Sunday, November 25, 2012

Wrapping it all up


5 of the 7 team members are back in New York today after wrapping up a great trip.  We spent Friday finishing up the painting project, and hosting the junior youth of FCBC.  During our 3 hours with them, we focused on some singing, story, crafts and games. 

It was a great week and we can't believe it went by so quickly.  Definitely puts it in perspective when you spend the week focusing on what's important in life.  All of us agree that we got a lot more out of our service than we put in, and feel blessed to have shared the experience serving those in East London.  Thank you for your support along the way, and we can't wait to share more details and photos of our journey. 

As mentioned, we were able to finish up the cry room project, and left FCBC with a great new room that will hopefully brighten up the service for families for years to come.  We wanted to share a few photos of the 2 walls that were drawn out by Susan & Monique.

Friday, November 23, 2012

We give thanks

It's been a couple of days since we last provided an update, so wanted to share the many opportunities and experiences that we have to be thankful for here in South Africa.  On Wednesday, we spent the morning working on our projects at the church.  The cry room painting is coming along, and we'll be posting photos soon of our progress. 

We also headed to Arcadia school to visit with the 7th grade class.  Arcadia is a school for children with special needs.  We had a great conversation with them and discussed everything about lifestyle choices to Justin Bieber...yes Bieber fever exists all the way around the world!

After lunch we headed on our game drive at Inkwenkwazi.  Despite some light rain, we saw a ton of animals and their babies....what a treat!  We then took the evening off and enjoyed some great food and time with South African friends. 

On Thursday, we headed back to Hope and enjoyed the morning with the kids.  So many of their stories will be coming back, and how we can all be involved with these amazing kids.  After Hope we hosted Fun Club again at the church and enjoyed acting out stories, building crafts and playing games with the kids. 

After our activities, we shared Thanksgiving meal (turkey, dressing and all of the favorites) with a few families here...40 of us in total!  So much to be thankful for and it's hard to believe that we only have 1 full day left!  More to come...

Jeremy

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Why we're here



Today First City Baptist Church took the Journey missions team on an emotional roller coaster ride.  First we went to Hope School where we met the most adorable children you ever want to see.  We played games and the children sang songs for us with the most beautiful voices we've ever heard.  But beyond the smiles which never left one childs face is a lot of hardship which is found outside of the walls of Hope School.  After we left Hope School we went with Donnae, Pastor Barry's wife to meet the women she ministers to through the Alibaster Jars program. Through the Alibaster Jars Program Donnae spreads God's love to women who are prostitutes letting them know that God loves us all.  The women love her and she loves them.  We all prayed and shared prayer requests. Last on our trip was Fun Club which was an amazing way to end the day with singing, stories and games which we'll do again on Thursday. 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Greetings from South Africa!






Greetings from South Africa!  We arrived safely bright and early Saturday morning before starting an eventful weekend.  We started off attending the First City Baptist Church Christmas Fair to decompress and met many members of the church.  After the fair, we all met our host families and then finished off the evening at our first braai (barbeque).  Sunday was a full day of church.  We began our day with morning worship at the First City Baptist church followed by a visit to the townships of Duncan Village and Potsdam, where we worshiped with Potsdam Baptist Church.  At Potsdam Baptist Church we had the opportunity to listen to the beautiful voices of the locals. After the tour of the townships, we had a lovely lunch cooked by Ethne and then went off to visit Gonubie beach.  Now that we've had some time to get acclimated we're looking forward to meeting the children and helping with restorations.

-Anita & Katie

Monday, July 9, 2012

Transitioning back


Good Monday morning.  For most of the team, this is the first full day back in the States.  Macy and Paula stayed in South Africa to visit Durban, and Hillary went to visit her brother in Zanzibar.  9 of us returned to the States on Sunday morning, and spent the day trying to adjust back to "reality."  There is no doubt that you come back to life at home with a different lens than when you left.  Please pray for the team to keep their spirits up and to use what they've learned in East London in their everyday life at home. 

Also, please continue to pray for the efforts in East London, as our week last week was only a taste of their daily reality.  Read about the school's efforts at:  http://www.hopeeducation.net/

Looking forward to the next team's trip in November!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Cupcakes & Goodbyes

Our day is coming to a close at First City Baptist Church, and while we are so happy to be here, there is a sad tone surrounding us all since this was our last day doing Holiday Club, which means we won't see the children anymore.

Our theme this morning for Holiday club was 'God is our Father', and our Bible verse was "For I am God's most treasured posession," from Exodous 19:5. The story we learned about was Jonah and the whale, which was fun because the children were quite familiar with the details, and were very excited to chime in and help Paula tell everyone about it. The children really enjoyed craft because they got to decorate picture frames with stickers! They also made pictures and wrote letters for Dani, some of which were too precious for words. In music class with 'Auntie' Liz we danced to "Jesus is my Super Hero". It was so much fun to just let loose.

With today being the last day of Holiday Club, after lunch the team surprised the kids with cupcakes and ice cream. They were so adorable with frosting smooshed all over there faces! Some of them were quite sad  knowing that we would be leaving and not returning tomorrow. We were all a bit somber as we took our last pictures and embraced the kids one last time; it was a struggle to leave because they wouldn't stop hugging us, and we didn't want to let them go either. But the abrupt 'goodbye' is just how it has to be.

This afternoon we finished our renovations at the church. Adam and Jeremy finished varnishing the bathroom doors while the ladies that have been sorting the fabrics at Thembelethu did an amzing job getting everything in working order. And the rest of the ladies finished painting and cleaning the inside of the church.
 





Tonight we're enjoying dinner and fellowship with some of the members of the church. We've been blessed to enjoy throughout the week. Thank you so much to the congregation of First City Baptist for welcoming us so warmly. Their hospitality and generosity has been such a comfort to us, and we can now say that First City is a home away from home!

Ulale kakuhle uThixo akusikelele (Goodnight & God Bless -in Xhosa)

-Dani, Hillary & Stephanie







Thursday, July 5, 2012

A Little Bit of Hope


Another day is winding down in East London, South Africa.  We've had a busy few days, and we were unable to update you last night.

Yesterday's Holiday Club was exciting for us and the kids - we learned that God is our helper, using the story of Moses and the Red Sea.  We had fun acting it out and covering "Pharaoh and his soldiers" with the red velvet sea.

One of our favorite parts of every day of Holiday Club is the music.  These kids are amazing!  They just keep singing, starting a new song on their own as they finish each one.  Aunty Liz has been teaching them new songs and dances - they especially like her "Get it, get it" song, and they keep singing it on the playground!

After Holiday Club, we took off on our African safari.  It was great to have a break from the emotional strain of learning about these kids' difficult lives.  Even though it was cold and windy, and the animals were hiding in the deep bush, we had a great time and saw quite a few, including: a rhinoceros family, monkeys, wildebeests, impalas, African antelopes(?), giraffes, zebras, buzzards, and an entire pride of lions, including three little cubs.  At the end of the game drive, we got to pet a family of cheetahs that have been raised at the game reserve since they were three weeks old.


We had an Independence Day dinner at a local favorite restaurant called Country Bumpkin, and we enjoyed our early night.

Today's Holiday Club theme was "God is my protector," and we used the story of Daniel in the lion's den.  The kids really enjoyed making their lion pictures in craft time with Aunty Dani, using the circles we spent hours cutting out on Tuesday night.


After Holiday Club, those of us who are visiting South Africa for the first time (Christina, Elizabeth, Liz, Dani, and Paula) had the opportunity to visit local townships with BB, who has been ministering in South Africa for decades and is a wonderful tour guide.  It was difficult to see the living situation that many people in East London experience.  The impact of apartheid is still incredibly obvious, and seeing the racial division continue was difficult for us to understand.  Many people live in shacks without electricity or running water, and families often share one bed.  We saw many young children (some looked as young as 8 or 9), carrying their younger siblings on their backs.


BB told us that these shacks burn down about once every three years because their only source of heat is building fires.  We could actually see smoke and smell fire, and we spotted one small brush fire.  The current conditions (cold, dry, and windy) make it easy for fires to start and spread.

We met one family who lives in a house like those above, in a more rural community with cows, pigs, and goats roaming freely throughout the neighborhood.  Despite their difficult circumstances, the family was happy, and they were proud of the house they have built and keep in beautiful shape.

It's hard to believe we have just one more day of Holiday Club before we leave.  Tomorrow, we're learning about how "God is our Father," and we're looking forward to seeing the children, though we know it will be difficult to say goodbye.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers - we're looking forward to seeing you soon!

- Elizabeth and Christina (with help from Petina)

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Double Blessing!

Today was our second incredible day at Hope School.   We are each getting to know the children better.  What amazes us is that many of them come from unimagenable home situations and yet they are so joyful and filled with hope. Their joy is simply contagious.   That was our first blessing today.  Our second was through a ministry that reaches out to -- in their own words -- 'street workers'.   Most of us admitted we were nervous and at a loss for words yet what an inspiration these dear ladies were to us.   Again, even in dire circumstances they were full of joy.  Most of them openly admitted that they know what they are doing is wrong and they are not happy with their lives and are truly looking to God to open a new path for them.  There were 15 of these awesome women and we ask for you to pray for them and this ministry to them. 
Honestly, we traveled to South Africa to bless others - instead we are the ones being blessed! 

We are eating way too much because of the delicious cooking of Marie, Dawn, Ethne.  Tomorrow after our time at HOPE, we go on safari.  To say the least, we are all psyched that at long last we will have the opportunity to see the wildlife of South Africa - maybe even a giraffe!   Thanks for your love and don't forget to pray for us!  Hugs and Kisses ....


Liz and Paula

Monday, July 2, 2012

Molweni! Today was the first day of Holiday Club and we couldn't have been more excited to meet the 80+ children of Hope Prep. The theme was "God is our creator" and set the foundation for the rest of the week. A big hit amongst the kids was the craft where they made collages about the seven days of creation. 
Later in the afternoon we did some church renovations that involved updating the conference center and organizing Thembalethu, an outreach program which gives the women of SCI sewing skills used to provide a sustainable income for themselves. 
Our highlights from today: the little smiles, homemade food (Dawn's cobbler!), bonding and fellowship, meshing as a team, planning for tomorrow's Holiday Club and listening to Sandi's (Kindergarten teacher at Hope Prep) stories and opinions. Be sure to check back later this week for more updates!
-Macy, Maribeth, Dani, Stephanie and Christina

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Arrived in East London

After almost a 12 hour flight delay causing us to stay overnight in Jo'burg on Saturday night, we left our hotel this morning at 5:30 am to make it to East London by 9am via a quick 1.5 hour flight.  We immediately packed up our luggage and headed to First City Baptist Church.  After service, we visited the local church in Duncan Village (Gompo) for part of their service.  Ethne & BB hosted a wonderful lunch for us, and now we're preparing for our week of adventures with the kids   More to come!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

The next Journey trip to South Africa kicks off tomorrow (6/29) with our flight from JFK to Johannesburg.  Our flight has been slightly delayed, but at least we were notified prior to leaving our homes.  We'll keep you posted, but we hope to be in East London by Sunday.

This year's team of 12 includes: Adam, Christina, Dani, Elizabeth, Hillary, Liz, Macy, Maribeth, Mary, Paula, Stephanie & Jeremy.

Stay tuned!