Thursday, January 9, 2014 we started our travels to South Africa. We flew out of Atlanta, GA at 6pm and finally arrived in Johannesburg 15 hours later. As we were boarding the plane I was eagerly looking for who I’d be sitting next to the entire plane ride. I saw one gentleman sitting in the end seat (later would find out his name….Gabriel) and the other one was empty. In a way I wanted to sit by someone from our squad, but I love getting to know other people as well…so I felt like God was already beginning this journey by telling me…yes, this is a journey with your squad but I want you to also remember this is about others.
I begin taking my backpack off and Gabriel immediately took my backpack for me and placed it above our seat. I sat in my seat and before long another nice gentleman sat next to me. I chatted with one (Ian) and he began telling me he was from South Africa. He and his family had been in America visiting LA, NYC, Florida and some other places. He was such a kind-hearted man and he told me places I should make sure we visit.
I knew this was going to be a long plane ride and didn’t plan on sleeping much so I thought I’d watch a few movies. The first one I picked out was “The Lucky One”. I had already seen it, but wanted to watch it again because I felt so lucky to be going on this journey around the world to see God’s creation. As the movie plays the very first few lines are…
“You know the smallest thing can change your life… in a blink of an eye something happens by chance when you least expect it….sets you onto a course you never planned into a future you never imagined. Where will it take you? That’s the journey of our lives…our search for the light, but sometimes finding the light means it must pass through the darkness…at least that’s how it was for me!”
I immediately got teary-eyed because I knew this was God! Here I am getting ready to take-off to Africa on a journey I only had imagined….but never really thought it would become reality. I’m so excited to finally be LIVING the dreams I have always wanted to be my reality. I feel like I have searched and searched, passed through the darkness in my life, finally found the light, and now here I am!
After finally arriving to Johannesburg the next day at 4pm, we all slept in the airport until our bus would leave the next morning. There were several of us who woke up around 130 am and stayed up in the airport all morning while the others slept!! J We had to be ready to move our stuff early in the morning and we would depart on the bus to the bus station. Oh travel days….now I know! J Our bus ride was a long 18+ hours, but worth every ache, numbness, sweat droplets, stinkiness, no room to sleep…use your neighbor as a pillow! J It will definitely be a memory I never forget and cherish…
We arrive in Cape Town 730 Sunday morning…FINALLY!! Everyone was sooooo excited to meet our contacts and get off the bus of course. Global Rootz (my team) meets Mike, Paul, and Robbie who will be working with us this month as we do Kingdom Sports and other ministries around town! They are all so kind and such a blessing to have as hosts. Mike informs us we are immediately leaving the bus station to drop our bags off, freshen up and head to church! You would think everyone would complain but all of a sudden our energy levels shifted and we were ready to start a full day…whether we only had a few hours of sleep or not!
Church was absolutely welcoming and I felt like I was in the south. We began with praise and then Pastor Paul preached. As we were praising and worshiping I remember looking around thinking how amazing it was to be in another country, with different cultures and backgrounds…yet all there to serve the same purpose….to worship and praise our Lord Jesus. It doesn’t matter the color of our skin, where we are from, how we grew up…none of this matters!! It’s all about Jesus and we are all gathered there to celebrate what He was done for us. After church they served food and coffee/tea. I love they are such a tight knit community. Many of them were raised here in South Africa and shared many stories with us.
God has been doing some exciting things just this first week…we were actually on the Cape Town radio station the very first night we arrived in Cape Town. Over 125,000 people heard us share God’s love and our purpose of being here in the country. We started the first 2 days off with house maintenance…painting walls, windows, garden work…etc. We have been a little spoiled this week so far and got to hang out at the beach and even did praise and worship one night watching the sun set. Wednesday morning we did a prayer drive and visited the slums.
There is so much more I could type and say but will leave it for my journal! J If there is one thing I can say last it would be how LUCKY I am. We don’t have to remain in the dreams we long for…continually search for the desires God placed in you and turn them into reality…don’t allow any more time to pass with simple dreams of what you want to do in life…one day you’ll look back and time will have gone by and what will you have? Only dreams…..it’s time to put them into motion!
Travel light, spread the light, be the light.
