights! We arrived in Istanbul, a cosmopolitan city located halfway in Asia and halfway in Europe with a strong Middle Eastern influence. The streets smell of incense and turkish delight and various kinds of fruit teas can be found in every sidewalk cafe and street market. Here I found that Psalm 16:5...
Laos: Let it rain! “Yeah guys, we have no budget for Laos.” Maybe that statement needs some clarification. To clear it up a bit, I will start one country earlier. I am not referring to Nepal in this case, but rather to Thailand, where we spent two nights in Bangkok. Unfortunately one day is way too little to truly be able to say one has seen Thailand, or even Bangkok, but we filled our time as best we could. After a morning of debriefing Nepal, we hit the streets, looking for a certain famous tourist area in Bangkok. It turned...
Date: 06 April 2009 Place: Nazareth / Tiberias / Sea of Galilee, Israel Israel Challenge (continue) ... some photos! We started the challenge by "energizing" ourselves with grape fruit... Got into a tree... Visited a Kibutz to find out more about the people living in it (Kibutz - Farm villages next to the Sea of Galilee) We visited St Peter's Primacy Church and reflexted on a miracle where Jesus told Peter and the disciples to throw the fishing nets at the other side of the boat. We performed a swimming...
Nepal has been wild so far In the past week we've spent much time with the Church here. Encouraging our family in Christ. The team split up into 2 groups. 7 of us visited house fellowships everyday and attended a few different church services. Bringing the Word of God and seeing people set free! Experiencing the Lord's favor. While the other 4 hiked 8 hours up a mountain to the village of Chepang. There they also attended church service and prayed and encouraged the new believers! Witnessing the Splendor of God and His Creation. Being touched by the humility and...
After an excruciating two days of travel by bus and train and hanging out at various interesting stop over stations, we arrived in Macedonia in the middle of the night - tired, dirty and hungry. Our moods were immediately lifted when we were welcomed by our friendly hosts who received us at the train station with big smiles and joyful hearts. They treated us to a midnight feast of the biggest hamburgers we have ever seen and it was not long before realized that Macedonia, like the Middle East has a very late night culture. Nothing happens before 10 in...
We spent one week in Greece. One week that help to shape my life. Our ministry there was to clean up the accommodation facilities and prepare the camping grounds for the summer season. We were preparing the ground for summer camps...both physically and in prayer!:) In the afternoons we had the opportunity to swim in the ocean, take long walks along the shoreline, play some sports and explore the little coastal town of Leptokarya. We also had amazing times of worship on the grass outside and around the camp fire at night where God really revealed Himself to us in...
Israel, Palistine and all things tense. I do not claim to be an expert an will not attempt to explaine the intigrate details and complexities of the political situation in the Middle East. However standing in the mist of these countries and crossing the wall that devides them, seeing both sides and and grasping a fresh the gravity of the situation is what is on my heart. There is a wall, it is deviding and it is opressing, two grous of people are hurting and what they need is JESUS. This is not about picking sides or having a right...
NEPAL, Katmandu, this is the ground on which we start our journey and what a journey it is going too be! First there are some things you should know about Nepal. There is the occasional power cut, pigeons flood the rails of rooftops,smog covers the foothills and hides the mountains from sight, the pollution a causes some locals to wear masks and prayer points and stone idols are spread amist the dirty, the strike is over and the streets come alive with cars , motorbikes, bicycles and people. Oh the people the wonderful, beautiful people of Nepal. I think I...
Started off this sweet country by spending 2 nights in the Tel Aviv Airport. After this we camped beside the Sea of Galilee and karyoke bar ( not really , just felt that way from our lovely neighbours haha) It was so cool having bible study there, reading about Jesus's life. It kinda made the scriptures more real, seeing and being in the places where Jesus did ministry. Next we went to Jerusalem. We helped out the church we were staying at by picking their olive trees and cleaning their gardens a bit and...
Who am i? One of the many questions that haunt the youth of this age,but this is the wrong question.The real question is who am i in Christ,for in him is where my true identity is found... I am who i am because of who God is and because of how much He loves me and how good He is. Because of what He did for me and because of what he did my idenity is secure... I am a child of God, a princess of the most high, beloved daughter, forgiven one Redeemed by the blood of Christ,chosen,cleaned,apponited...
