Author: Westbound

Entering Peru, we heard God say, “I’m taking you into the promised land” and within a few days of arriving and seeing God move, in the promised land we indeed were! 5 locations. 40 days. Jungle. City. Mountains. Peru was a time of adventure for Westbound, with Jesus moving in different ways around every corner and in every setting. We praised Him from the valleys, alongside rivers, in the streets, and amongst cloud-height villages. We saw Him touch lives, heal, bring salvation, fill the dark spaces, and gift us with laughter and intimacy. This was the gift of Peru, the gift of entering...

As we arrived in Chile on the 6th of June, our team was ready to pour out. We’d all felt God ask us to “come prepared to give” in this new space, and though much was uncertain in terms of what lay ahead, we were certain Jesus had a very specific plan for us there, one that involved surprises, joy in the trials, and an invitation to step into our gifts. Needless to say, all came true. Our group was quickly split up so that we would stay with different hosts – all locals from the church we were partnering with. While this proved a challenge in terms of the team often being...

God told us to “Live with them.” Little did we know how powerful that one statement would be and how deeply impacted we would be by doing this simple act. Living with them, with our hosts in Uruguay, doing daily life with them, serving them, worshipping with them, eating with them, talking, laughing, working, just doing life with them all impacted us beyond words can contain, but even so, I’ll try.  Coming from the bustling and quick-paced city of Paraguay, entering into the cold farmlands of an Autumn Uruguay felt like entering Eden. From the start, the Lord was up to something...

Our journey to Paraguay was somewhat unconventional. The night before our arrival, most of us either slept in a police station or in a stranger’s home as part of a Travel Challenge. This time of hitchhiking involved a lot of faith, trust in God and each other, and simply put, fun. There is nothing that bonds a team more than contesting over who can do the best ‘wiggle-dance’ on the side of the road to see who can attract a car the fastest.  Two days after crossing the Brazilian border and completing our first international Travel Challenge, we pulled up to our ministry base in...

The eleven of us Westbounders arrived in São Paulo, Brazil, with all our bags adding up to a little over 220kg, containing unwrapped snacks from the Johannesburg airport, and full of expectations that we knew what we were doing. Now, as our time here comes to an end, we’ve stripped our luggage to the bare essentials, eaten all those items from home, and realised that when God calls us out of the boat, all expectations of walking on water must be abandoned if we are to do the impossible with him. This was our awakening. Much like the city of Brazil, we were bustling with life but...