Video from the Township

Incredible Experience in the Townships

On Friday,  March 26th was such a heart felt experience spending the afternoon with Metro Kids. It was such a sad experience seeing how the kids live in the townships.  There were games, music, and a message about Easter.  Its a great ministry to show God's love to the kids in the townships.  The kids were well behaved and appreciate the love that we showed them.

Bri :)

Amazing Cape Town Experiences

On Wed., March 24th, we had an incredible day. The focus for the team was to spend time at Camp Sonshine. This ministry works with children from an extremely poor area of Cape Town that need help with education basics. Because the local public school can have up to 55+ students in a class (one teacher, no assistant). As a result, many students fall through the massive cracks - often failing to learn to even read and write. Camp Sonshine works on the public school campus in cooperation with the school. The Camp Sonshine staff is able to pull students out from their normal classes to tutor them in reading, writing and math. The goal is to bring the students up to basic education standards - so that ultimately they can attend and succeed in high school. After a few hours at the school, we were taken by Alison (Camp Sonshine) to meet two families that are being touched by the program. The first family lived in a 10x12 metal shack (think tool shed). In it, 5 people slept - and lived. No heat, no electric, no water, no sewer, no heat. All this and a 8 month old baby! The baby could not have been any sweeter or happier with us. Next we met Amy - an incredible woman of God. Here refrigerator was empty, her 39 yr old son was laying in his room recovering from a gunshot wound - yet, she beamed a faith in God and His goodness that broke the team into tears. Following these visits, the team went shopping for both families - allowing us to present them with food and key provisions. We will never forget our time with these two families.
Brian Sholly

Tuesday in Cape Town

Tuesday was out third full day in Cape Town, and we had another full day of activities. In the morning, we met at South point Church to learn a little more about their youth activities from Colin, Kathy and Trudi. Waumba Land and UpStreet have been a key part of the church's ministry to their members and attendees, as well as the community. Throughout the week we heard several stories of how even the youngest children remember the lessons they learn on Sunday morning. The church has been successful at reaching kids in the community who might not have otherwise attended church, and the programs have also been an entry point for parents who start attending after seeing how much their kids love the church (there is a twist!). Recognizing that it is truly the parents who most influence the children, South Point has a Parent Connection to assist parents in their influence of their children. With the success of these programs comes the need for several more volunteers and possibly more staff members, and this was one of the prayer requests of the staff.

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to go to the waterfront for lunch. Cape Town has a beautiful harbor! We had some great seafood at Quay Four, and took a mini-tour of the harbor and waterfront shops.

Tuesday evening was our opportunity to have dinner with the volunteers of the childrens programs. We all had a great time getting to know the volunteers and hearing some great success stories. The church is definitely in great shape as far as the dedication and focus of this group!

Later Tuesday evening we had another great surprise, as Mary finally made it to Cape Town.

Monday, March 22

Hello all!
What an amazing time we are having in South Africa. Today we focused on sharing and planning a dinner for our partners at SouthPoint Church. Tonight we met with the volunteers from Group Life, Starting Point, Host Teams and Service Programming. Isn’t it interesting when you “go to serve” that you walk away being the one blessed by everyone else? I always find that concept so refreshing and surprising.
We are feeling so loved and welcomed. This is a city with mind-blowing beauty. Reminds me a bit of Hawaii, but not as humid. Yesterday we went to Table Mountain, took communion and prayed over this city. So far, that has been the most moving experience. Pictures will post soon…...
We are hopeful that the last member of our team will arrive tomorrow night. There was a big mix-up with her Visa, so that has been a disappointment, but we are trusting that she will be here tomorrow. Her name is Mary and we ask that you pray for her as she makes a very long trip here to Cape Town.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers….for our health, safety and impact.
God Bless!
Dana

Arrival!

28 hours after departing from Atlanta, and one missed flight connection later, we safely arrived in Cape Town on Saturday night.  Warmly greeted by our team member Brian, Pan Stabler and company from Southpoint, we were whisked to our hotel, a 10 minute drive from the airport. Even in the dark-Cape Town was intriguing: we could faintly see a dark outline of Table Mountain from the front steps of our hotel, however our fatigue and tiredness from travel kicked in and we headed to bed, eager to get some rest before our first full day in Africa.  

All of us but one team member made it on Saturday night-Mary did not have a full extra page in her passport and therefore was not allowed to board our plane for Joburg.  Please pray for her! She is flying to the passport office first thing Monday morning and will hopefully be on a plane to Africa not long after that.  

Sunday morning we went to Southpoint, helped volunteer at their first service (in Upstreet, Wauma, and on Host Team), and attended the 2^nd service.  We were so warmly welcomed into their church family-it was unbelievable! We’re so looking forward to spending time with the many people we met today.  After church, we headed to the former location of Southpoint (then called Stellenburg) for a bbq. We met many of the church elders, leadership, and their beautiful families. 

By mid-afternoon the sun burned off the fog and we headed up Table Mountain!  We shared communion and powerful prayers with our new Southpoint friends, followed by a lively dinner on the water front.   Many laughs, pictures, and yawns later, we headed back to our hotel.

Lord, what do you have in store for us this week? If it is anything like today, it will be far beyond what we can comprehend and we are so grateful! 

Blessed Adventure

As I look forward to our much anticipated departure to Cape Town, South Africa, I’ve begun to ponder the adventure the Lord has in store for us. In many respects, I have absolutely no idea what to expect. I have never been on a mission trip nor have I been to Africa. But one thing I do know for sure, is that God has something extraordinary planned for each of us. While listening to everyone’s testimony during our time in the mountains, it occurred to me that God has brought each of us to a point where we could serve. None of us had perfect parents, we’ve suffered from our own poor decision making and all of us have experienced disappointments. But despite these things, God showed us His favor upon us and decided to use very broken people in His incredible story. Just a few years ago, I would have never dreamt that I’d be going to South Africa on a mission trip. Back then, my life was far from God and I was incapable of serving anyone other than myself. For me, being on this GlobalX team is proof that God is faithful and that He will never leave me no matter what condition I am in. And it is for this reason the following verse has brought me incredible joy: Psalm 91:1“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

-Darrel Richardson

We leave next week - Whoop, whoop!

It's hard to believe that in 8 days our team will be on our way to  Cape Town!  

I'm so excited and ready to be there.  Southpoint is doing amazing things in that city and it's going to be such a great privilege to help them and encourage their staff and leaders.  I'm really excited to be able to spend some time in the townships helping with Metro Kids and Camp Sonshine. 

Our team is taking a TON of supplies, shoes, flip flops, rain slickers, school supplies and other stuff with us for these kids.  This is possible because of our generous supporters.  We were able to take some of our support and purchase these things for the kids.  So thank you to all of you who gave so generously to support us. 

Make sure you check our blog during the trip, I'm sure we will be posting pictures and have lots of great stories to share with ya'll. 

Going

I have always been an avid reader especially anything concerning biographies and historical fiction. My favorites are reading about the life of people who gave up a life of success to pursue a life of purpose, or better said the will of God in their lives. The ones that inspired me the most were the lives of Jim Elliott, Eric Liddell and George Mueller among many others. It is no coincidence that they all share a common trait, that of surrendering their life to the higher purpose of helping others while spreading the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In some of these cases they even lost their lives in that pursuit.

A few months ago, if you would of asked me if I would go on a mission trip, I would have said that was for the likes of Liddell, Elliott and Mueller but definitely not for me. When Andy would challenge the congregation to sign up, pray or support a mission trip, I would fall in the pray and support category never in the "go" category . I reasoned my younger daughter Heather had that gene in the family since she was pursuing a life in Missions so I had fulfilled my part. But as always is the case, God had something else in mind.

Early this year I sensed the Holy Spirit guiding me out of my comfort zone. It first started with Andy asking the congregation to consider going on a "vacation with purpose" with Globalx. That stuck to my mind, especially the pictures and testimonials of the people that had been on these trips. So I decided to take a leap of faith and sign up for the Cape town trip. It was the best decision I ever made.

The members of my mission team are amazing, with a great passion for serving others and being used by God to further His kingdom. I have already seen the team effort and care in trying to collect our donations and help each other in others areas of our lives. I am so honored to be a part of such a great team.

Most of all, I thank God for showing me that all of us have the potential and characteristics to lead a life of purpose. He gives us all our little mission field to harvest. It is up to us to surrender our way to his way and see where that leads. I cannot wait to see all he has in store for us during this trip.

"then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? and who will go for us?

and I said,"Here am I. Send me! He said "Go" Isaiah 6:8

Support

This trip to Cape Town, South Africa will be my very first mission trip as well as my first visit to the continent of Africa. I have heard so many wonderful things about South Africa from people who have served there before me, and I am starting to eagerly anticipate what God has in store for our group and those we will be serving. One amazing aspect of the process so far has been watching the donations filter in over the past month or so. Every member of our group mailed letters to their friends and family in order to build a support group; well wishes, prayers and monetary donations were requested. Since then, I have watched some of my closest friends as well as my family show their support by donating to my cause, and I can not express in words how it feels to know how many people are proud of me and believe in my decision to serve on the other side of the world. Even more important are the conversations I am having with these people who are curious about my trip and want to know more. As I tell them more about the group and our mission, some of them seem to want this same opportunity, and I think that my decision to serve might actually inspire some of these people to think seriously about doing the same in the future.

I plan to give everything I can of myself, both physically and spiritually, while in Cape Town so that my support group can be proud and I can come home knowing that I made the most of this opportunity. My prayer is that the group will be open minded and receptive to anything the Lord presents us with, so that we can be a group that makes a lasting impression and a true difference at Southpoint Church as well as in the community of Cape Town.

Brad

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15 - 17

Preparing

I am excited that God had led me to participate on this mission trip to Cape Town, South Africa. God had given me the desire to use my abilities to serve and to continue my growth in relationships to impact people lives. While preparing for this trip I have been amazed on how God had led me to share with a lot more of my friends and family.

I am so blessed to be part of a great group and amazed on how God put this team together. In a short time we had bonded well as a team. I am looking forward to the next four weeks and seeing what God have in store for us and for us to grow stronger as team.

In Christ,

Bri

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight. -- Proverbs 3:5-6

Being Sent

I am so honored to have been chosen by God through GlobalX to lead this Connections trip to Southpoint Church in Cape Town, South Africa! I treasure my experience that I had on my first trip there last year and can't wait to return to this wonderful people, church, city and country.

When our team first started meeting, there was a theme that surfaced…that GOD CHOSE this team to be SENT BY HIM to Cape Town. What an amazing perspective that is ! I pray that we consistently focus on that, which will bring us outside of ourselves, thus allowing the Lord to do what He wants to through each one of us individually and collectively.

The vision and goals of this trip include:

• To leave Southpoint Church's leadership and volunteers more rejuvenated, more refreshed, more excited for what God is doing in Cape Town than they were when we got there
  
• To accomplish the above through prayer, relationship building, encouragement, service and celebration
  
• To build a team that is unified, positive, ready to go and eager to see what God has in store
• To allow God to foster spiritual and relational life change for each member of the team
• To strongly rely upon and yield to the Holy Spirit for guidance in preparation and to dictate the "agenda" during the trip
• To serve the community through Southpoint's Intersect partner ministries
• To have a ton of fun in the process!!!

As we have been preparing, we have gotten to know each other and are learning about prayer and the Holy Spirit. We have spent and will continue to spend time in prayer, speaking out so much to the Lord.

We leave in less than 5 weeks! Our hope is to use this blog to introduce ourselves to you, our friends at Southpoint, and to use it as a way to share prayer/support needs (yours and ours). We want all involved to know that when we land in Cape Town that we will collectively have been supported by a history of intentional prayer and focus.

We yield to the Holy Spirit and are eager to BE SENT!

~Tracy
(this is me...)

“His divine power has given us everything we need

for life and godliness through our knowledge of

Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”

2 Peter 1:3