Participant Blogs

 

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt...

Red Team Update - 27 March 2008

To put our first week's experiences in China into words is kind of impossible! Let's try anyway! Mondaymorning we were stopped at the borderpost while trying to get over the border from Macau. Hector were one of the two lucky one's who got to get over and sat eating KFC in China while we were surviving on duty-free sweets in no-man's-land! Eight hours and a complete baggage search later, we were allowed to grab our stuff and run over, as our bus was about to leave in a few minutes! Few hours later everyone was settled on the train for our 2 and a half days journey up north.

  Dahab (and Egypt) has been taxing in particular. Strangely it was not the country where we traveled the most --- even though Dahab is a 10h mini-van drive away from Cairo... Dahab is a tourist city with tourist-traps (and those who are in the game of "trapping" you) to be found everywhere...But it must be one of the most remarkable landscapes I have ever seen. The desert on your one hand and the bluest waters of the Red Sea on the other is something to behold. There are no white sandy beaches. Pebbles lead into the ocean (icy cold...

Tell the world that Jesus lives Dear friends and Family. Why am I doing what I am doing? There are many answers to that question, but ultimately the most important reason is that more people hear the name of JESUS. At the moment that is also the biggest challenge and struggle. I said the last time I would write more about Dakar. There is not much to write about the hectic busy city, except that the embassies are no longer where the map shows them or no longer there at all. I respect different faiths and beliefs and agree that all...

It's that time of year again where students try to raise funds for whatever they want to do. For me I never liked it, because it is hard to ask for money. I trust God that He will provide for me. I need R86 900 for next year and I was sitting at home and I was so nervous about getting this amount of money. God told me to go to Global Challenge, He gave me Isaiah 49:6 which says:" I will make you a light to the nations so that you may save people all over the world."(God's Word...

 On this journey we have eaten many weird and wonderful traditional foods, so when Emme and I went on our Ethiopian excursion we always opted for the cheap “familiar sounding food”. That is, if we could decipher the horrible spelling on the menu. We just always had ‘cheeps’ (chips), “cooed vegetable”(cooked vegetables), or “spaget” (spaghetti). Our budget did not allow for “stake” (it could be steak or the thing to kill vampires with), calculator chicken (chicken with a side serving of calculators?) or “meet with rice”(a date with a dude called Rice?) On our way back to Addis Ababa to meet up with our team again, the Japanese girl we shared a taxi with suggested we try the traditional Ethiopian dish called “Bisto”. We ordered it very hesitantly and waited anxiously, expecting something like eyeball soup or cow hooves! Much to our delight it turned out to be a very delicious spicy meat sauce served with two loaves of bread.

Over the last few weeks I have seen and smelt things I will never forget! Your senses are constantly insulted from the crazy traffic to the swarms of people on the streets to the cows and dogs wandering everywhere! To a british person who is used to queues and order this was quite an eye opener! It is really survival of the fittest. However on the contrary there just seemed to be a lack of life with people just sat at the side of the road with no purpose or hope of anything more than they have at the moment. It is a strange paradox.

 

Australia was suppose to be the half way country pit stop where we have a break from crazy cultures and just work with some sheep. I could not wait to get my hands dirty and have some fun. In true global fashion it was 6weeks not knowing what I was doing or what was going to happen next. It was suppose to be easy but it wasn't... For the first week I got to relax and catch up with some friends, learning from them and serving where I could. We also had a camp with the youth from the church...

1.Thou shall eat all that is set before thee. 2.Thou shall not bribe. 3.Thou shall hurry up and wait. 4.Thou shall use the toilet which is available for thee. 5.Thou shall not have any personal space and thou shall create space where there is none. 6.Thou skin shall spell US Dollars even though thou art from South Africa. 7.Thou shall have thy passport ready at all 500 000 police checks in every country. 8.Thou shall develop an identity crisis since thou art born in Africa but not considered African. 9.Thou shall love bread with all thy heart. 10.Thou shall love...

Hi Everyone, I truly have mixed emotions when having to say, that the Work Your Way journey of 2011 has drawn to an end. On the one side it is sad that the journey has to come to an end, but it brings me absolute joy thinking back on how God has used my team and I across many nations being led by the Holy Spirit like we are called to in Acts 1:8 which says "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea...