East Africa

As we come to the end of our trip, the team and I reflect on our impact and growth over the past two weeks; collectively and individually. We have created bonds with the staff and children at HOH that will never be like anything else. Goodbyes are always hard, but Lauren gave an encouraging devotion about how to embrace change and look to a bright future. Before we left HOH, we were celebrated with a ceremony along with lots of hugs, tears, laughter, encouragement and love.

Some other highlights before our last goodbyes were: planting rice in fields (where we all got super muddy), hiking to an amazing waterfall followed by swimming, traveling to an unforgettable viewpoint while gazing at the rolling hills of the island, and overall made the most of loving and sharing time with the kiddos and staff at the House of Hope. I think all of us can say confidently that God is moving in that place and that the island has much to look forward to regarding the next generation of strong, Christ-following leaders.

-Natalie Sexauer

These last 2 weeks have felt like 2 days (it went by SO quick) but also felt like 2 years (friendships that have felt like a lifetime). We are so grateful to the HOH and all of you that helped make this trip possible. We get to see you so soon and we cannot wait! Please pray for us as we start our journeys home and have to say our goodbyes to each other. Bali is beautiful but we are ready for Cali!

As Dave would say, Aaayo! 

Today was, to say the least, full of love and amazing memories. We started the day as we have every morning thus far, at Courage Café. Friends back home, please rate them a 5 star review on Google Maps. We promise it’s amazing. Don’t think twice, just do it 🙂

When we got to the House, the girls greeted us with big smiles. Their joy is a constant reminder of how powerful the Lord is. We started our day with praise/worship and, as usual, it was moving. My favorite part was when Lauren and I started swing dancing to Praise. The girls laughed at us at first, but then everyone began to dance and we all ended up on stage. After praise and worship, Isaac and I shared our testimonies. It inspired one of my best rafikis (friends) to share hers, as well. Her choice to share her testimony proved her to be nguvu (strong) and jasiri (courageous). 

We continued our teachings about Joshua 1:9 (shoutout to Grace who is incredible for planning all of our VBS lessons), ate lunch with the girls, played games, and had a spa day. The girls especially loved the nail painting station and the makeup/hair station. pictures below After a surprise fashion show and dance performance put on by the girls we ended our day with our final small group dance performances. We all had so much fun and the girls did great! 

I have the privilege and honor of being assigned today’s blog post on one of our hardest days because today was the day we said “See you later!” to our new friends. Many “nakupendas” (I love you) were said, many hugs were given, some tears were shed, and many smiles were shared. I know I speak for everyone when I say that these girls love and joy that they put into the world is infectious. Their love and joy for life, their love and joy for others, their love and joy for God, it is all breathtaking. Although leaving was hard, I know that this experience is something we will never forget. God is so alive here and in these girls, it’s remarkable. 

Asante sana (thank you so much) to all of our friends and family following along with us on this journey. Tunakupenda (We love you)

Mom and Dad if you’re reading this, yes I’m alive and yes the food is good here.

-Toni

Vipi!!! (What’s up)

Today was absolutely incredible!
We started it off with some of the girls in the transition house who were older. They all shared their testimony of going to Christianity from Islam. We were so moved by their courage and strength in that process.

Afterwards we went to a waterfall hike with the primary girls who are younger and were so fun. The hike was very wet, muddy, slippery, definitely almost died (I’m ok mom). But was totally worth all of it. The hike was beautiful the people were so friendly and we then walked over to where they make arabica coffee grounds and beans. As a coffee lover, I was ecstatic.

Then we came back to the cafe to eat dinner and our team had a touching moment to talk about some of the moments we had with the girls and a lot of emotions were had.
By the time we had eaten the team was in the delusional phase of tiredness and could not stop laughing.

Today was amazing, although we’re all super sad to be leaving the girls from the first house tomorrow.

Waheli! (Bye)

-Alyssa

Today was wonderful!

It started off with our daily morning devotion with our team and Mama Victor. This started our day off well and we were all prepared for the long day ahead!

We all piled into our two vans and headed up to the house where we greeted the girls and began the day with worship, VBS lesson and a fun craft. Worship with the girls has been so moving for all of us as they all have some of the most beautiful voices on the planet. Even late tonight the songs they sang are still stuck on repeat in my mind.

Once the morning was finished we had a wonderful lunch and our fearless leader, Dave, showed up after leading a small leadership workshop with the Courage Executive Team bringing with him Kayla (our Global Outreach Leader) who will be visiting us for the next couple of days! With Kayla and Dave we then broke up the girls into smaller groups and rotated them through games of kickball and sharks and Minos and a dance group. We then ended with another worship song and said our goodbyes.

Leaving the first courage home, we headed to a Wednesday night church service with incredible worship and two sermons which one of was taught by Dave! We came away thinking about the hope we have in Christ regardless of the circumstances we are in and that “our faith is is the assurance of the things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

After this service we ate dinner with a group of older girls at a second courage house who are transitioning out of the program. These wonderful girls had several children who we all quickly fell in love with. We were given a tour of the courage house 2 and then reluctantly said our sad goodbyes and headed back to our hotel to get some sleep!

Despite this being our longest day yet, it flew by and we found ourselves wanting the day to never end.

Thank you all for the prayers as they are all so needed! If you could specifically pray for protection of the girls who we are able to work with and that they would be able to overcome the mental hurdles of trauma and hurt in order to succeed in their ambitions. They are all such beautiful girls who have some of the greatest dreams!

Bwana Yesu Asifiwe! (Praise Jesus!)

-Isaac

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

Jambo!

How do I describe a day that is completely unforgettable?

This morning, we got to hear a devotional from the Courage’s Chaplin Ellie. She asked Kenzie and I (Lauren) to act out a skit for her, one of us was blind and the other was limp, our acting skills were great!

Second part of the morning we got to worship with all the girls. We showed them a few of our songs and then after we asked if they would teach us a few of theirs. (We enjoyed theirs way more!) After worship we got to host a mini VBS, we went over Joshua 1:9. I was able to read the verse and share my testimony with all the girls. It very was scary and empowering at the same time.

For the afternoon we had three stations for the girls to be apart of. First group was dancing, second group was volleyball, third group was soccer. Kenzie and I had volleyball, and we just taught a few easy skills (pass, set, hit, serve) We were also able to give each girl a jerseys due to the kind donation we received from Jessup athletics. The girls were in awe and absolutely loved wearing them.

For the end of the day we ended with a few crafts. We made bracelets with the girls and Dave made balloon animals/crowns. The excitement the girls got over a balloon giraffe has kept a permanent smile on my face.

It’s only the second day and I have already fallen in love with the location and the people. I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us.

Tu Ta Unana Kaesho (See you tomorrow)!

-Lauren

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

hello !!! today has been amazing !! we got to the country at 4 am this morning! with that being said, we all slept great last night and woke up with sufficient energy for the day, praise the Lord! we ate lunch and dinner at Courage Cafe (sooooo yummy, pictured below) after eating lunch and meeting our amazing field worker, we headed to Courage House where we will be doing vbs, sports, and dance with the girls!

meeting the girls was something i will never forget. they met us with songs of worship and palm branches. the joy that radiates from these girls is contagious, and i can’t help but direct my eyes toward the Lord. it is hard to understand how these girls can be filled with so much joy when they have been through so much pain. i am amazed at their strength and their intelligence at such a young age. these girls are seriously amazing, and i am so excited to get to know them deeper these next couple of days! i am so thankful for the memories already made and the ones to come! thank you, Jesus, for this country!

-Kenzie

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

Jambo! The team successfully arrived after 20+ hours of flying. Our six hour layover at the Instabul Airport was a fun adventure of sights, sounds, and trying to sleep where we could. It’s great to be back together as a team after not seeing much of one another since the end of the semester. These are some great students. I practiced making balloon animals and made friends with a couple of kid travelers along the way. Please pray for good rest as we landed at 1:30 am local time, and for all the love and energy God graciously supplies as we meet our field workers and the girls later today for the first time. Blessings, Dave Heitman (Team Leader)

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

Our eighth and final Global Outreach team of the summer is on their way to the airport to begin their time serving with an anti-trafficking organization in East Africa!

Please join us in praying for their safety as they travel, and for their health (spiritual, mental, and physical) while they are on the trip. Pray that the team would be united together and would serve one another and the ministry with humility and grace. We trust that God has some incredible things planned for this team and we are so excited to see how God is going to work in their hearts and use them to bless and serve those they are ministering to in East Africa.

We will update again once they have arrived safely in East Africa!

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.