Africa Trek Review

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread 

upon I have given to you  Joshua 1:9

To all who supported me, whether through prayer, financially (or both) I am so grateful. Without your support this experience would not have been possible. Your prayers were much needed and appreciated during my time in Africa. 

The Africa Trek began on September 1st in South Africa. We began our trip with around a week of team building and preparation for our trip. We had lots of bible studies and teachings and grew in unity as a team during this time. At the beginning of the trek our team consisted of 9 guys and 5 girls and 7 different nationalities. It is fun looking back to see how close we all got during our 3 months together. 

Our first ministry spot was at a children home in Nhlangano, Swaziland. Swaziland is a beautiful country and the farm we stayed on (where the childrens home was located) was truly a wonderful place. We nicknamed it the land flowing with milk and avocados, due to the insane amount of avocados we were given and the fresh milk we received every morning. The children at the home were so full of joy despite the hardships they had faced, we had so much fun being able to play with them. We also did a lot of manual type labor work in Swaziland; building gardens, making bricks, and painting schools. Although tiring it was great to see how our work helped bring joy to others. Swaziland was an amazing experience for me, and I look back on our time there with such fond memories.

Our next stop, was Loding, South Africa, a much different part of South Africa than we had previously seen. In Loding we worked with a lady called Mama Dorothy, from first appearances she may seem like a soft spoken older lady, but she is extremely powerful in her faith and has a big heart for the people around her. We spent much of our time in Loding walking door-to-door sharing with people the love of Jesus, praying for them and inviting them to our evening events. The 5 days we spent here were not the easiest, it was a very spiritually dry area. People would promise they would come to our evening services and to see the Jesus film, but sadly most of the people never showed up. However, we have faith that the seeds we planted there will come into fruition one day. At the end of our time in Loding, we found out that the German government was requiring the two Germans on our team to leave the trek and go to Zambia where they were going to spend the remainder of the year they were going to be in Africa. It was hard to see them go as we had all grown so close, but they are now enjoying their time in Zambia and made great friends there.  

Francistown, Botswana was the 3rd ministry stop for the trek. We spent 2 weeks here working with the Assemblies of God Church. We spent our mornings doing door-to-door ministry. It was great to see people coming to faith and showing a genuine interest in hearing the Gospel. I pray that the people who made commitments would be able to withstand the temptations of falling back into their old patterns of life and that their lives would truly be changed. We also worked a lot with the Church, having prayer evenings, youth services and leading teachings for the young people in the Church. I got to experience 5 hour long Church services and dancing like crazy in Church in 106f heat. While the Assemblies of God is very different from what I was brought up with, it was beautiful to see what a zeal they had for God. 

Next we headed to Kabwe, Zambia, but before we got there we got to spend sometime at Livingstone and see the Victoria Falls. It was a much needed break and a great time to rest. We slept in our tents at the OM Base in Kabwe, and we got to take part in several different types of ministries. We visited the Bethesda ministry, which works with disabled children, we got to spend some time with the children as well as with their mothers. We also worked with the Sports ministry and childrens ministry that was OM has in the area. It was a lot of fun to play with the children and sing songs with them. God is doing wonderful things there and we met several wonderful people who have a passion for sharing Gods love in Zambia. We were also greatly blessed during this time by people who treated us to meals and desserts, it felt like a taste of home and our who team greatly appreciated it. We also got to visit a traditional village Church during our time. Within a 6 minute walk from the busy main street we were in a thatch hut village. The Church seats were cement blocks that were attached to the cement floor, it was fun to be able to experience something different from what we were used to. Zambia was a beautiful place and the people were very open to what we had to share with them.

Our finally ministry country was Namibia. Our first stop in Namibia was at Etosha, National Park, which was an amazingly beautiful place. At sunset we got to sit by the watering hole and watch as elephants, giraffes, rhinos and other animals came to drink , it was a wonderful experience. I also got my tent ripped by a Jackal while we were staying here, however,  I was grateful it was a Jackal and not a Hyena which often get through the fences.

Our first ministry stop in Namibia was in Khowarib. A town in the middle of nowhere with amazing views. Therewas a waterfall near our campsite which was wonderful in the 115f temperatures. We were only in Khowarib for 5 days, we worked with a small church there. Some of the team worked with local farmers teaching them a process called farming Gods way. It instills Godly work ethic, farming techniques, as well as sharing the love of Christ. Instead of working with the farmers, Shiloh and I worked teaching at the pre-school as the young teachers received information about getting trained as teachers. It was quite an experience teaching children who barely spoke any english (the speak a language that involves clicks there) and several of them had learning disabilities.

I remember it being a struggle simply getting the 6 year olds to draw circles in the dirt. I pray that these childrenwill be able to receive the education they need so that as they grow up they can face the future with hope.

Despite the heat, and only having hot water to drink our time in Khowarib was a wonderful experience. We showed the Jesus film nearly every night, which meant very late nights, but we always arrived back to our campsite with wonderful food that the OM leaders in Namibia had cooked for us. Everyone we came across was very kind and welcoming, I hope and pray that the small Church there will continue to grow as more and more people in the area come to know Christ.

After our time in Khowarib we were given the most wonderful surprise; a weekend at the beach in Swakopmund. It was such a wonderful time to be able to relax and have fun. The cool weather at the beach felt so wonderful after the previous hot temperatures. We also went sand sledding at the sand dunes during this time. I never realized sand could be so hard until Shiloh and I flipped over sledding down and she ended up with a bloody nose and I a very injured collarbone. We also greatly enjoyed the privilege of having a kitchen, beds, pillows and indoor showers. Things that previously seemed so normal now seemed like such luxuries. Our leaders also revealed to us during this time that for our last week of the trek we would be split into groups of three, two guys and one girl per group (our leaders and one other trek member were staying at the OM Base during this time). Each group of three would be sent to different villages in the middle of nowhere Namibia and we would be there for 8 days. It was exciting to think about being on our own for our last week, but it was also a little sad because we realized that meant that we only would have our 3 de-brief days in South Africa left with the people who we were not going to be in group with. But as our time at the beach ended we looked forward to finding out what new things our next adventure would hold.

Despite being there for 8 days I still have no idea how to spell or even properly say the name of the town we went to next, somewhere along the lines of Ochegombe. I was in a group with two guys, one from Colorado and one from Ghana, both over 6ft and both the two biggest eaters on the trek. I was a little nervous how our cardboard box of food was going to last us 8 days. We were very blessed at the place we stayed, the lady who ran the Church had a refrigerator in her room (which meant cold water!) and we had electricity in the Church tent. The people who we worked with here were amazing and truly sought after God with everything. They had church services or prayer services every night and spent many hours in prayer, for each other and for the community they lived in. There was one man, in his 50s, who we talked on our first day of doing door-to-door visits. His name was Julian, and little did we know the amazing transformation that would take place in his life. Julian accepted Christ into his life just after one conversation with us and from that moment on he truly became a new creation. As a previous drunkard he immediately stopped drinking, he would show up to our bible studies every day shaking due to the withdrawals, but still he did not give up. He came to Church early to sweep it so that it would be clean for everyone else when they arrived, and despite previously rejecting relationships with members of the Church he was now eager to spend time with them and learn more about Christ. It was so wonderful to see what God did in Julians life. We also had others that week who came to know Christ, and I was impressed by the dedication they had to learning more.

Our Bible Study every morning would last between 2 and 3 hours because everyone had so many questions or so many insights that they were receiving while reading through scripture. We also had a 3 hour prayer time on a mountain, as well as a all night prayer service that went from 9pm till 4am. I preached my first ever sermon at the Sunday morning service, which was something I never thought I would do. We learnt so much as a group during our week and really grew to love the people in the village. It was a great last ministry spot.

The morning after we returned from our last ministry spot half of us drove 18 hours to get back to South Africa, the rest of the group took the overnight bus the next afternoon which took closer to 30 hours. We spent two days in Mooiplaas taking time to debrief and think about all that we had experienced. It was hard to say goodbye to each other as we had all grown so close over the 3 months. I left the trip with a greater understanding of the power of God and how he truly wants to transform our lives. He has greater plans for us than we could ever imagine.

Thank you all for your support. My life is truly changed by my experience and so are many others, this would have not been possible without you. I would appreciate continued prayers as I seek Gods guidance on what I should be doing now that I have returned back to the States