South Africa 2006

In 2006, a team from our church went to South Africa on a mission trip.

Our team consisted of myself, Jason, Carrie Knox, Kayla Ellis, Leigh Anne Burnett, Joe Burnett, and Jim Oliver.

We left at 3:30AM on Monday, June 26th, headed to GSP, then we boarded a plane to fly to Atlanta...then to Sal Island, then to Johannesburg, then to Port Elizabeth, then drove to George, South Africa...arriving there at 11:00PM South Africa time on Tuesday, June 27th. We went to minister to the missionaries in the southwest cluster of the eastern cape.

While we were there...we spent most of our time in George...a town on the coast of South Africa near Cape Town. The missionaries gather there every year for a week for their Annual Cluster meeting. Our job was to have a bible study with the teenagers and have fun with them!! It was great! After the ACM meeting...we drove up the coast to Knysna where we were supposed to go whale watching. Due to gail force winds, we were unable to do that...but we were able to see Knysna, which was beautiful. After Knysna, we continued up the coast through Port Elizabeth and then on to Addo Elephant Park where we went on a game ride at night, slept in tents, and then went for another game ride the next morning. After Addo, we headed up to Grahamstown for the Grahamstown arts festival. We got lots of goodies there! From there we headed back to the states.

We returned safely on Friday July 7th. Thanks to those who prayed for us while we were gone. We definitely appreciate it! We had a wonderful time. South Africa is beautiful! However, the flight over was extremely long...and after 36 hours of traveling, we were ready to be home! We had a great time with the missionaries and formed relationships that we hope to continue to grow for years to come.

Here is a video of our trip:

Also, while we were there, Jason decided he wanted to jump off of the world's largest bungy jump: