Our Trip to East London - July 2014

We're almost ready to leave for our trip to East London on Friday.  We will be posting more regular updates to The Journey's Facebook page.

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