Participant Blogs

Since I joined Global Challenge in 2010, I always hear about these couple of places that ex-Global Challengers always speak about, those places that have been visited by many of our teams over the years.  You hear stories of God’s provision, challenges, teams sleeping on the streets, people turning their lives around etc.  Hong Kong is one of those places.  Though, what separates Hong Kong from places like India or Guatemala, is that there isn’t an established ministry point that all teams visit. There isn’t a foundation in place for teams to build upon.  Instead, teams tend to do their own thing each year. 

Since the birth of the vision of Distant Islands, I knew that Hong Kong is one of the places we have to visit, even though it doesn’t sound that “distant” to most and even though it’s only partially island...

The desire was stirred in my heart for our team to go and establish something that will last longer than the week that we’re in Hong Kong. My dream is to see a foundation being laid in Hong Kong so that future teams can go and build upon it and so that we can one day hear of all the fruit that’s being reaped over there.

Albie’s uncle and aunt have been residing in Hong Kong for the past 9 years after his uncle accepted a job as a pilot for Cathay Pacific.  They offered to host us for the week we were going to spend there, and luckily for us they live on an island called Lantau.  This came as an answer to a lot of prayer for accommodation to suit our budget.  The hospitality we experienced from Wim and Juanita, their kids and even Stella, the lady that works for them in the house, just blew my mind!  Never did we think on a Global journey we’ll be having rusks, boerewors, koeksisters, biltong and all sorts of other little huge blessings! Furthermore, we had the opportunity of spending real quality fellowship time with each of them and really got absorbed into their world.

In the area of ministry we reached a couple of dead-ends which raised a couple of questions within myself, especially after I felt so certain about coming to Hong Kong.  In the end we found an open door at 2 very well established ministries with a lot of international acclaim. They invited us to become a part of what they’re doing in Hong Kong and most importantly, what God is doing there.  It turns out that in the future our teams might have the opportunity to get involved in outreaches to muslim minority groups, prostitutes, drug-addicts and the poor and destitute living in the city.  What an awesome provision from God!!  Our prayer is that these contacts will be fruitful and that our involvement in their ministry will bear much fruit in the future.

After Hong Kong, all I can tell you is that we serve a Living God.  We serve a God that longs for fellowship with us.  We serve a forgiving but just God.  Jesus is Lord, and that’s all I know and that’s all there is to it...

THE KNOTS PRAYER Dear God, please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart and my life. Remove the  have  nots , the  can  nots  and the  do  nots that I have in my mind. Erase the  will  nots , may  nots , and might  nots  that find a home in my heart. Release me from the  could  nots , would  nots  and should  nots  that obstruct my life. And most of all, dear God, I ask that you remove from my mind my heart and my life all of the  am  nots that I have allowed to...

 It is about 20 past 3 in the midst of our SILVER SMACKDOWN in MALASIA!  After a six o'clock wake up call (AM, ofcourse), we discovered it's a Chalaaaange!  After a good, hot and humid day, we all got our healthy share of walking, occassionally running and plenty of stairs (including up and down the 272 of the caves; very cool place but smells funny and the monkeys tried to attack me), we are writting our blog as the final task for today, just before getting our dead skin eaten away by fish before we rush to our finish at...

Written by: Philip Murray

The time has finally come to get a little bit of rest and just recap on all that has happened the last month or so.   It is nice to have a little bit of time for myself and to spend some time with God, if it is through Byble study or playing a little bit of guitar, I enjoy it alot.

Dakhla in Western Sahara was our first stop in Morocco.  Western Sahara is fighting for it's independence from Morocco who occupied it in the 1970's.  In Dakhla there are only 2 followers of Christ that we know of...   Communion in Dakhla   Entrance to the Kasbah in the Medina of Marrakech.   Man in Marrakech...   Explore Africa 2010 in front of the Royal Palace in Fes   The beauty of the Medina in Fes People of Fes   We visited the tanneries in Fes where they dye all the leather   Fes is probably the most beautiful city...

well at the camps of Bosnia I took the people up the canyon for a hike and some abseiling and   just saw this vision of Christ life and how we as Christians should live.   well God is the anker point. rope, that is Jesus is connected to the ankerpoint and runs all the way to eternity. we are warring a harness that is the safety with a figure8 to let the rope run through. the harness is our church that support us and protect us. the figure8 are the people groups we move in, friends, family and so...

Their fields look like golf courses, you see rainbows daily, the houses look like they can be picked up at anytime and their poo pond looks like Silver Lakes golf estate's lakes! New Zealand is beautiful... and FULL of South Africans! We were all suprised to realise the numbers of South Africans here... so much so that when you are speaking Afrikaans in a shop, you need to be careful of what you say! Pretorius, Le Roux, Bosman, Ferreira, van Rensburg etc are common surnames here now! The local libraries even have a shelf for Afrikaans books! Not to mention...

As we write this, we are safely in Chiclayo Peru.

 

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...

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...