Awesome Photos from the Transkei.........

There is so much more to say about our outreach to the Transkei,  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm just sending you pics with the descriptions in the captions. Hope you enjoy!

Emi's 1st missionary journey.

This is me at South Africa's "Hole in the Wall"

Traditional Xhosa huts. Can you imagine waking up to this view?

The brave Global Challengers testing their gear in Coffee Bay for the year ahead.

One of our teams built a jungle gym for the orphan's school in Coffee Bay

Someone donated paint, so they were able to paint Scriptures all over the structure.

Willem digging the first of two holes for the outhouses the team built for the chief's homestead.

This area is called the Wild Coast. So, so beautiful!

One of the Global Challenge teams building a stone house. They worked so hard - leveling the land, gathering the rocks from the area around, and building the house.  This team also built a greenhouse to start seedlings for the community.

Morning in Coffee Bay

Evening in Coffee Bay.

The  42 Global Challenge participants hiked 4 hours to the "Hole in the Wall"

Emi with her friend "Tonto"

You had to wade through a river to get to the beach and then fight the cows for a place to sit.

The teams had a challenge to get from Coffee Bay back to Jeffrey's Bay (an 8 hour drive) on their own with only $14 each. They had some amazing stories of how God provided rides for them on their way back.

I was able to visit an amazing place called Khaya Lethu, where they take care of several AIDS orphans. There is  a nice place to sleep, a little pre-school, and a library. There are 8 children living there now. Such a precious place.

One of the sweet little kiddos at Khaya Lethu

Christine and her husband Gerrie run Khaya Lethu and this is one of the little ones they are taking care of.

Some of the wonderful Global Challenge participants.

Marius training the GC participants on cultural sensitivity and having a servant's heart. He did a great job!

Some of the school children in Coffee Bay watching our progress on the playground we were building.

One of the teams also was able to repair and waterproof the leaking roof of the orphan school.

This is Heather from Dothan, Alabama. She is the only American of the 42 Global Challenge participants this year. Of course she and I had lots of good "southern" times together.

Marius helped the teams to build a fence around the orphan school playground.

Emi and mommy by the sea

This is Bongi, the chief's daughter, who became a Christian and was baptized. She is still reading her Xhosa Bible the team gave her. Please keep Bongi in your prayers.

She has such an amazing smile!

 Hope you enjoy the photos. We will blog more about what has been happening in the past 2 weeks. Thanks for being a part of our journey with us. For your prayers, for your support, and for just keeping in touch. We love it that God brought us here for "such a time as this" and are sure we are exactly where He wants us to be!

lots of love,

The Deetlefs Family (Marius, Jodi, and Emi)

Witch Doctor recognizes Power of Jesus!

Our 10-day outreach to the Transkei was tremendous! God did some amazing things. I will send it in a few different blogs, but here are a few highlights:

Marius helping the team build a fence around the orphan school

Some kiddos playing a game my Nanny Stancil used to play

Anne-Marie, the founder and leader of GCEX, helping with the sandbox

Beautiful Coffee Bay

Half of the mission participants slept in tents at one site, and the other half at the chief's homestead in huts

Willam, one of our leaders, who shared with the chief

We had to pick up Emi's stroller and carry her over the river because it was high tide. She looked like an Egyptian princess being carried by her servants. That's sort of what she is!

-One of our teams stayed at the chief's house (which was several small huts) and one of the chief’s daughters accompanied the team to the local huts to translate for them. Her name is Bongi, and she speaks very good English. They shared the Gospel with one hut, and Bongi very hesitantly translated for them. They moved on to the next hut, and shared the "God Story" again, and Bongi was very animated and translated with a smile. They moved on to the 3rd hut, and Bongi practically shared the whole story herself! And very excitedly. When they left the hut, Bongi turned to the team leader and said, "Wow, I want to take this Jesus seriously!" They talked and she later came to them and asked for them to pray with her as she wanted to give her life to the Lord. They were able to give her a Xhosa Bible (no one in that whole area had Bibles in their language, and very few of them had ever even heard of Jesus. Isn't that crazy? They hooked Bongi up with a group of local believers who have a house church, so that she can continue to learn and grow. Praise be to God for this miracle! 

- Another cool thing was one of the leaders Willam (who grew up as a missionary kid in Mozambique with his parents) shared the "God story" with the chief himself. The chief is the one in charge of the whole territory and anytime there are disputes, the people must bring those to the chief to sort them out. Even though this is South Africa and there is a President, these local chiefdoms still function as a true form of leadership in the small, rural areas. The chief heard the story and was interested. And then Willam explained that if the chief chooses to give his life to Jesus, then Jesus wants everything - that the chief can't continue to worship his ancestors or consult with the witchdoctor. The chief said that then he must think this over, because this is too high a cost. In this area witchcraft is very prevalent, it is a way of life here. People always consult the sangoma (the witchdoctor) for healing, for wisdom for the future, for power over their enemies, etc.  About that time the sangoma (witchdoctor) came walking up the path towards the chief. Another one of our leaders, Clara, reached out her hand to shake the hand of this elderly person out of respect, and the sangoma jerked her hand back and said to Clara, " I will NOT shake your hand." Clara asked why and she replied, "I can NOT shake your hand." Clara asked the sangoma if it was because she was afraid of Jesus who lives inside of her and she screamed, "Yes!". The chief saw this whole thing, so we are still praying and believing that this will influence him as he saw that the power of Jesus was greater than the power of the sangoma. 

Sometimes we as Westerners can easily lose sight of the tremendous power that Jesus has. The thing you see in Africa is that these people KNOW there is power, both dark and light, and they recognize it when it is in their presence.  I will share more later……

Thanks for caring, thanks for keeping up with us, thanks for praying.

We love you,

Jodi (& Marius & Emi)

In the Bush!

Here are a few photos of us in the bush. The Global Challenge mission participants were there as part of their "survivor" training for a week, and the Global Leadership Academy high school students also got to spend a weekend out there with the Global Challenge guys! It was great. They presented the gospel message to these high school students and had "D-groups" (discipleship groups) every afternoon. An awesome week for all!

The road into the bush

This doesn't look like Africa, does it?

Marius was definitely missing our old Pajero at this moment!

D-group time

Global Challenge Leadership praying about the day

Marius by the staff tents

Emi and our friend Hanna ( the Drama teacher at Global Leadership Academy)

Our bush baby on the way home from her adventures in the bush

Please keep us in your prayers as we leave tomorrow morning for Transkei, which is a very rural, poverty stricken area. Our 42 Global Challenge participants will be helping on 2 projects for the orphans there. There are also many AIDS orphans in this area as there were in Swaziland. Marius is helping with the content of this time, so pray for him as he prepares to touch on topics like cultural sensitivity, servant leadership, and flexibility (something we will also be applying during the outreach!). It's about 8 hours away, so please pray for everyone's safety as we travel tomorrow, as well as an amazing 10 days in Transkei that the Lord uses to prepare them for their journeys around the world!

We REALLY appreciate and love you guys!

Jodi, Marius and Bush Baby Emi