The team is getting on the plane...

and I am writing this as I wait for my plane to Cape Town. It seems as though we have been moving non-stop in the last couple of days. I thought I'd get some pictures of the last few days up as I wait. We have been having a fantastic time on safari being thoroughly spoiled by Thrive. 

The team is looking forward to seeing all of you soon. Pray for safe travel.

-Jon Crocker

Day 7 from Anna Scanlon

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans back home! Today was truly an astonishing experience and the most jam-packed day so far. The entire team met up this morning outside the cabins at 5:45 am to hike up the mountain behind us. Jokingly named Mt. Everest, this "mountain" is the smallest on the reserve, standing 500 ft about the base grounds. But don't be fooled--the hike was anything but easy. At 5 in the morning in South African winter the winds are fierce and the air is beyond freezing. Climbing Mt. Everest, which is nearly vertical in some places, was physically strenuous and took around an hour. It didn't exactly encourage me that our guide had once climbed the mountain in twelve minutes flat--and made the journey regularly three to four times a week. But for all of our shivers and huffs and puffs, reaching the summit was entirely rewarding. And if personal success wasn't great enough, the entire team got to experience the majesty of an African sunrise. Don't worry, I took great pictures. It reminded me of watching the sun set in the Australian desert the summer I was going into seventh grade, but this time something was different. This was a spiritual journey, and holding hands with our feet on the edge and our faces to the sun, listening to Stephanie pray was more than uplifting. There's something magical about feeling the God who painted the clouds on the pastel sky reach down and kiss your face with the wind. 

So after our little roundabout we ate breakfast (oatmeal and french toast!) and headed out for Qwa Qwa. In the morning we did the usual relationship evangelism things, except that my experience was different. My team went to visit a new home today, and as these things go we randomly wandered into the home that our interpreter suggested. As soon as I stepped inside the fierce aroma of incense filled my lungs.  This was by far the poorest house we'd been in, with the roof and walls made of tin and lined with adverts for sofas as wallpaper. There was no tile on the floor, only dirt and rugs, and the one room shack was divided in two by a hanging sheet. However, this hardly kept my attention for long when I realized what we'd stumbled into. The woman who'd welcomed us into her home was a sangoma--a witchdoctor. At first we were all pretty rigid. I tried to hide the bible in my hands and for a few minutes we made awkward small talk. Then she straight up asked us--why do you have bibles? So we attempted to ease into the conversation gently, but God wasn't having any of it. It became clear that He'd put us here for a reason, and we soon attempted to make the most of it. It turned out she'd been a Christian before becoming a witchdoctor, but now that she's turned away she feels she can only go back to church if she slaughters a cow and washes her hair (?). We told her the story of the Prodigal Son, and she seemed to be totally touched. Spending an hour and a half with her was a terrifying but incredible blessing. It was incredible how God just descended onto the situation and totally used us to bless her. 

Ok so this post is really long and I have to go to bed soon. But any hoo. After the sangoma we all hopped in the bus and went to a hospital where we prayed for sick people. What a total culture shock. Complain all you want about corrupt American health care, you ain't seen nothing till you've seen this. I would talk about this in detail but I really want to talk about dinner.

So dinner. Well it's the 4th of July in South Africa too, and after an exhausting day we we're all hoping to go home, maybe have some hot dogs for dinner and then fall into bed. But of course, that wouldn't be awesome enough for the staff at Cornerstone. They treated us all to an amazing dinner at a Native American themed restaurant called Spurs (I think), where we munched on cheeseburgers and ice cream. They even busted out sparklers. On the way out they gave us special one time permission to be loud Americans and we all broke out with a broken version of the Star Spangled Banner. Which, of course, turned into an hour long bus ride home with every single on of us singing every singable song ever. I mean, seriously, from Wannabe, to American Pie, to that awesome song from Mulan, the end of the day was one big sing-a-long. It was a perfect little bonding experience and a perfect end to a perfect day. The whole thing was just one big blessing.

Much love, have a fun 4th of July,

Anna

Day 5 from Emma Overmyer

My team and I started out the day by returning to the home we visited yesterday. We talked with the man who lived in the home, and then began to plant his "Life Garden". The life garden was an analogy made for how his relationship with God should be like a garden. Our team leader Tracee was not with us today, so I had to bring up the conversation about God with the man which was a bit scary. The other girls pitched in telling him things like "a garden needs sun and water just like we need the Bible and prayer to grow, too." We planted cabbage, mustard seeds, carrots, and spinach. He was very grateful for our prayers and help. After our lunch break, my team and I worked with the kids, which was a lot of fun. We continued with our theme of creation; today we taught that God created all the animals. All the children were so loving and happy, and often came up to hold our hands or play with our hair.

Even though we are here to serve and love THEM, I honestly feel like I have never been so accepted and loved by so many people. A lot of times people will say things like "I feel like I got more out of the mission trip than I even put in!" And I can really relate to that after today where I met so many kids who just wanted to be friends and share in Jesus' love.

Shop, shop! ("cool, hey" in sesotho)

Emma

a few pictures from the last few days...

At Base Camp

Zebras! 200 yards from our cabins. They tend to hang out with the Wild Horses.

We also regularly see Spring-bok, Wildebeest and all sorts of deer.

Christian... enough said.

Maddy

Face painting is serious business

Qwa-Qwa, a huge prospect.

Talking with Sarah

Caitlyn - Kid Magnet

Day 4 from Maddy Parks

I have never written a blog before so I am not exactly sure what I am doing. I will start by telling you that over the last few days I have had some of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have seen God working in the most awe inspiring ways. At home, I could never just walk up  to a house and expect to be invited in and offered a place to sit and talk for hours unless I had known the person that lives there for years. The welcoming spirit of the people of South Africa has really humbled me. I am very reserved about talking about my faith or anything personal, but these people are completely open and after only talking to one woman for 15 minutes we were discussing Christ and the amazing sacrifice he made for us. Yesterday my group was visiting with a young man and he invited us into his home to listen to some of his favorite music. We spent about an hour with him, about half of which we spent listening to South Africa's finest musicians. Just before we left he had us listen to some music from his favorite Cd of his favorite DJ. Tom, that was his name, took the Cd out of the player and handed it to Matt Adams, insisting that he loved people and that it is what he wanted to do. I was so touched that his man would give up one of the few things he owns to random strangers from America. This morning we got to visit with a woman named Maria. A few minutes after we arrived we asked her way she was holding her coat over her eyes. She told us that for the last two years she has had pain right behind her eyes and her sight is not very good. We asked her if we could pray for her and she said that she knew if we prayed for her she would be healed. Her faith was amazing. After praying with her we asked how her eyes were and the pain was completely gone. This opened up a window for her to ask questions about heaven and what she had to do to get there. You could tell that she was burning up inside to learn more about this amazing God we were talking about. All of my experiences here have been so eye-opening. It is awesome to see the love of Christ and His works that the team shares and all the staff here at Thrive Africa. I am really excited to take the things I am learning home and share them. Thrive is doing an amazing act of service to God and His Kingdom and the more I see the more excited I become. Until next time, we miss you all and we can't wait to tell you more when we get home. XOXO, Maddy

Day 3 from Ana Petillo

Greetings to our warmer family in Christ back in America!

Yeah, as you might have guessed, it’s pretty bitter down here! We’ve all been bundled up in coats, hats and mittens almost every hour of the day. One good thing is that I have never before appreciated indoor heading so much! There are many things to be thankful for here, and not only in the expected way of food and shelter. I’ve learned to appreciate the fact that I am surrounded by loving people who help me to grow closer to Christ and my schools try their hardest to see me succeed. At first like many others, I was intimidated by the thought of serving in Africa but now I can say I have truly fallen in love with the country. After our first day of relational evangelism, I for the first time got to play with local children and talk at length with some of the adults in Qwa Qwa. The children are absolutely enamored with us, simply for the fact that we want to love them and spend time with them.
I also made a wonderful relationship with an older woman who we spent the day with. Using an interpreter, we discussed her life, our lives in America and Jesus Christ. Most people in South Africa believe in God, but also worship ancestors. We shared our favorite bible stories and some verses on the topic with her and she really seemed to listen with interest. All of the groups came back with stories of the generous and welcoming people in the city. I cannot deny that I could not help falling in love with her! I wanted her to make me her granddaughter and upon announcing our departure, she ran up to me, gave me a warm hug and chattered away that I had to come back and she loved me so much.
I wish old people in America were that cool!! Seriously though, my heart is already busting with joy. I can’t WAIT to go back tomorrow and plant a life garden for her to remember us by. I hope you all are doing well.
Sala Hlatla!
-Ana Petillo

Day 2 from Christian Holmes

Friends, Parents, Concerned Adults… Lend me your eyes!!!

Hey everybody back home, it’s the end of our second day here in the big SA (that’s South Africa for all of you Western Hemisphere people) and we have gotten our first glance at native worship and the role of the church in poor communities.
My day began with a hot shower (yes, we have those) and a bit of time outside on the cabin deck where I observed a glorious sunrise with a great blanket of fog sprawled over the rolling hills as antelope and wild horses grazed the morning grass. I’ll tell you what, I have never seen such a glorious sunrise. I read a bit of Romans (chapter 3 for those who are wondering) and went down to breakfast with the rest of the boys after we took part in our normal morning shenanigans. We had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, sausage and this South African wheat dish that tasted like very bland Grits. My group of rough riding gringos and myself retreated back to the cabin where we did some more scripture reading before getting ready to go to church.
Now, the church service was definitely the high point of the day, it was unlike any kind of service I’ve ever experienced. It wasn’t like the Falls Church where everything is very proper and organized. I liked to call it disorganized grace because it was without a doubt the most powerful and meaningful service I’ve ever seen. It was simple, it was small, it was humble but it was powerful. These people sang their hearts out and we were blessed with a sermon from Neil who was the founder of Thrive Africa. The native worshipers were so receptive and open to us; they shook our hands, prayed with us, asked God to bless us and welcomed us into their humble church with open arms.
When we got back to base camp, we had lunch and went straight to more training and lessons. Tomorrow we’ll be taking our first plunge into the city of Qwa Qwa, which is where we’ll be ministering for the next few days. Let me just say this to all of you back home… I am nerrrrrrrrvoussss. I have no idea what to expect or how we’ll be accepted into the community but I am continuing to pray on this and I feel that the Lord will guide us through our challenges. Well, it’s getting late and the staff is kicking me out of the nice, warm lounge room. So, from all of us over hear in the big SA, (you know what that means) goodnight and good luck.

With much tomfoolery,
-Christian John Holmes… the Great

PS: hey Mom, I’m I have an application form to come back here next summer as a member of staff for 2 months... I think I’m gonna do it..

First Day in a Beautiful Country

After my first night in South Africa, I woke up to see the flowing savanna and the towering mountains behind it. I still was in disbelief that I was actually in South Africa, a place full of wonders and experiences that I was waiting to see and encounter. We got to finally eat some very good food for breakfast. When I was walking down to breakfast, I was beginning to think that the food would turn out to be like normal camp food... How wrong I was! Later, we took a winding path up to the building called the "classroom". I started to finally learn what we might expect when we started meeting local families, telling them about ourselves and learning about their lifestyles. I also learned some of their language so that I could communicate a little. We then played many games that taught about team building and communication. Some of these team building games included a game where we had to get around four posts walking on wires and holding onto ropes. We beat the time that we expected to get! Today I got to read parts of the bible, write in my journal, and got to know everyone on the missions trip even better. Tonight I got to hang out with friends at the coffee house and watch card tricks. During the night, I was able to see the stars in the sky so much clearer than back in the city. I cannot wait tomorrow to visit the local church, and going on to talk to local families.  I also cannot wait to get to know everyone on the trip better and I think that everything is going to be great on this once in a lifetime trip to South Africa!!

Matthew Adams 

P.S. Christian says, "HI MOM"

Our first day at camp

Hey everyone!

  Today was a great first day. After breakfast we hiked up part of the mountain for training about what we should expect for the upcoming week, like what the culture is, what to do and not do, and more details on what we will be doing while we're here. It was pretty intense, and we have a list of words in Sesotho we can learn! Very cool. After lunch, we did a low ropes course for more "team bonding" time. The course was amazingly fun, and we did get some "team bonding" of it. :-)

  The countryside here is so beautiful! Words can't even describe how amazing it is. We can't wait to see what God will do through us while we're here. Bring it on!!! =D

Sala huntle!

Anna Milograno

Fun Fact: Deer bark. Who knew??

WE ARE HERE!!!

Dumelang (sesotho for Hello)!!! 

After a 2 days of travel we are finally all here in Harrismith, South Africa!  The trip was long (about 30 hours of travel) but good and we are a little jet lagged but so happy to be here and ready to serve the people of Thrive Africa.  Today will be full of some ministry and cultural training time to prepare us to serve the South African people.   We will be learning some of the language and meeting our interpreters and then head into Qua Qua to see the place we will be doing kids club and relational evangelism. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are!.. 

Below are some ways that you can pray for us today..

• Please pray for our students and leaders- we are all a little jet lagged and need the Lord's strength and energy
  
• Pray for today and tomorrow as we get accustomed to a different culture
  
• pray that we will be an encouragement to Thrive and its staff and team members
  
• Pray that we will see God in ways we cannot even imagine
  
• Pray that God will open the hearts and minds of the kids we will be doing kids club with and the people we will be visiting in their homes as we do relational evangelism 

We are so thankful for all of you! keep checking this blog- some of our students will be posting something later on tonight! 

Kgotsong (Peace), 

Stephanie and Team Africa