“The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9
This bit of scripture has managed to find it’s way into my head almost daily over the past week or so. As I write this blog from Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, I can’t help but think of how it’s been through the Lord alone that I’ve even been able to establish a step here. The proverb stated above says that the heart of a man plans his way. I suppose that the heart for missions, which was sparked in me through a trip to Nicaragua just over two years ago, has a lot to with the plan for me to be here and now. However, when I think of the planning that went into the very existence of myself in South Africa right here and now, I don’t actually see my own hand in having much at all to do with those plans! My original plans for the world race found themselves interrupted by a global pandemic. My follow up plans to travel to Malaysia turned into plans for Romania, which turned into Colombia, which then turned into Swaziland. Our final plan to serve in Swaziland was even then changed within the final week before our departure! I guess all that introduction to say that even though it wasn’t exactly my plan to be here in South Africa right now, I really feel that the Lord has certainly established me in Jeffrey’s Bay right now for good reason and for His purpose. I’ve been here for two weeks now, and have already made some great relationships with great new friends who make me feel right at home, and right where the Lord has planned.
My team and I are currently staying on the campus of Global Leadership Academy. GLA is a Christian high school with an enrollment of roughly 360 students (grades 8-12). We’re not really working directly with the school, but we call the GLA home for now, as we’re staying in a designated missions house located here on the school campus. I would describe the GLA high school to be just one function of a larger Global community. There are Sunday church services held here on this campus, an entire Global missions branch focused on missions and outreach, along with two additional school campuses for primary and intermediate students. There is a program here called Global Challenge that was actually started up by the same group of people that pioneered the world race! The Global Challenge Expedition program is basically the South African version of the world race where participants travel to different countries and ministries throughout the world over the course of a year. There was some uncertainty about whether or not their program would happen this year with the ongoing pandemic, but they now have four ladies in the program that arrived to the mission house at GLA to begin training just a week before our world race team arrived. Our teams are staying together here on the GLA campus, and we’ve quickly become like a family. One of the girls, Clarissa, plays the ukulele. I have my guitar along here as well so we’ve had a lot of fun playing together when we can and we’ve even able to help lead some worship with our group a couple of times!
The GLA high school campus. I grabbed this photo from the upper level of the mission house where we are staying.
We hit the ground running here in South Africa and for our first week, we actually went away with a group of about 40 people from the Global community for a four day, activity filled camping trip. Forget about the jet lag! The group was made up of our world race team, the four ladies from the global challenge program, a handful of long term missionaries that are preparing and waiting on covid restrictions to lift so they can be sent through the Global missions branch to teaching positions in China and places throughout the 10/40 window, leaders from the Global missions department, and a group of people from the GLA teacher internship program who are training at GLA to become teachers. There was quite some variety within our group, but we came together and really built some great friendships through those four days, living amongst each other’s tents.
The campsite was about an hour away, beside a lake in a very quiet rural landscape. Our days there were pretty filled up, but we still found time between sessions and activities to cool off in the lake! We formed ourselves into small groups for deeper discussion amongst everyone, and some of the topics we discussed throughout the four days included the meaning of Jesus being Lord of our lives, remaining faithful to Him, understanding God’s will for our lives , and what obedience to His call might look like to each of us. Definitely some thought provoking topics, but I was so thankful for the opportunity to take the time to discuss and actually reach some resolves in my head to some of those thoughts! It was really a pretty incredible opportunity to connect with people from different walks of life, but yet all with a common purpose in Gods kingdom. I left feeling quite thankful for the week, and even more so for the way that the Lord continues to guide the paths of my life. Only He could ordain such a week out in the middle of nowhere at some South African campsite!
The Camping Crew!
We took some time to rest and relax over the weekend, as well as explore some of the local shops and restaurants within Jeffrey’s Bay. We also slotted into a couple different church service groups Sunday morning, meeting some more faces from the Global community.
Week two continued on with more of a training structure than the ministry/ outreach that’s usually more typical of the world race. The second week also began the first day of school at GLA, with students returning from their summer break. The school is able to meet at full capacity, with masks and hand sanitizing implemented.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings of this past week each started off in the school office/lounge area, gathered with most everyone from the camping trip group. We divided into smaller groups to pray for different matters, and were then given Bible reading assignments following the prayer time. Tuesday and Thursday mornings were spent in our small groups from camp to discuss the assigned readings that were given to us. Each morning began at 8am with either group prayer or small group bible study. What a nice way to start each day!
Monday to Friday, from 10am to noon, we also were given the opportunity to hear from long term missionaries, who have either since retired from going out or are currently on hold due to the pandemic. It was quite a treat to hear all their stories from each of their own locations of mission and ask any questions we might have. They each shared about both struggles and victories they encountered, along with much insight and advice for us. I was really intrigued in the way that each of them stressed an importance of having support from home and people to back them up when the going gets tough. The analogy of a worker going down into a mine with a rope tied around his waist was given to us. Missionaries going to the nations are like the workers headed into the mine and have a need for people to hold the other end of the rope for them. They need people who will support, encourage and pray for them on the other end of their rope.
I know that ALL of God’s people are called to go out and make disciples. It would be a selfish dishonor to keep the marvelous news of salvation to ourselves. However, if the Lords plan for our lives includes making disciples within our own communities rather than across the oceans, I think it’s still crucial to remember the work of those that the Lord has called to minister to the nations. They need people on the other end to hold the rope for them, and we’re all called to bring universal worship to this world together! The missionaries and missionary couples who spoke to us were certainly a blessing and great motivation to further God’s kingdom.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons of this past week were spent doing more manual service type work. GLA recently purchased a plot of adjacent land for possible future expansions. The land was previously used as a cattle pasture, and contained several pesky thorn bushes that needed to be removed. Our world race team, along with the Global Challenge girls went to work to uproot the thorn bushes and attempted to avoid the inevitable pricks through our gloves here and there. Those afternoons were pretty hot and long, but we made the best of them and the land is nearly thorn bush free as it sits now! I’m not sure what will become of the land in the future, but I know that GLA will use it in the best way they see fit for Gods kingdom in the coming years.
Standing victorious next to our stack of thorn bushes! The four ladies beside me are the South Africans from the Global Challenge program. From right to left – Une, Clarissa, Adri, and Anre.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons of this past week, we got to help out at an afterschool program called beats and books. The students that attend beats and books come from a much less resourced area of Jeffrey’s Bay and attend the public school system. The public school doesn’t start up again until February 15, so our work at beats and books this past week involved cleaning the building that they utilize and organizing books on shelves for the students. Once school starts back up on the 15th, the program will resume at beats and books, and students will receive an after school snack/meal along with assistance from volunteers with any math, spelling or general homework that they have. The students can also practice reading from the extensive beats and books library. The beats portion of beats and books comes from music lessons that are also offered to the students, along with times of worship in singing. It seems like such a cool opportunity for deserving kids to receive help, so I’m looking forward to helping out there once the students begin attending!
I think that’s the summary of most everything from these first couple of weeks in South Africa! I’m doing well and thankful for the opportunity to spend time learning, growing and serving here. South Africa’s covid numbers have thankfully been on a steady decline since our arrival, and Jeffrey’s Bay seems to be a pretty quiet area as well.
The GLA campus is a 5-10 minute taxi ride from the main swimming beach here in Jeffrey’s Bay, but all public beaches were initially closed upon our arrivals to try and limit large gathering sizes over the busy summer holiday season. However, we were all excited to hear that the president reopened all the beaches this past Monday! We’ve taken advantage of the ocean a few times since then, and the thought of running into the water for an evening swim was a real motivator to press through in pulling all those thorn bushes!!
I’m not exactly sure what this next week ahead will bring for our team. The Global mission leadership people say that they’ve got plans for us, but are leaving it to a surprise for now. I’m not sure if I should be excited or nervous about that! I did hear talk of some more training and possibly some outreach later in the week. Looking beyond next week, we’ll be beginning an intensive 2 week bible training course on the Monday of February 15, which will occupy four hours of each morning. We’ve been told that the curriculum focuses not only on Bible knowledge, but also ways to apply it and put it into motion in our lives. This kind of course is not exactly typical of world race ministry, but I’m really looking forward to the Bible training and digging deeper into scripture. I think it’s really going to be a blessing. The beats and books ministry also begins that Monday the 15th, so our afternoons will be spent helping out with the students there.
Looking even beyond those two weeks and into the month of March, we’re still uncertain about the option of entering into Swaziland. They’re experiencing higher covid numbers and full hospitals with the country remaining in a lockdown. If we’re unable to move forward to Swaziland, we will likely join the Global Challenge girls in their plans to head to a much more rural and less developed part of South Africa called the Transkei, joining them in ministry there. In the same way that I began this blog, I remain confident that the Lord will establish our steps and guide us to wherever He has planned.
As always, thanks for catching up with me! That was a lot of reading so cheers to you if you made it through! Your prayers are always appreciated and I’m so glad to have so much support from such great community back home. God Bless!
