I bless the rains down in Africa...

I thought the song title was fitting, because it has rained almost non-stop since our arrival…but that has not dampened our spirits at all!! We are SO grateful to be here! I have no idea how to describe all that has happened already over the 3 short days that we have been here, and adequately paint a picture for the amazing experience we have had so far! 

It has been so neat to see how well our group has really gelled as a team, and how easily we have bonded with the people of Southpoint Church.  The excitement and the passion that the people here have for Jesus and for loving others is contagious…and we are so humbled to be so welcomed by their hospitality. We feel like we’ve been treated like royalty here, when we are the ones who came to serve them. Truly some of the most amazing servant’s hearts I’ve ever encountered. And I am so proud of all of our students for the way they have been stepping up and doing whatever is necessary to help – whether it be setting up for the Sunday services, helping clean out the old building which will become the new Inside Out environment, or just engaging with the other leaders and students of Cape Town that we are here to serve. God’s hand has been so evident in bringing our team together with each of our unique skills & gifts to accomplish all we have to do here…it’s so cool to see Him at work!

A couple of fun facts so far…

After Sunday services yesterday, the church threw a traditional South African Braai (which I’ve been informed is like an American BBQ, but better…I think I might have to agree on this one!). We had SO much fun playing games, hanging out and eating South African BBQ with everyone…such a great night of connecting.

Today, we spent all day preparing for the camp that we’ll be helping with tomorrow and Wednesday for all of the Southpoint students.  We’ll be checking out of our hotel and going to camp a couple hours away to hang out with and pour into the lives of about 50 South African students…we can’t wait! After a long day of preparations, we took a break and went to this really cool restaurant in town called Moyo…where we had “all you can eat” African cuisine…basically every kind of meat or ‘game’ you could think of.  They came around and gave us all tribal paintings on our faces, and some of us were even brave enough to get up on stage and do some traditional African dancing (what….me? Dancing on stage in Africa…? Shocker, I know.) ;) We had SO much fun experiencing the African culture!

I’m including a few pics that I have so far…we won’t have internet access while we’re at camp, so we’ll catch back up with you all on Wednesday night!

Oh, and be sure to check out another update from one of our students on our team blog:

http://capetownhighschooltrip.blogspot.com/

Beautiful view on our drive to dinner tonight:

Our crazy students up in a tree...

Me and 2 of my Inside Out students, Molly & Evan...love these girls!

Yes, I found Red Bull...yes, I stocked up. :)

Setting up for Sunday service at Southpoint Church...

Some of the traditional African music at dinner....

Me getting my face painted all "African Tribal Style" :)

Some of the team with their faces painted...

Cheers!

Jamie

We made it to South Africa!

Hey everyone! We made it!

I've posted a blog on our team's blog...so be sure to check out our progress here:
http://capetownhighschooltrip.blogspot.com/

More updates soon!
Jamie

Where you send us, God we will go...

"Where You send us
God, we will go
You're the answer
We want the world to know

We will trust You
When You call our name
Where You lead us
We'll follow all the way..."
-Chris Tomlin

It's so crazy to think that this time last year, I was returning from my first planning trip to Australia for Passion Sydney. I would have never guessed that a year later I would be preparing for a journey to South Africa...but I am so thankful for the Lord's hand on my path - He has a far better plan than I could have ever dreamed for myself! I am so excited to be able to take a group of our high school students with us to invest in and learn from the South Africa students of our partner church in Cape Town!

As i'm trying to prepare my heart for the task we have at hand, i'm reminded just how many distractions there are here that are competing for my time and attention: work, friends, family, social life, etc. It's so hard to "un-plug" from life when life stops for no one. But trips like these are great reminders that sometimes we just need to pause, detach ourselves from all of the media outlets that keep our minds on mental schizophrenia, and remember that we don't need a thriving relationship with Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Google/iPhone...we need a relationship with our heavenly father and with His people..whether they be next door, or 10,000 miles away.

I hope that you'll track with us as we go on this adventure of a lifetime. I'll try to blog from here as much as possible, but we'll mostly be blogging from our team page: http://capetownhighschooltrip.blogspot.com/.

We would love your prayers for a safe, successful and life changing experience!

Our team:


"Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1:5

How awesome is the Lord most high!!

Jamie