Ok, so the title is misleading because I didn’t do very much “chillin'” in South Africa.
In the Summer of 2009, I accepted a challenge to go to South Africa with a nationwide campus ministry that I was a part of called The Impact Movement. It was, and is, a Christian, college-campus, ministry led by and for students of African descent. My best memories of times with friends in college were spent with friends in Impact.
So, I accepted this challenge and over a dozen students from Impact chapters across the country raised money to go on a 5 week mission trip to help an Impact chapter in South Africa with engaging more students.
What the heck is a mission trip? Well, I would guess that many religions have these, but maybe they are called something different. In Christianity, often it is a trip to some place far away from where you live (or at least a couple of hours away) where a church group does community service and talks to a lot of people in the local area about Jesus. The goal is to see people make decisions to become Christians, for the people from the group to grow personally, and often there are visits to famous sites while you’re away. In my experience, these trips can last from a few days to several weeks or months. It’s like being a missionary for a short period of time.
Back to my story…
While we were there, we also helped to run a “Holiday Club” (akin to a Vacation Bible School…or a week-long Bible-based program for kids), experienced some cultural sites, got to know local people, spent time working to better understand the Bible, and of course we saw some touristy things like Nelson Mandela’s prison cell.
This trip changed and transformed me in ways that I could never have imagined. First, I got to learn more about myself because I had lots of time to reflect. I went on this trip with people I’d only met once before and it was my first time out of the country. Second, I learned that I was more curious about other cultures than I previously thought…that I really wanted to see more of the world…and that I had a lot more to learn about Jesus.
I really enjoyed my time in South Africa. Check out Part 2 of South Africa Chillin’ for more photos and information.