Our day started off slow with a nice breakfast and some time to journal or nap. Our team then went to church where we saw people praise God with so much joy. They were singing, dancing, clapping and shouting praise to God. Pastor Sh shared a powerful message about building spiritual muscles through trials and tests. It stood out to me was when Pastor Sh shared how trials can come in so many forms and three steps to overcome any trial are: 1) Word of God 2) Prayer 3) Fruit of the spirit. Also the importance that in relationships trials, we are not fighting each other but fighting against the common enemy behind it. After church we went out to get some lunch and enjoyed delicious food (I had a chicken avocado salad with fries, chapati, juice and some cake for dessert).
Today our team also had the privilege to be part of the graduation ceremony for some of the girls from CLA (Courage Leadership Academy). It was a time filled with joy as we listened to all the praise and encouragement given to the girls and their speeches too. It really stood out to me that one of the girls said “God has brought us from failure and helped us to overcome it”. It was beautiful to see how far these girls have come and even in the midst of ups and downs, they have never given up. Their determination and faith in Jesus is so inspiring that we can all learn from. The whole courage family was together and it was so cool to see all the amazing girls and staff that we have been building a special relationship with all together. We had snacks and a yummy cake too.
I am personally in love with the music culture here and can’t help but dance every time a beat starts. The DJ was on fire and played some amazing songs which had us all dancing and celebrating. Some of the girls were teaching us some of their dance moves and it was so fun to learn it from them.
We are so proud of the graduates and will be praying that God continues to guide, protect and bless each and everyone one of them during this new journey.
Thank you so much for all of your prayer for our team! We really miss and love y’all!
The fourth Global Outreach team this summer is now on their way to the Caribbean with a long travel day ahead of them! Please join us in praying for them– for health and safety during the next two weeks, for renewed energy as they serve long days and for strong unity between all the team members. We’re excited to see how God will move in and through them as they serve in this ministry!
We will update again once they are settled at their ministry base.
We have made it to our location in Central Europe after 31 hours of travel! Luckily, we landed in the evening so we are adjusting to the time difference well! Today was a Sunday, so we started off our day with breakfast, then we attended a church! We are staying pretty close to this church, so we walked and it took about 20 minutes. Fun Fact, our location is full of Roman ruins, so we were able to see one on our way to the church!
Once we made it to church, we were greeted by many people and they cultivates such a welcoming environment! They played some worship songs in their language and then Isaac, Liana and I were able to lead them through two worship songs, “The Blessing” and “10,000 Reasons.”
Being able to lead worship in a different country and hearing people sing to the Lord in different languages is an experience I will keep with me forever! I am so thankful the Lord gave me that opportunity.
Then, Sophia gave a little testimony to the church about why we are here and what we are doing! She did amazing and was the first of us to volunteer to give a testimony! Even more amazing, she introduced herself in the language here!
Overall, the church service was amazing! The people there were incredibly welcoming and it was a great experience to hear a message in the language.
After church, we ate pizza from a place named “Friends!” (Yes, like the TV show! It was super to cool to see that here and the pizza was AMAZING. Best pizza ever!)
After that, we walked around the Cherry Festival! We got to see pieces made from the locals and we bought the best cherries! They were absolutely delicious.
After the Cherry Festival, we went back to our apartment for a few hours and all of us took a glorious nap…so glorious that all of us were a little sad to wake up. However, being awoken from our nap was made worth it by our next activity!
After our naps, we had the opportunity to go to a Roma Gypsy community and walked through it. We even saw a Roma wedding right in the street!
After walking through the community, we had the opportunity to hang out with the children of this Roma community. That was an amazing experience! We were able to show love to these children. There were a group of us coloring with the kids and a group of us playing outside.
At first, it was a little awkward because of the language barrier but once we split into groups based on the activity, it seemed less awkward! I was inside coloring with the kids and through that experience, I was able to practice the language! One of the girls even had a similar name to mine, which was kind of cool! It really touched my heart to be able to play with these children and show them love of Christ that is within us. When one girl left, she even gave me a hug!
We ended the day with planning for our upcoming VBS (3 of them, to be exact) and then watching an episode of The Chosen, as one of the episodes described one of our Bible stories!
I know this ended up being a little long, but there were so many great things that happened today that I had to share all of it!
I love you all and miss you very much!
-Danyelle
Prayer Requests:
Continued strength and rest
That the VBS’ would be fruitful!
Continued bonding for our team
Also, enjoy this picture of all us attempting the “Slavic Squat”
The team safely arrived at their destination in Central Europe early Saturday morning (CA time), ready to get settled, take showers, and get some sleep!
Join us in praying for them to get some good rest tonight and wake up with fresh energy to jump right into their ministry!
We will update again in a couple days when we have a post ready from the team.
The CLA (Courage Leadership Academy) girls took us to the Memoria market to do some shopping. They seemed to take delight in helping us find specific items and haggling with the vendors on our behalf. I loved being able to experience more of their world. This outing allowed us to further connect through conversations and experiences. It also gave us the opportunity to see and interact with the incredible people of this city. We were graciously welcomed (karibu) and we did our best to use Swahili—some of the team are doing really well with the language. I appreciated the opportunity to see a new part of the city and to depend up the CLA girls for guidance. (It would have been overwhelming without them and we no doubt would have gotten lost.)
We then spent a couple hours at CLA where we ate another amazing Swahili lunch, played card games, talked, and got to watch Bella enthusiastically play with the CLA kids (it turns out that the language of preschoolers is universal—and Bella speaks it fluently).
We then had the opportunity to take the CLA girls swimming at a local hotel (thank you, Redeemer Covenant Church!). They were very excited to get to swim. We were able to provide swim lessons and teach them “Marco Polo.” There was also time to converse and relax in the beautiful hotel setting (and I may have fell asleep on the grass in the shade).
I think I can speak for the team in saying that our lives are being changed through the relationships we are building with the Courage girls/women. These are some of the strongest, most joyful, kindest, friendliest, most talented people we’ve met. For (about) two weeks we get to live life with them and—I know that this might sound a bit dramatic— it is sacred. It’s like entering holy ground. And because it’s sacred, any words I use to describe it are inadequate. But it’s real because God (ultimate reality) is present. As I’ve watched them dance, sing, worship, laugh, serve, play, learn, teach, support one another, and love each other’s kids as their own, I cannot help but see the self-giving love of God. God’s image shines beautifully and clearly in this sisterhood called Courage House. And we are blessed to experience it. But it’s not just the girls—it’s their kids, the incredible staff, and the fieldworkers (J, St, and Sa). God is at work and is present in and through Courage.
But I also see God’s image reflected beautifully and clearly in our team. From day one they’ve fully entered into this relational ministry and have developed a deep love these Courage girls. They’ve been vulnerable, generous, outgoing (even the introverts), creative, committed, flexible, humble, open, and compassionate—even when feeling tired, sick, and in pain. It’s a privilege for me to watch each one sacrificed love in ways that are both life-giving and physically draining. We also have a lot of fun together.
If you’re still reading this, then you probably won’t mind if I add a little more. Over the past week, I’ve thought a lot about the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 1:11-12– “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” The “spiritual gift” Paul refers to is the activity of mutual encouragement. A charisma or “spiritual gift” is Spirit-directed activity, and Paul envisioned a Spirit-directed activity of mutual encouragement when he visited the Roman Christians (he strengthens their faith, they strengthen his faith). I feel that kind of mutual encouragement on this trip. When we’re with the Courage girls and staff, there is mutual encouragement, learning, giving, sharing, teaching, and supporting .
I also can’t help but think of this Thomas Merton quote that describes this kind of Spirit-directed mutuality: “When the Love of God is in me, God is able to love you through me and you are able to love God through me. . . . Because God’s love is in me, it can come to you from a different and special direction that would be closed if He did not live in me, and because His love is in you, it can come to me from a quarter from which it would not otherwise come. And because it is in both of us, God has greater glory. His love is expressed in two more ways in which it would not otherwise be expressed; that is, in two more joys that could not exist without Him” (“Seeds of Contemplation).
It is this mutual sharing of the love of God with each other that has motivated us, sustained us, and is changing us. Yes, we are on holy ground.
For those reading this (still!), you’ve likely supported us in this endeavor. We humbly say Thank You.
(And to my family, yes, I typed all this on my phone.)
Today was amazing! We hung out with the CLA girls for the first time! We did worship, played the name game, nertz, and painted. The girls were lovely and very funny. It was very rainy so we didn’t go swimming but instead played soccer. I got to take portraits of all the girls and it was very fun, each girl was very unique and funny in their own way. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Our third Global Outreach team of the summer is currently on their way to Central Europe! We invite you to join us in praying for them during these next two weeks (& after they return home). Pray for safety, protection, and health as they travel to a new place. Pray for unity among them as team members and for the Lord to use them in their various gifts and strengths as they serve in ministry, as we trust that God is transforming their own hearts in the process.
We will update again once they land and get settled in Central Europe!
We just finished day 5 of our trip and the third day with Courage House girls! Today we started with a devotion led by one of the girls, and it was about hearing the voice of God! Then, we and the girls got bagged lunches and went to the hiking spot. A guide met us in a village, and we began our walk. From the start, the hills were very muddy and we had to be careful walking up and down. Local children were seen running along these roads—everyone was astonished that they didn’t slip! It started to rain, but the group kept going. Throughout this trek, many of us kept slipping and sometimes falling and getting dirty! Anyways, we hiked through the beautiful landscape until we reached the waterfall! Most of the group stayed on the rocks at the base of the waterfall. However, my teammates went swimming. It was freezing!
After about 20 minutes of being at the waterfall, the group journeyed to visit the “coffee boys.” A few local men explained and showed us how to make coffee straight from the beans. They made it fun and interactive, showing us how to pound the beans while singing a song! (The credit goes to courage house for the coffee bean pounding picture). They boiled the coffee in water and BOOM, we were able to drink it (sooo good)! We had a chance to buy some of their coffee too. I got some for sure 😛
The hike was tiring but an amazing experience! My team got to our hotel, cleaned up, went to dinner, and drove to Courage House to see a movie with the girls!! My team served the girls yummy ice cream, and started watching “Kicking and Screaming.” I loved hearing them clap for the soccer players in the movie, and laughing super loud at the funny scenes.
Thanks for following along with our trip so far! We’re seeing God work each day.
Hello! Today was the second day at Courage House (fourth of our trip) and it was such a blast. We started the day off with worship in English and Swahili. Alyssa has been very purposeful to sing songs in English but also have some of the staff translate songs into Swahili so the girls could sing in their first language. Alyssa was also able to sing in Swahili too which took some time and effort, but in the end she nailed it.
Once we finished, Eli lead a devotion breaking down the Lord’s Prayer. Everyone was very grateful and moved by what he had to say. After that, we played a name game so everyone could learn each others names. It was very helpful considering the fact that there are a lot of girls 🙂
We played sharks and minnows, soccer, and volleyball for the next 2 hours with a more calm option of coloring bookmarks for a break. The girls made so many and were pleased with their work. It was cool to see each member of our team step up in different areas naturally (Example: Bella teaching some English while the girls asked for bookmark string colors).
At around 2pm, we said goodbye to them and drove to New Generation Bible Camp where we were asked to lead some English kids camp activities. We did fun vacation Bible school (vbs) worship songs, Eli shared his devotion, and we led crafts and sport activities. This camp was made to speak and learn in English, so having native speakers come was very helpful! We were able to have little conversations here and there with the kids. They were fascinated with our skin color, hair and the palms of our hands!
We then had to say goodbye to the kids who we had surprisingly grown close to in just a few hours. The staff was very grateful for our help and volunteer work.
We then went back to Courage Cafe for dinner and dessert, debriefed, laughed at funny moments that had happened throughout the day.
The team is so happy to be here in East Africa! We are excited to see how these next few days will grow us in relationship with God and each other.
On our last night in the city, we met with X, our field worker, for dinner at a meat place, and we navigated through the CHAOTIC streets one more time on our way to the store. Sometimes the streets of the city feel like a fever dream with the amount of vibrant activity constantly. The team got some snacks for the plane (a real morale boost), and headed home to leave for the airport.
Earlier that day we had cleaned the entire apartment complex on the upstairs of the building where we stayed to finish our service there strong. This meant hanging up decorations with power tools, cleaning everything from ceiling to floor, repairing things we saw needing fixing, and rearranging and reorganizing furniture and appliances to better plan for future groups. Being able to accomplish projects that I wanted to finish last year was extremely fulfilling to me personally. A few of us spent a full day cleaning and reorganizing an office space, and this was a project I left last year wanting to complete.
(the before picture of the office organization)
(The after pictures of the office organization)
I took stock of some projects for next year’s groups, and the team sat in a circle to thank X for their hospitality, guidance, and care while we were sick. The team prayed over the ministry and the staff there in one last goodbye before we set off for the airport.
Our travel began by being dropped off at the airport by two drivers who were racing each other to prove who was the fastest. This did not necessarily aid in the nausea the team was feeling as a remnant of some kind of virus we caught from food poisoning or elsewhere. When we opened the doors to the vans a deafening noise of celebration greeted us, and there was a huge party with live music and dancing happening in the parking garage of the airport; it sounded like we were in a stadium at a sports game. (See video below)
The length of the flights was certainly a struggle with about half the group feeling unwell, and anti-nausea medicine was helpful. Our other team leader, Nate, surprised us by writing awards for everyone with qualities he noticed about everyone, and that was a morale boost as we were waiting. When we landed in Germany, we learned that our next 2 hour layover in Washington, USA, was going to be cut in half due to a delayed flight. This meant we had less than an hour to go through customs, security, and recheck our bags before our flight to Sacramento left. We all agreed to book it through the airport, and after literally running through the airport in groups, the last student made it on the plane with less than a minute left before they closed the plane for boarding.
(Nate giving awards)
Reflecting on the trip left me with a sense of gratitude and pride in our students who had all made an effort not only to work hard, but to work hard and be present even when not feeling well as well as to encourage and take care of their teammates when they were sick. The group worked well together, and I was grateful for how well the group got along throughout the entire trip. While it certainly was unfortunate that so many of us got sick, we landed in Sacramento with hearts full of gratitude (for catching our flight and) for the country and people of the Middle East. I left feeling confident that we had engaged with the people, daily rhythms and customs, and foods of the Middle East in a way that changes perspectives on who God is and how he works in other cultures just the same as he works in ways that are familiar to us at home in the USA.
You as readers can be praying for the team’s reverse culture shock, for rest and wellness for everyone, and for good communication to answer all the questions others will have for them back home. You can also be praying for the support, wellbeing, and encouragement for the organization we left.
Here’s to another return back to the Middle East soon!! <3
