Keeping the Hope Alive

As you may know by now the trip has ended, but our Hope is still alive.  Due to limited time and internet availability we weren't able to cover the last 3 days.  A few highlights include:

• Celebrating Thanksgiving with 30 of our South African friends .  We enjoyed Turkey, stuffing and great fixings.  It's great to share our tradition with our new friends and truly take the time to be thankful!
• Wrapping up our renovation work at Hope with an immense amount of work on Thursday.  
• Going on our game drive where we saw lions, rhinos and plenty of other South African animals in the preserve.
• Closing out Holiday Club with the kids at Hope where we celebrated with a party.  We sang with them, gave them hot dogs, ice cream & chips and dressed them up in Santa Hats!  Amazing photos coming back from this day!

The support at home and on the ground in South Africa was tremendous.  We are incredibly grateful for this experience, and look forward to sharing it with you now that we're back.  Our hearts are forever changed, and we bring back the story of so many amazing people big and small to share with each of you.  Thanks for following!

Rain Rain Go Away!!!

What do you do with a bunch of kindergartners when its recess and it's raining outside? Whelp, you keep 'em inside and things get a little bit interesting. Recess was inside and so was lunch. Some were whining, some were crying, some were bouncing off the walls...and that was just the Journey Volunteer Team. We worked together as a team and came up with creative ways to keep everyone calm and focused while having a good time.

Work continues...more digging, more sanding, more lacquering, and more painting of desks, oh and more concrete mixing and pouring.Due to the rain, no safari today, hopefully either tomorrow or Friday for sure. Tonight though, we dine at the Country Bumpkin. We hear nothing but good things about this place, so lets see if it lives up to the hype. Check out some fun pics below!

Prepping For Activities

Group Assembly

-Chris & Drew

Time To Get To Work!!!

"Oh my back hurts. I'm going to sleep well tonight". Yup, it's begun. From tearing down a wall, to sanding and repurposing school desks, to laying concrete, it is time to get to work. Under the guidance of Master Allen, we toil and sweat until the task is complete. Oh how rewarding it is to see the finished work. Kids ask "Are you working?" You smile and respond "Yes, this is for you. That's why we're here."

We've taken a tour of the townships where our students live and feel humbled and blessed by the life that we have. We visited an orphanage to see where another local church is supporting the people of East London. From our tour and seeing first hand, we have a deeper connection with the children we serve. We see where they live and the challenges they face. We are one step closer to empathizing with what they go through on a day to day basis and we see the need to keep them in our prayers continually. There have been some lighter moments but the work has begun. Let's keep on working for the Lord!!!

We thank you for your prayers, please keep the group and the people of East London, South Africa in your prayers as well. 

Township House

Santa Hats...yay!!!

- Chris & Drew

...All We've Done So Far Is Eat...Satiated Smile

"All we've done so far is eat". I kid you not, this what one of our team members said as we reclined at one of our host families' beautiful residence. I must second this notion as I've been one of the blessed five men with the gift of being placed in BB and Ethne's house. Ugh, from mouth-watering pies, succulent pork, to amazing pasta, the food has been so very delicious, I almost feel guilty that I haven't put in any work yet!

We've gone to two church services so far and we're getting ready for a third. The theme at one service was the danger of separation. The theme of the second was hope. As we prepare to serve and work hard tomorrow, may we stay united, filled with hope and give, as we have all received so very much. Let's serve with love overflowing. Go team South Africa 2013! Check out the pics below!

Group Photo - Everyone Say Cheese

Souvenirs By The Beach

Singing In Scenery Park - These People Have Voices Of Angels!!!

November Mission Trip has Officially Begun!

We landed today in East London safe and sound.  We're getting adjusted to the 7 hour time change and some very welcome warmer weather!  More stories and updates to come.  Thanks for the prayers & keep them coming!

So long, South Africa...

Dear Friends,

So sorry for the space between our last post and this post. Let me catch you up quickly on what we've been up to...

On Thursday, we taught the children about the power of prayer through the story of "Daniel and the Lion's Den". On Friday, we taught that the victory we have in Christ's death for our sins is the best and most effective tool we have in our "tool belt" to face life's challenges.

The last day of holiday club is always a bittersweet one; we spent the day celebrating the victory we have in Jesus, but ALL of us (adults and kids alike) knew in the back of our minds that this was the last time we'd see the kids on this trip. Sandy, the teacher at Hope Prep that originally cast the vision for this school for children affected by the AIDS pandemic, spent time with us after Friday's dinner telling us the heart breaking stories of several Hope Prep students. Now that we know their stories and have gotten to see how vibrant and loving these kids are in the midst of some extremely tragic circumstances, we are ready to come back to New York as ambassadors of sorts for these children, and for other people that face adversity. These children have forever changed our hearts, and we hope that the stories we have to tell upon our return will forever affect yours.

Everyone is packing up the van with our luggage, and they might leave me behind if I don't skeedaddle, so we'll leave you with a lyric from the praise song we sang most this week that I think captures the sentiment of all of us most closely as we depart. " He has made me glad, He has made me glad, let my soul rejoice for He has made me glad."

written by Hillary

Day 3 in Africa! Lions and Giraffes and Ostriches, oh my!

Today at Bible Boot Camp we focused on "TRUST."  Our memory verse for the day was "When I am afraid I will trust in you." Psalm 56:3. This verse was key to our introduction to the story of Daniel in the lion's den.

The children arrived late today because of the rainy weather but were excited, as usual, to learn, play and interact with us. Today was a bit challenging because of the weather, we had to stay inside with the children but they did their best with being indoors all day.

In craft class, Joanne continued helping the children to build their tool belt and they wrote "trust" today on their stones and made lion puppets. At story time, Laura and Tre led a game of trust before telling the story of Daniel and the lion's den. The children were so excited to act out the story! In music, Jeremy continues to introduce new songs to the children which they catch on to quickly. Adam had a challenging day leading recreation indoors but he stepped up to the challenge and the children enjoyed the games they were able to play inside!

We enjoyed interacting with the children very much today! We were sad to leave them a little early but had to make it to the SAFARI! The team was excited to hit the game drive! Once we arrived, we had a chance to interact with cheetahs! Everyone got a chance to touch the cheetah which was really exciting! We saw giraffes, ostriches, zebras, wildebeest, beautiful colorful birds, rhinos and empalas. The most terrifyingly exhilarating experience was the lion's cage! The lions literally came up to our land rover. We all survived! :-)

Written by Aisha

Day 2 was a blast!

Today at Bible Boot Camp we focused on obedience. Joshua 24:24 states, "We will serve the Lord our God, and we will obey Him." This verse was the cornerstone of our craft and Bible story, Joshua and the wall of Jericho.

The kids welcomed us yet again with open arms ready to learn about the tools the Lord provides. Every day we face challenges, therefore we are focusing on helping the kids cope with everyday strife. Examples are families affected by HIV or AIDS, insufficient funds to pay for basic needs, and various types of abuse. These kids want to be loved, and that is just what we are doing. We are not only teaching them, but they are teaching us to be satisfied with the little things in life. They love to be hugged and played with, and braid our hair. These braids usually result in a massive ball of knots, but they sure have fun styling our hair!

Our craft for today was to first write "courage" on their second stone, or tool, for their tool belt. Then, they colored and decorated construction paper representing the horns that blew right before the wall of Jericho came tumbling down. Joanne is doing a wonderful job running our craft rotation! At story time, Laura and Tre brilliantly demonstrated how the wall of Jericho fell down. The kids patiently waited as the wall slowly crumbled, then cheered as the wall completely fell.

Jeremy is leading our music rotation, and these kids absolutely love to sing! It warms our hearts to know that they are learning the same hymns and songs that many of us learned as kids. Their faces light up when they sing, and it brings smiles to our faces. Adam is leading game time, and of course every child loves to run, scream, and engage in friendly competition. 

It is a complete joy to interact with these children. We are greatly impressed with how polite the kids are. They say please when they are asking for something, and know when to say thank you. Tomorrow's lesson focus is faith.

Side note: we have hundreds of pictures, but we haven't been able to upload any just yet. Stay tuned!

Written by Savanna and Hillary

We have arrived!

Hello friends and family!

We arrived Saturday afternoon safely at East London Airport. We were welcomed that evening at a Braai (South African BBQ) at Pastor Barry's home. Everything was delicious!

Sunday morning we attended church services at First City Baptist Church and Shad Mashologu Memorial Baptist Church. Unfortunately for the attendees at the Shad Mashoulogu Memorial Baptist Church we were asked to lead a song on stage. Our attempt at singing "Amazing Grace" was shameful compared to the beautiful voices of the Khosa women. Following church Bebe and his wife Ethene welcomed us into their home for a Sunday lunch comparable to that of our Thanksgiving Dinner! After lunch, it was back to the church to plan for Holiday Club. We spent a couple of hours prepping crafts, stories, and sorting all of the supplies we brought. Thank you so much to everyone who donated supplies and clothing...they have been and will continue to be a great blessing! Just when we thought we had eaten enough food for the day, it was off to Paula and Louie's for dinner.

This morning it was up at the crack of dawn to start Holiday Club! We were greeted by 100+ children who were divided into 4 groups, and who were rotated through 4 stations: Story, Craft, Games, and Music. Our theme for the week is "Bible Boot Camp" which will equip the children to face life's challenges and giants. Today's focus was on courage and we used the story of David and Goliath to illustrate this point. Overall it was a crazy morning meeting all of the kids, but they were very happy to have us and we were even more overjoyed to show them God's love. Following Holiday Club, we split into 3 teams: 1 team went on a tour of the villages with Bebe, 1 team painted the outside wall of the newest building which will house grades 5-7 in the future, and the last team shoveled fill and debris to form a platform which will hold the school's new water tanks. These water tanks will collect rainwater which will supply the school with the water it needs and therefore eliminate the need for the schools to pay for city supplied water.

Currently, we are prepping crafts and props for tomorrow's lesson, so tune in tomorrow to hear all about that!

 Love,
Hillary and Stacey

Getting ready to send The Journey's 10th Team to East London

One week from today the Journey's 10th mission team will head to East London, South Africa, to partner with First City Baptist Church and the many outreach programs it supports.  We're excited to send a team of 15 people over the July 4th holiday week. 

More to come!