Walking with the LORD, a Journey of Faith, Marriage and Motherhood: GLA {Community Outreach} AMAZING!

What was your FAVORITE part of your trip?

Number 1 question I have received, and by far the hardest to answer. How do I pick just one day or one thing that happened when everything was absolutely amazing. I am going to warn you now I don't have an answer to the question so you won't get one. I am also going to try and describe a few of the best days of my life, and I can guarantee what I am going to write is not going to do these experiences or people justice. There really are not enough words.

Jerry and Karen Holte with the Rhino

I am going to start with a couple of people we met our first day in country, they are amazing. Jerry and Karen Holte are missionaries with Children's Cup in Swaziland, they serve as the directors for GLA. Global Leadership Academy is a year long discipleship program that gives young people an opportunity to become leaders in their communities. The program is centered on teaching young people to walk as Jesus Christ walked and how to bring hope and the love for the Lord to their communities. The interns with GLA are from all over Africa, and there is even an amazing woman in Swazi all the way from Louisiana!!! The interns apply for the intense program and are chosen for their leadership qualities and faith in the Lord... And let me tell you they are AMAZING!!!
SO back to the Holte's... They met us in Johannesburg when we got off the plane, Jerry's cousin John and his wife Nancy were a part of my team from RVC so it was really cool to see them reunited. On the bus from J-Burg to Swazi I had the pleasure of sitting next to Karen and Nancy for the 5hr trip and man was it fun to listen to them re-connect and hear about their faith walks.

Emily, Karen and Gretch

Jerry and Karen have amazing faith testimonies and it was so wonderful to get to talk with them and learn from them while in Africa. Karen really acted like a mentor to me and my roommate Emily while in Swazi, she was so kind and loving and always had the right thing to say. We spent lots of time talking about life and love and all of the things the Lord has planned for us. She was the "mom" of our trip, always making sure we were doing alright and had the answers for EVERYTHING. I can't imagine what this trip would have been like without them there to minister to us, and I am so thankful the Lord put them in my life!
On our drive to the RVC/GLA compound, Karen and Jerry talked with us about all of the amazing interns they have this year and how they are like their children. Once we met the inters and watched them interact with Karen and Jerry it was so evident that they loved each person at GLA like they were their own kids. They were so full of love to all of the inters there, and spoke so highly of all of them.

Rachel and I leaving RVC for our community walk

On our 2nd day in country of 4th day of the trip or Friday Feb 22nd... We had the opportunity to go out in the community with the GLA interns and the lead team from RVC. I was pretty nervous about going out in the community and giving my testimony to people I didn't even know, but it turned out to be ONE of my favorite experiences. The BEST part of that morning was watching the interns and lead team interact with the community members. They had such BOLDNESS in their faith and had no problems giving their testimonies and explaining that we were there blessing them because the bible says to. Rachel, Gareld and I had an amazing group of interns and we were lead by Vukani a GLA graduate and member of the RVC lead team. There was a moment when we were at a house and Rachel and I just stopped and realized this morning wasn't about us telling people our stories, we realized our purpose on this journey was to pray for the interns and for Vukani as they ministered to THEIR community. It was such a humbling experience to meet people in the community who had nothing compared to what I have at home but yet they were so happy and so proud. We met a woman who was raising pigs

and chickens. She brought us back to the pig pens to show off her prized possessions. She was so proud to show up all that she had and all the promises it gave to her family, God really had his hands on us that morning opening our eyes to such extreme hurt