Another update blog, another month, another country, and another continent!
My team and I have made it safely to our ministry site in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa after FIVE DAYS OF TRAVEL.
Anyway… here are some updates!
Ministry :
This month my team and I are serving alongside an organization called Global Leadership Academy or Global Challenge. This organization is basically the South African Adventures in Missions and World Race. We are serving with four interns that love and take care of us SO well. Our mornings are spent at a construction site on campus building a log home. The log home will be a hostel for future missionaries and teams coming to serve GLA. It is being built in memory of a previous World Racer and Global Challenge newlywed couple Austin and Rebecca. We climb up scaffoldings to insulate between the logs, hammer nails, sand floors, stain wood, and clean up the construction site. It is an honor to work with the rest of the crew and make Austin and Rebecca’s parents dream come to reality.
In the afternoon, our teams are split between serving at an elementary school called Ithemba and the organization Beats and Books. I have been serving at Beats and Books and it has been the highlight of my entire month! It is an after school program that begins with worship and prayer, teaching the kids what it means to praise God and what words to use while praying to him. We also break up into different groups, half of the kids go to music lessons and the other kids do homework and learn English. I have the opportunity to teach a boy named Alex how to play the clarinet! We practice scales and then rehearse a song I printed off for us to learn together (All Star by Smashmouth featured on Shrek the movie.) The other day at Beats and Books, I got to have a one-on-one drum lesson with a little girl and we played through the Moana soundtrack on the conga drums. I am loving ministry this month, the people we are serving with, and the beauty of Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa.
Community :
My team is serving alongside team Gospel Girls while in South Africa. We are also blessed to have our Squad Leader LeAnn with us for a few weeks! Since our ministry is targeted towards very specific needs in the community, we are able to make strong relationships with the people at each location. For example, we sang in a South African choir conducted by Uncle Ian, our log house carpenter from Scotland. The Lord blesses us with the most random things, honestly.
Prayer Requests :
Please pray for strength in spiritual disciplines, a healthy balance between hope for the future and being present where I am, and please pray for perseverance to share the stories I have! I have been struggling to keep you all updated… I procrastinate and undermine the importance of sharing my experiences. The enemy is a deceiver and I know the Lord is going to give me the words to share because He wants me to share what He is doing in my life!
Thank you for supporting me and following my journey, month 3/11 let’s GO!
TTFN,
Claire
What I’ve been reading lately :
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
Basic Discipleship by Floyd McClung
