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. ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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....
In the Bible, bread is more than just food. Bread is fellowship. Bread is dependence. Bread is a body. And bread is life. This multi-faceted source of nourishment played the staring role on the stage of my Luke 10 journey.
We serve a faithful God. His providence and His love featured in each of the blessings the Yellow Team received. After a reshuffling of the small teams of Distant Worlds, I am now in a team with Luiza, Kasia, Charné and Fred as my leader.
Hey there! I am excited to tell you about another project my team and I will have theopportunity to be a part of over the next 2 weeks. Starting on Thursday we willleave Jeffreys Bay and travel to The Transkei in South Africa. There, we will beinvolved in building a fence for the local christen school in Coffee Bay.Currently, we are trusting the Lord to provide the supplies, materials, andmonies to complete the project. Please check out the information below about our project and please continue topray for us as we are there over the next 2 weeks! http://www.gcex.org/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=fence-of-love.html&Itemid=
This year, I have learned to sing to the Lord a new song. I got on a plane headed to South Africa knowing that I was jumping off the high dive into the deep end. Fortunately, God is faithful to His Word. There were times when I thought,
"I can’t do this" to which God replied to me “I am.”
Watching Survivor on television has always been entertaining, seeing the good and bad of the people come to front and seeing how they survive within their natural surroundings, not knowing what their next meal will be or where it would come from, living in the bush with people they hardly know. The moment I was placed in the same situation all the fun and entertainment suddenly seemed to disappear. During the last week we finally got to meet our team/family for the next year and we were taken to the bush just outside of town for some teambuilding, at...
Work your Way, aka a year traveling the world with a bunch of guys, sounds like Neverland...because it is! Corona aka villain aka my arch nemesis sounds like captain Hook trying to ruin my fun...because it is! Ticking crocodile reminding me that time is running out and the year is coming to an end...because it is! Then there's Wendy, a woman, the one that convinces Peter pan to grow the hell up, leave Neverland and become a real man with responsibility... well damn. Looks like God used women this year to turn me into a better man. Deal with conflict,...
East Africa
A breath of fresh air Traveling through Africa has truelly been a great challenge
Because of my tall body and long legs I very much disliked the overlanding parts of the trip. What has been amazingis how a taxidriver can fit 25 people into a 19 seater plus the cunducter, and all that with some kind of animal on top .Over the year I have become more humble and more teachable to my team and the people around me . I must admit that I struggle sometimes when Taxi drivers try to trick you , to keep my cool.
God has been speaking to me about that, and for good reason two. So when we were in Ethiopia Abel extended his stay by simply loosing his passport so the 5 of us with Kagiso flying because of medical reasons and all set out to kenia we soon met 2
dudes from Nottingham UK. The 7 of us traveled all the way from Addis Ababa Ethiopia to Kenya Nairobi. The travel down to Moyale (the border)was very nice, we had gteat seats with lots of legspace and lots to talk about .And that’s where Murphy’s law kicked in, for those who don’t know : for every action there is a direct and opposite reaction. In Moyale we booked our 24our bus to Nairobi and went to a nice restaurant for some boerewors and bread. While eating much to our surprise it wasn’t meat sausages but infact blood sausages. Wow what a breath of fresh air . The first night in Kenya and I had already made a friend . We talked into the early morning about a common subjects : military army , Life and love for gadgets. The next morning we walked to the busstop for our cheapest way to get to get to Nairobi. It was cheap for a reason.And so began the longest and worst most uncomfortable bus trip of my whole Life
Do you know what a power plate is ? It’
s a machine in the form of a pad that vibrates until your legs itch, It is said to increase bone density and stimulates musle groth and all that Jazz. I think God intended to make the road from Moyale to Isioloone long power plate exercise session. So for 12 hours we were ratling away at the back of a truck with seats and the Bus coworkers being high on chat ( a type of leaf that makes you stay awake and Hipper) while the security guard‘s .303 rifle barrel wading from side to side in your face while he falls asleep. Even then I met awesome people like a man whose goal was to point out any living creature next to the road, whether it was a goat to a gazelle or the man from Nairobi visiting his grandparents in the middle of nowhere.
The point is that all of them wanted to have a conversation, it was as if skin color didn’t matter and we all were equal. Some time before sundown the “bus” turned around and went searching for something. It turned out to be
something that looked like a pump that broke clean off the frame of the bus. They picked it up threw it into the bus and there we went on. After Isiolo there was Tarmac and so ended our exercise session for the year. It truly was the worst 24hours of the whole Explore Africa experience. It was all worth it. Nairobi felt just like Home there was big shopping malls with Steers and Panaroties and ice-cream and every thing .It was the best reward after 24hours of Hell… One of the Stupidest things I’ve ever done this year was sending back my sleeping bag. I have to start from the beginning. When we were in Niger it was so hot so when the chance arose that I could send my sleeping bag, I didn’t hesitate. Soon me and Abel realized that East Africa wasn’t hot enough for just our Ethiopian air blankets. In Nairobi I slept in my tent and literally put on all my clothes on top of each other and when that didn’t work I climbed into my bag for
warmth. The next day I bought me a gray dog blanket and that is now my main source of warmth at night. Kenya is the best country this whole year. Our Ministry point is so much fun . We worked under the simple churches here and the Pastor here had us doing discovery Bible groups , so everyone was actively a part of the conversation we will soon be going to Uganda to go work with the churches here . God had blessed us with awesome people. People that makes us feel at home and feeds us with more than we can eat.
While Detlef and I hitch-hiked across Senegal and Mali the rest of the team were somewhere in Senegal busy with their Luke 10. Wayne led the team and they took Luke 10 very literally. Taking just enough money to get somewhere into the interior of Senegal and then the train from there to Bamako. The intense heat in the interior caught them off-guard, as did the poverty of the people. They ended up in a small village where nobody had much food left. Spending a few days there they basically lived of the Mango trees. Here they...