Participant Blogs

R54 221.00 RAISED!!! Thank you so much to every person who contributed to the Indian Fund. More than R50 000.00 was raised!  This enabled Southbound to bless the orphanage and children.  We are waiting for photos and blogs from the team to tell the full story. As soon as we receive more info, we will surely blog it!   On behalf of the children thanks again to all of you !!  Kind Regards GCEX Team  

The first two weeks here in Jbay really flew by at an exceptional pace. The sounds and smells of the 'big city life' is a far cry from where I'm sitting now and I still find it hard to imagine that this is my new life...but with that comes the feeling of freedom and the comfort of knowing that someone much bigger than my imagination can fathom is in control!! Before this whole journey started I asked God to break my mould. A mould casted by the world, people, friends, family, and show me who He made me to be and recast...

Movement, travel, journeying: these are central motifs in the Bible, as they are in Christian life. One reason is that these things jolt us out of what is comfortable, requiring us to step out in faith into the unknown and uncomfortable. And OH WOW have I been jolted these past 7 weeks. I came to Global Challenge with ALOT of preconceived ideas. About myself, about my walk with Jesus, about my future etc etc. I had Marié in a nice little box and all figured out. I thought I was taking a journey to Africa. This changed to South America....

Awestruck by a Holy Creator God   There has always been something about the Amazon that enthralled me. As a child I dreamed of going there but that was all it was, a very far-fetched dream... So imagine my excitement when I learned that our journey will take us right to the famous river and forest. In the airplane on the way to Manaus I was already blown away by the sheer magnitude of the river from above, just to realize that it is only an artery of the big river! To add to the excitement the plane literally landed...

I am currently sitting in Colombia writing this update surrounded by sounds of a river and jungle. We are at a mission base of New Tribe Missions which is on a Finca (farm) on the outskirts of a town called Fusagasuga. What was once a place that was robbed of its life because of guerilla warfare is now a place that is filled with students and families that have all dedicated their lives to the furthering of God's Kingdom in unreached tribes in Colombia.

In C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian, Aslan says to Lucy, "Every year that you grow, you will find me bigger." We just completed our third country, and I find Jesus bigger than ever before. It took us about 2 weeks of travelling to get from Brazil to Suriname. During this time I realised that another way travelling adventures can enrich our faith is simply by showing us new facets of God’s exotic world, confronting us with its gloriously peculiar variety and terrifying power.  When we encounter Him on the road, in a foreign land, in cultures and landscapes utterly alien to...

 So sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you... No unfortunately we didn't get to set foot on Mount Everest... But we did get to see a little bit of it from a distance. The PIKN team is doing so well! India has been a wonderful growing expedience for each of us. We've learnt what it is to endure physically. An average of 47 Degrees C and running to the loo like it's the latest fashion is NO JOKE. (Esp. if you add a 12hour train trip to that)! BUT, it drew us closer together? Through...

GOD  IS GOOD AND HE IS SO FAITHFULL. WE ASK HE GIVE JIPPY!!!!! GOING TO ADANNA GOD IS BIG AND I AM SO small!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This month God used us to reach the hidden world as we missioned into Andes mountains, and returned with more stories than we can blog... 

In the late afternoon dusk the city is settling down under a cloud of dust. A few blocks away the image of dreary stone coloured houses is broken by a blue and green kite that sweeps over and through the buildings. Yells of delight are carried on the early evening breeze toward where I am sitting. Sarah sits on the steps outside her house, crying. Her brother has passed away today. The image of a broken girl is a far cry from the one I met this morning before school. Laughing when she introduced herself, screeching as she ran after...