We arrived in sunny Spain at the port of Tarifa after a windy and breathtaking ride on a ferry. Like clockwork we gathered our belongings on our backs, went through customs and met our hosts. Our home was to be a basement transformed into a storeroom containing boxes and boxes of 'ingils' (gospels). Here we spent a week packing and handing out Gospels and other materials to North Africans crossing the border into Spain. We had the loveliest hosts - Spaniards and South Africans. Often times we enjoyed rusks, rooibos tea and on one occasion even biltong. Joyfully...
Participant Blogs
Global Challenge Missions Blog Archive: These are real blogs, from real people, bringing real change...
Uncertain future, certain God.
Our journey back to South Africa was undoubtedly paved by the hand of the Father. The moment we heard the seriousness of Corona, we as teams were called to meet together at a central place in Brazil - a house in the mountains near a very small town. ...
Led to Lead
I'm leading a team this year! In less than four years God has come and radically changed my life for the better. I believe that each and every single one of us are led to lead. In other words Christ leads us to lead others to him. What a privil...
Would you jump with me?
I remember standing at the edge of a cliff. Looking out at the big wide blue ocean. Looking down and seeing a beautiful scary blue unknown. My heart pounding in my chest like the sound of an epic climactic drum solo. Should I jump? Should i let go of...
Into the nations
Hello, my name is Johan Bruwer. I am on the brink of a 10-month journey where I will see and be a part of the establishment of God’s kingdom in the nations. I believe that the great commission is not an option to be considered, but it is a command to...
Discovering God
After finishing a blog on how God changed my mindset, about things I did not like doing and showing me other wise, I was not convinced that that was what I was supposed to share. After some amazing teachings this past few days and spending some...
"The land of smiles"
Thailand!! Wow it's an incredible place! Filled with beauties that only seeing in person can be understood! It definitely lives up to its phrase "the land of smiles" everyone here is just amazing. This country is special for me! We started in Bangkok...
Hidden World in The World
And just like that we were saying our good bye's and getting on a plane, watching South Africa disappear beneath us and bidding it farewell for the next 8 months. Hidden World is officially in the nations. It still seems unreal to us. 8 weeks ago we ...
Thanking food friends
An exciting update from the GLA eco campus construction site! We would like to give a shout out to the small businesses in Jeffrey's Bay- Beesland Slaghuis, Vyeboom Takeaway, RS Fruit and Veg (Croix Street) and Mengelmoes Kardoes We would like to th...
Break an Egg, Build a School!
The Global Challenge Expeditions Team of 2015 has created an initiative to increase financial support, called the Break an Egg, Build a School Challenge . This challenge is to create a video of you breaking an egg in a creative way and donate at www....
“Deeper: deep | dēp | adjective 1. extending far down from the top or surface 2. very intense or extreme - intensely felt” There’s something about the ocean that pulls me so intensely, but something that makes me so immensely scared at the same time. I want to jump off a cliff into the very depth of the ocean again and again and again, and I cannot help but stare in awe at it’s perfect formation of waves and movements. But when I think of going deeper than usual or when snorkeling on the edge of a reef drop...
Normal 0 After breakfast the man dropped us off at a point in the road where the vehicles must drive slower due to lots of speed bumps in the road. We stood there, in the suffocating heat for a long time, praying and trusting for a lift to the next town. We got a lift on the back of a pickup truck to Mapa where we were dropped at a t-junction. After about 20 minutes we got a lift to a small café a few miles on. We drank a cool drink and tried to hitch...
Words of a famous book from Louis Giglio but got such a more profound meaning to me the last couple of weeks!! Exodus 3:14 I AM WHO I AM is sending you out...'' It all started a while back when I went up mount Sinai. I went up the mountain and came down, not with 10 commandments, but a great encounter with God saying to me, I did not only send out Moses, but I AM WHO I AM is also sending you out celeste... So leaving Egypt, going to Israel, I had this I AM WHO I AM at the...
Mount of Olives in Jerusalem What an amazing, joyous and blessed day! We attended the Baptist church service in Jerusalem and delighted the congregation by joyfully singing Jabulani. After the song the church had an influx of an American tourist group and we sang once more! The church was so full that some of us even had to sit on the floor. The sermon really spoke to our hearts and set such a wonderful tone for the events to follow. Procession with Palm branches down Mount of Olives Marching band to bring Glory to God As we watched the masses streaming down from...
The road north, leads towards the mountains and it is long, narrow and winding. The "horn honking" method of passing traffic and keeping safe echo's in my ear as a resounding gong. The billboards in Delhi describe the greatness and beauty of India and the strong words describe their passion for their country. I have always referred to the traffic as incredible but when I reached the valley of the Himalayas I exclaimed; INDESCRIBABLE! The hills and valleys stretch as far as the eyes can see and its colors are arranged from; green to dark green, dark blue to grey and...
The Hammam So the two lovely South African ladies that organized our stay in Casablanca arranged for us that is those who wanted to, to have a truly Moroccan bath. So with a lot of excitement and a bit of anxiety we went to have a bath. On arrival the girls go one way and we guys the other. We, the guys, are ushered into a steam room and told to wait. (Not understanding the language this took some gesturing from two of the locals for us to finally understand.) After some time, we were called...
Our Time in Thailand began when we were greated at the airport by this friendly family. Isaiah the pastor with his wife Malai and little daughter, Nam Home and Son, Nam Pouh. They came all the way to take us to the little island we would be spending most of our time in Thailand. To help serve at a little christian refuge for girls that were abused and mistreated. On this little island we did some other work and had the huge opportunity to build the toilet of the first church. I will take you through our journey...
Cuba has been such an amazing experience! What a wonderful country to start off our journey to all the Distant Island nations of the world. As we look back on our time in Cuba, we are standing with so much thankfulness in awe of how perfectly in control God really is. We had so many highlights in the past three weeks and our low lights were so small, silly and insignificant, that you can almost say our whole Cuba experience was just one big highlight.
