It all started with a World Racer and a Global Challenger who fell in love.
Last year, a Global Challenger named Austin fell in love with a World Racer by the name of Rebekah. Since Rebekah was still in her 11 month journey, and Austin was interning at GLA, many people advised Austin to focus on his studies. But he couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind. After much fasting and prayer, he knew God had let their paths cross for a reason. Once Rebekah’s journey was over, Austin headed to the States so they could get married. They got busy planning their wedding but due to some international paperwork requirements, they had to get married at the courthouse. The day after their courthouse marriage, they were both in a fatal car accident.
But their legacy lives on!
In memory of Austin and Rebekah, Global Challenge started construction on a log cabin here at the GLA base. And I have been privileged to work on it all month! GLA hopes to have it finished soon so World Race teams (as well as many others) will be able to stay there.
My work assignment for the first week was mostly work on the second floor. We sanded it as smooth as we could, desperately trying to keep the sawdust out of our eyes that got blown around by the stiff JBay wind. There were a few times when our progress was stalled a bit because of other work on the house, such as the floor above us being installed, or the staircase being put in, or the chinking in the walls being finished. We finally did get half of the floor sanded and two coats of sealing on it. How smooth and shiny it looks. By the end of our time here, I am pretty much determined to have that whole second floor looking shiny and hopefully stained as well.
Other work we’ve done on the house has included stuffing the cracks between the logs with insulation, pounding the nails in on top of it, painting boards for the eaves, staining windows and doorways, and I even tried my hand at laying a few boards of flooring. The first few days some of the team spent lots of time cleaning up the construction site, and it made such a difference! We got to jump on some old boards to break them in half so they would fit in the dumpster.
Why do I like this work so much? I’ve been trying to figure that out, because I really loved our ministry this month so much! A lot of it is just because it’s hard work. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to work with things I haven’t before. I love the smell of wood and the feel of a smooth floor after hours of sanding. And then there’s Uncle Ian! He’s from Scotland and he comes to South Africa and stays for 3 months at a time, using his carpentry skills in whatever way needed at the moment. He loves his work and seeing that has made me fall in love with the work as well. He also is a choir conductor so one thing he got us all to do was learn a song! On our second Sunday here, the log cabin crew plus a few others sang our song for the church celebration.
A big reason why I love this ministry is the story behind it. I’m in awe of the way God works and the ways He’s provided for this project to be possible. Austin’s parents, Wendy and Roger and little sister moved from their home in Cape Town to live here where Austin’s story lives on. When I see Roger working on the home, I see commitment and love flowing from him. And Wendy’s amazing food every evening is made with so much love! This couple and their daughter, Candace, have been such a blessing in my life – more than they will ever know!
This aspect of ministry has definitely been a blessing to me and I will be very sad to leave it!
Global Challenge:
A bit of back-story for this ministry here. In 2006, a group from South Africa and a group from the US did a year of travelling the world doing ministry together as a sort of trial run for the World Race. The US group went home and started the World Race with AIM (Adventures in Missions). And the South African group formed the Global Challenge with Global Leadership Academy as their base.
