I spent the past month in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa; a beach town that gets swarmed by professional and amateur surfers alike each year to surf what’s considered the best “tubing right hand point break” in the world. To me the town felt like a beach town off the coast of North Carolina, so I felt super at home here. It’s full of delicious coffee shops and cute boutiques, tons of surf lesson shops and surfing apparel factory shops, with the most well-known one being Billabong.
My team and another team, 1010 Fierce, were partnered with a ministry called Global Leadership Academy, or GLA. GLA is actually a high school that was started by former Global Challengers (which is basically South Africa’s version of the World Race). We stayed on the high school’s campus at a hostel that situated in the upstairs of a primary school. We were surrounded by cows and other wildlife, we could see huge windmills cycling every day on the mountainside in response to the very strong winds that sweep through Jbay pretty much 24/7, we were five minutes from a cute farmers market that would set up on Saturdays and a decent mall where most of us stocked up on warmer clothes to catch a break from the wind.
Ministry: We had various ministry projects we were a part of this month. They were all so great and I’d love to explain about each one!
- In the mornings we had a team working on a log home being built in memory of Austin and Rebekah Wesson. Austin was a Global Challenger and Rebekah was a World Racer from Kansas. The two met when Rebekah was in her last country of the race and working with GLA. They fell in love and began dating after she finished the race. They then were engaged to marry and while Austin was visiting Rebekah in the states, working to obtain his US Visa, they actually decided to go ahead and be legally married at a courthouse to make the Visa process go smoother. The day after they said “I do,” they were in a tragic car accident where both of them lost their earthly lives. However, because they were devout followers of Jesus, we know they’re celebrating with their savior in Heaven and more alive than they’ve ever been. In honoring their desire to spread the gospel to the nations, the log home is being built in their legacy to house future missionaries that will work with GLA. Actually, the next World Race team that is coming in December should be staying in the house we helped to build! Some of us chinked outside, filling in the gaps between the logs with insulation. Others sanded floors or stained the door frames, and in so many more ways had a hand in progressing the log home towards completion.
- A man from Scotland, who we call “Uncle Ian,” spends three months every year with Global Leadership Academy helping to serve them in any way he can. This year he was a tremendous help with the log home project. Along with his heart for serving, he also has a heart for conducting choirs, so he had a dream that those who would work on the log home would also put on a concert at their local church on one Sunday. So we had the privilege of spending most afternoons of our first two weeks in South Africa, singing with Uncle Ian in the upstairs of the unfinished log home. The smell of saw dust filled the air, and the windy Jbay breeze swept through open windows as we pieced together a song about God’s love and the power of his Holy Spirit as the “Jbay Choir.”
- Some others on our team served at a school called Ithemba, where local kids would come in the mornings for school and in the afternoons for after-school tutoring. We taught on everything from English to different types of transportation. We let kids pull our hair, climb all over us on the playground, give us endless hugs every day, and touch our hearts with their beautiful smiles and warm spirits. These kids come from the less wealthy part of town and sometimes their only meal once a day at the school. In Jbay, there is a distinct divide between the wealthier, mostly white south Africans who live on properties surrounded by gates and security systems and the more poor, usually black or colored south Africans, who live in either small brick buildings built by the government and given for free to them, or in tiny make-shift homes in the squatter camps made from metal scraps and plastic. This divide is deeper than a racial injustice conversation, and I don’t mean to make it about that at all because there is so much more to the story about why there is such a divide, but it’s hard to deny the striking difference as you drive a couple of blocks down the road. The teachers try their best to invest in these kids, encouraging them to dream and work hard towards those dreams and it was an honor to be apart of what they’re doing for a short while.
- We also worked with another after school tutoring program called “Beats and Books.” This program allows kids to come in the afternoons to worship, learn how to play instruments of their choosing, and then have the opportunity to work on their homework as well. Some of our more musically inclined teammates assisted with this program, myself not included, haha. Those that did help with Beats and Books loved it and even got to see some of the kids they worked with perform in the worship band one Sunday at the local church.
- One week, a few of us were asked to work with an organization called Timion at a camp for kids diagnosed with cerebral palsy. To read more about my experience with that camp, click here.
- Lastly, my team and I were asked to spend our last full week in South Africa at an overnight leadership camp put on by an organization called UCSA, which stands for “Uniting Christian Student Association” of South Africa. This program is allowed in to the public schools of South Africa and has locations in every province of the country. In the schools, they teach bible lessons to the kids, encouraging them in their faith. Abby and I had the opportunity to go to one of the schools in Port Elizabeth and teach lessons to their 6th grade classes on the importance of community, the power of prayer and unique gifts from the Lord. It was such a good experience for me to grow in the area of teaching kids stories from the bible and making it applicable to them. Then at camp, we had groups of students from two different schools from Port Elizabeth. The students coming were interested in becoming “prefects” which is basically a teacher’s aide. They receive a leadership role among their peers to help be a mediator between the staff and the rules of the school and the rest of the students. In order to become a prefect, they come to these leadership camps to learn important skills and characteristics of leadership. Our role was to be group leaders to help facilitate activities and conversations about leadership. This camp was a little crazy and a lot of fun. Our team grew so much closer together from this week at camp and we loved being a part of the UCSA staff, even if only for a week.
Community: As we poured ourselves out into the ministry opportunities, the community of Jbay poured into us.
- First, there was Austin’s family, Wendy, Roger and Candace Wesson. I can’t even begin to describe the love poured out by them. We felt welcomed into their family and into their home. Wendy made our dinners during the week, including traditional South African meals, and they were always delicious. Roger played his guitar to accompany our choir practices and performance. Candace quickly became a friend and a little sister to our group. They even invited us over for a movie night and a Braai (what we would consider a cookout). They told us stories about Austin and Rebekah, which made working on the log home even more special as we felt like we actually knew them from their stories and family’s testimony. The Wesson’s brought me so much joy, love and comfort this month and I’m so thankful to have met them!
- There were also the interns at global: Luctor, Garreth, Pieter, and Danelle. These four did so much for us while we were in Jbay, including overstuffing us in their cars to and from ministry sites, welcoming us into the community and becoming close friends. All four of them had done Global Challenge, so it basically felt like we were hanging out with alumni world racers the whole month. We loved hearing the stories they shared from their journey and were encouraged by their faith
- The Global community at large was also amazing. Three mornings a week they would meet for prayer, worship and a bible study which we got to be a part of. Here we made connections and established relationships. We collectively poured into one another and uplifted each other’s faith. This community is full of people completely sold out for Jesus and the mission God placed on Christ followers to be love and spread the gospel to the nations.
- Lastly, our ministry host Anita and her family were amazing. Anita was on the first team to be sent out for Global Challenge which actually partnered with a group of Americans for the first World Race as well. She is a big reason why there is such a strong partnership with World Race and Global Challenge and she’s the reason it was possible for us to come to Jbay to serve this month. Anita did everything she could do for us to make us comfortable during our stay. She always checked on how we were doing, encouraging us with prayer, and ensuring we had everything we needed. She made our experience in Jbay go so smoothly and I can’t wait to see all that she continues to do for God’s kingdom.
My heart: I also experienced a lot of growth this month. God demonstrated his provision the most to me. I struggled a lot the first two months in feeling like there was more I should be doing for the kingdom than what I had been doing. The race was beginning to feel uncomfortable and I didn’t feel like myself most days. However, God is good and is faithful to respond when we cry out to him. Through Jbay, God provided a community that made me feel like I was back at my home church in Richmond, Virginia. He spoke to me many times this month about how to love my teammates well and taught me a lot about what it looks like to fully surrender to his way of doing things and not to rely on my flesh. He showed up for my team by providing us with strength and endurance to make it through the week at camp where we were each feeling pretty burnt out before the week even started. He refreshed us and gave us the energy we needed in order to love the kids well all week long. Throughout the month of South Africa, he uplifted me, rejuvenated my spirit and my faith in him and gifted me with a sort of revival I can’t explain. I felt so much joy and peace this month. I experienced God’s love and power like never before. This month may have been the most comfortable of the race so far because of all of the westernized comforts it offered, but it still didn’t stop God from doing a good work in my heart and in the hearts of those we came in contact with. Being on a mission trip doesn’t always look like going to the poorest places and evangelizing every day, although that piece is extremely important and is the reason we go on mission trips in the first place, but there is also room for God to work in the hearts of those who already know him as Almighty. Using our faith to stir up and encourage others’ faith in the countries we visit through discipleship and fellowship is still a very vital piece to furthering kingdom.
Thank you for reading this really lengthy post about a really great month spent in South Africa. In a few days I’ll be off to Botswana to start month number four!!! Excited to see how God is going to show up this month!
