Friends, fun and...baboons?

I don’t know that I can adequately put into words just how awesome the past few days have been!  We spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Rocklands putting on a retreat for the volunteer leaders of Southpoint Church. It was such a great time! What an honor to be able to create space for their leaders to come have fun and feel refueled.  What an amazing group of people. We had a great time, and they were even such an encouragement and blessing to us in return.

Here’s a few pics from the retreat:

Some of the teams working on a few dance moves for a team competition…

Me hosting Church Family Feud!

Some of the awesome leaders!

Me at the top of our free time mini-hike.

Would you believe we saw ANOTHER rainbow as we were leaving the retreat! It touched right down into the water directly in front of us…spectacular!

Some of our team also had a first-hand encounter with a seriously massive baboon...like, in our cabin. Yikes! Don't worry - amidst the fear, Jana had time to catch him on video - we'll post that soon!

We then spent another day with some of our favorite Southpoint Church peeps checking out the beautiful coast of the cape…all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope.  I can’t even adequately describe the beauty in words, you just have to see it for yourself:

Beautiful drive down the cape.

Cape of Good Hope…next stop, South Pole – straight ahead!

We wrapped up our time here today watching a little coverage live of the Royal Wedding! Since we were on the same timezone as England, we were lucky and didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to see the festivities!  Here’s a pic of us hanging out with Prince Charles, the Queen & Camilla.

We then had a lovely evening hanging out with the amazing Hastings family for a good old fashioned home cooked meal and a winner-takes-all card game of Hand & foot. I had never played it before, but it was SO fun!

I can’t believe we’re headed home tomorrow! It’s been such an amazing time of continuing friendships and building new ones…what an absolute blessing. I’m not looking forward to the looong ride home, but I am looking forward to some Chic-fil-a, I’m not gonna lie. I’ll see you all in the states, and I hope to see all my South African friends again soon..thanks for the wonderful hospitality!!

Adventures at the Cape

Today was an incredible day of adventure and fun! After a good night’s sleep, we (finally) got over the jet lag and kicked off the morning making final preparations for our retreat that we’ll be hosting while we’re here.

The rest of the day was set aside for our “fun” time in the city, so we spent the afternoon wandering around the Waterfront, doing a little shopping and taking in the sights. Here’s a few pics of our afternoon:

The ginormous ferris wheel that we rode in…talk about an amazing view of the Cape!

Me, hiding behind my little elephant friend (he was made entirely of beads)

This "little" guy was made entirely out of old Coke crates!

Gorgeous view of the waterfront...

We spent the evening taking a little journey to an area called Big Bay…and let’s just say, it was an “adventure” getting there. (that’s what happens when you leave 5 Americans in a car by themselves trying to navigate to an unknown area!) The good news is we have a great go-with-the-flow team, so we laughed the whole way there. And let me tell you, the drive was worth it…what a beautiful view, and incredible sunset we got to see there! Here are some pics:

Gorgeous rainbow…and if you look closely, you’ll see the faint remnants of a second one. That’s right, a “double rainbow!”

Beautiful sunset at Big Bay!

And I couldn’t help but post this video of Jana almost being attacked by the ocean. It’s hilarious:

                                         

Tomorrow we head off to Rocklands for the Southpoint Church leader’s retreat…the reason we’re here! I can’t wait to go create a fun environment for their hardworking leaders to get to enjoy, and to relax and feel refreshed. We likely won’t have internet at the retreat location, so I’ll be back in a few days!

Cheers! (gotta sound like I fit in here, ya know) ;)

Happy Easter from South Africa!

We’ve made it!

After a LOOONG (but relatively smooth) journey, we are in Cape Town, South Africa!

It’s kind of weird to think that today is the first time in 30 years that I haven’t been with my family for Easter. But what a place to be. What a way to celebrate. There’s no better visual reminder than flying half way around the world to remind me of what a HUGE God we serve. And it is nothing short of an absolute honor and blessing that I’m getting to serve Him alongside my South African friends. 

Today we celebrated Easter at SouthPoint Church…our partner church here in Cape Town. It was so great to see old friends that I met here two years ago, and to be able to worship and take communion together. After church, some of our awesome hosts here took us to a great restaurant on the bay and to check out the venue where we’ll host the retreat for SouthPoint’s community group leaders. It is so amazingly beautiful!  The perfect setting to be able to bring in their leaders to give them space to refresh and replenish. I can’t wait to host them on Tuesday!

I’m not going to lie…I’m fighting to keep my eyes open right now. It’s 4pm here, and about 10am at home. We were so wide awake when we arrived last night that we really only took about a 2 hour nap instead of a full night’s sleep. But have no fear, we already found a close stash of Red Bulls…they actually have them in a vending machine at the hotel (Jesus loves me more), so hopefully I think we’ll hold up through dinner.

I haven’t snapped many photos yet since it’s quite the rainy/dreary looking day (cue the infamous Toto song…), but I’ll leave you with one for now…this is a picture of me and my good friend Shannelle at the Johannesburg airport yesterday. (please pardon my disheveled look, mind you I had just gotten off a 15 hour flight) Shannelle lives in Jo-burg and came over to the airport just so we could hang out for a little bit during our layover. SO much fun getting to chat with her for a bit…she’s such a special friend!

I’m off to try and run a few laps up and down the hotel hall to keep myself awake. J Happy Easter to everyone I love at home! More updates to come!

Help Send Me To South Africa!!

Dear Friends & Family,

 I am overjoyed to tell you that I am about to embark on another amazing adventure for God’s kingdom! In just 10 days, I will be heading back to Cape Town, South Africa on a mission trip with North Point Ministries to work with our partner church, Southpoint Church!

 Many of you know that I had the honor of getting to take a team of our high school students to Cape Town 2 years ago, and I am SO thrilled to be able to go back and continue to build on relationships that were formed then, as well as continue to serve the amazing people of South Africa. We will be helping put on a retreat for Southpoint Church’s small group leaders – giving them time to replenish and get away from the everyday life to connect on a deeper level with our Heavenly Father. I’m so excited!!

 In order for this to happen…I need your help!!

First and foremost, I would greatly appreciate your PRAYER with and for our team as we prepare for the mission at hand.  Please pray that God will not only work in our own hearts as we step out of our comfort zones to serve Him, but also that He would work through us to be His hands and feet to those in need.

AND/OR

 Second, I STILL NEED TO MEET MY FINANCIAL GOAL of $2100 to be able to go on the trip. I know that times are tight on everyone right now, but if you feel able and willing to partner with me, please pray about donating. 

Please know that your support in prayer is just as important to me as financial support!

 GIVING. . .by CHECK

If you would like to be a part of our trip through financial support, simply send a check made out to “NPCC” (PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING IN THE MEMO LINE) to me at PO Box 19045 Atlanta, GA 31126. All donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

OR. . .you can GIVE ONLINE

Simply go to www.GOglobalX.org and click on GIVE at the top right side of the page. Fill in your contact info & under the globalX Trip information, select the following:

Country: “X Trip (admin use)”

Trip: “X Trip (admin use) South Africa Group Leader’s Retreat- 04/24/11-05/02/11

In the individual field, please be sure to type my name, Jamie Waddy.

Fill in your credit card information (MC & Visa), click on “Review Donation Information” and finalize the transaction.  You will receive an email confirmation that will also serve as your receipt for tax purposes. 

Thank you again for considering partnering with us…it means the world to me to know that while we are serving God’s people in another land, we will be covered in prayer & support at home!

Track with us on our journey here on my blog as we get ready to head over on April 22nd!

Humbled,

Jamie