First off, I apologize, to those of you who have been following the blog, you have obviously noticed that there has not been anything posted since before I left. Literally blogging while I was there was simply not possible, and it has taken me quite some time to process 10 life changing days and write them into a few short paragraphs.

So here it goes:
Upon arriving Saturday night in Capetown we were me by some staff from Southpoint Church (this is a Strategic partner of Northpoint ministries, and we coordinated our trip with them) where we got in decent cars, drove down decent roads, and checked into our very nice and clean hotel. It certainly did not give us the "this is Africa" feeling. Day one ended still not knowing quite what to expect.

Sunday morning we got up before 6 a.m. to help Southpoint set up for service. They do not have a large enough facility to meet on Sunday mornings, so they use a nearby office park. Each week they literally build their WaumbaLand (preschool) and UpStreet (elementary) environments from scratch. The Volunteers for this church are incredible.  We later  went  to a place called "Signal Hill" which had one of the most amazing views of all time. CapeTown is literally one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Monday was our first day with MetroKids. MetroKids is an INCREDIBLE organization that runs VBS type camps, sunday schools, and other ministry to children. We were working in the township of Khayelitsha about 20 minutes outside of CapeTown.  Monday was a meeting with all the staff and volunteers to get to know each other and plan for the Camp which began Tuesday. One cool part of this was being able to walk through the township as we advertised the camp to the children. We were able to see the way they lived. Many of the volunteers were from this community and they showed us where they lived.

Tuesday - Thursday These days were all about MetroKids camp. After an unfortunate car break in where we lost our craft supplies, this turned out to be arguably the greatest kids camp of all time. The staff and volunteers at MetroKids were absolutely mind blowing. Their energy and passion for what they did was UNBELIEVABLE!!! It did not matter that they did not have the best resources, or the largest facilities or whatever, they had close to 600 kids having an awesome time and learning about God. Having to say goodbye to everyone who was a part of this camp kids and leaders alike was so tough and I already miss them a ton.
One thing we were able to do was provide meals for the kids everyday after camp. This was especially moving because for many of them, it would be their only meal that day. It was amazing to watch how nearly every kid cleared their plate to nearly the last drop. It was just a simple reminder of what we have to be grateful for every day.

The last few days of our camp were spent taking the 8-12 graders from Southpoint Church on a weekend retreat called Vertical Reality (similar to a DNOW type retreat). This was incredible! It was just awesome to be able to put on a camp for students on the opposite side of the world and get to know them. I was able to partner with their 8th grade small group for the weekend, and it was just awesome seeing a community of people in South Africa worshiping the same God, that I worship in Atlanta. I loose sight of just how big God is, and this helps that perspective in check. This was an awesome 3 days, and saying goodbye was almost as hard as saying goodbye to MetroKids.

Then we boarded 2 LONG flights back home :(

Well, that was the week. I could probably go on for another 100 paragraphs about how incredible this trip was, and ill probably have a post up in the next few days with pictures and "things I forgot".

Ill close with this: Your donations, prayers, love, and support helped transform SO many lives during those 10 days including my own. I simply can not put into words how much your support has meant! Thank you SO much!! If you would like to continue to support what we did there please check these sites out:

MetroKids: http://www.metrokidsafrica.org/

SouthPoint Chuch: http://www.southpointchurch.co.za/

GoGlobalX Missions: http://goglobalx.org/

Thanks Everyone,
Alex

So basically life got in the way and I have not been writing, which is not an excuse at all but I am using it!!!

So a few weeks back I got a donation mailed in, and looked at the number on the check and I realized something that was just beyond belief. That last check put me over 3200 in funds raised. I had received enough donations to cover my entire trip! Wow, just incredible, absolutely indescribable! It was just one of those moments when you are like "There really is nothing God can not do!!"  I know that is a feeling that I will probably experience 1000 times during this trip, but still just wow.

Another incredible thing happened that same day. I recieved a text message asking how they could donate to my trip. This first of all reminded me of the amazing supporting community I am surrounded by. The donations i received ranged from close friends, to coworkers and people I volunteer in Transit with, all the way  to the receptionist at my dentist's office. Absolutely mind blowing. Just the knowledge of having that community is a blessing in itself.

Soooooooo, here I am with a text message asking to donate and I am not quite sure what to do. The easiest is just to say no thanks and tell him to keep his money. But then I thought "he was going to donate the money, I should just pretend I need it, then give it to someone else on the trip" but that was a bit deceitful, and after all he wanted to donate to me, not somebody else he does not know on my trip. So, back to just saying no thanks right? Well no, I decided he was going to donate money I want him to be able to donate money, so I gave him my friends name and asked him to donate to him. This gave it to be his choice, but knew that is what i wanted to come from it.

Basically that is what I want from all my supporters. Please still donate!! Give others the same feeling I have of having my trip payed for. This still gives you many options. 1. Donate to my trip and designate "most needed" and the donation will go to somebody else on  my team. 2. Tell me and I will give you a link to donate to somebody else I know, I co-lead at church with a guy and his wife who are going to Venezuela, and I just found out a coworker is going to Jamaica this summer as well, and I hear about others going on trips all the time. 3. Give my donation to somebody in your own life who will be serving in someway. Basically, I just want you to not just throw the money in your back pocket and forget about it. Please still support your community or mine, because we all have the same goal,  everyone going, and everyone donating, and that is just to be able to hopefully make a lasting impact on the world we live in, and the people in it.

Once again, you are incredible, if you are going on a mission trip it is beyond my pleasure to help you fundraise, and support you in any way. I will gladly facebook it, blog it, tweet it, and tell everyone I know
 
Korchan

This weekend I had the privilege of hanging out all weekend with my 6th grade small group I lead at Walking Wisely Weekend. This retreat is unique to most retreats because you stay in the local area at host homes of parents or other volunteers. (your church might host a similar event called like DNOW.). This event required TONS of transportation so each parent of the student would drive at shift or two. This gave my co leader Ben and my self tons of time to really get to know the parents and they got to know us.

So, after explaining my college plans that I still really don't know yet a few hundred times :) I had the chance to talk to them about serving in Transit (middle school ministry) as well as my upcoming South Africa Mission trip. Every time I would talk about these things this phrase kept coming up "its amazing the passion you seem to have for this." And its true, I love being involved in Transit every Sunday morning, its one of the highlights of my week, and I just like can't begin to describe how amazing I feel this trip is going to be, where we will get to work with kids and students on the other side of the world. I truly feel that is my passion right now in service, and thus I love to serve. Where is that for you. If you volunteer and it continually seems like a burden, not to say there wont be ups and downs, but thats probably not where your passionate. Everyone has had that warm feeling inside from helping somewhere. Maybe its church, maybe its rescuing puppies, working with the homeless, helping sick people, old people, anything.

There are a million things where you can be valued, my challenge is to find that "passion to serve" for you and find out where that is for you. This is how we will help change the world for the better.

BTWs: Appreciate the Shout Out Ben Nunes (my Transit Co leader)-  go to http://bensayin.com and check out his awesome blog. 
Also, If you feel a passion for Middle school students and wanna check out Transit lemme know. Its AMAZING!


Peace...

First off, let me say that those of you who have contributed to my mission trip, THANK YOU SOOO MUCH. Words cant describe how blown away I have been by the contributions I have already received.  I am sooo blessed to have such generous people in my life.
Now, the story...
Basically this week has been pretty much kinda awful. Like one thing after another compiling. After having an AMAZING weekend at MyLife, i came back to a car crash on monday, test, after, quiz, after test all with below good grades (ill leave it at that), and just a bunch of stressful situations. Essentially this week was turning out to be pretty crappy. But this week something amazing happened. I got a notice of my online donations for this trip, and i have made over $2300!!  Already in the first week of February, I know that this trip  in July is in reach and will become a reality!! I mean that takes God will provide to the highest level. So many people have generously opened there hearts to this cause.

The craziest part was not about the number though, (not that im discounting it in any way at all because it is asstounding) , but the fact that it came in the midst of such a rough time. Its like God was saying, "hey im here even in this storm, heres My hand to help you out. I mean honestly this week would have simply made me just mad at life and myself, but God reminded me, assured me, and helped me realize that this is just a storm and coming out will only make me stronger and that even when the world seems to be crashing down around you, God will give you his hand to help you make it out of what you cant do on your own. (btw if you have never heard this song, you need to hear it,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHpfCThoeoA (i dont know how to link things yet :( so just copy into the address bar of a new tab :).
Also God told me,"hey this crap thats happening, it doesnt define you, but serving My Kingdom, thats who  you are, not the bad circumstances, or the mistakes. Hey Hey that mission trip this summer, I havent forgotten about that, and neither have the people around you. I remember that, and heres a hand to get out of this"
Basically, God will work in you and around you even on your worst days, and He knows you for WHO you are, NOT what youve done!!

Btw, many have expressed interest in following the blog, so i will try to post something at least once a week leading up to the trip, and of course everything on the trip will be thoroughly covered and documented.  THE PEOPLE IN MY LIFE ARE AMAZING, AND THIS OPPORTUNITY WOULD NOT BE A REALITY IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU. I LOVE YOU!

Dear Friends,

For those of you who do not know, I have an amazing opportunity to travel, this summer, to Cape Town South Africa on an InsideOut globalX mission trip through Northpoint Community Church. I am looking forward to this amazing opportunity that God has given me to travel and serve this community on the other side of the world. I have been attending Northpoint for many years now, and have been involved in the InsideOut program throughout high school, as well as volunteering in UpStreet (Northpoint’s elementary ministry) and Transit (Northpoint’s middle school ministry). I have also had the privilege of traveling on two mission trips to Costa Rica with my family and serving the communities of San Jose and Alajuela. I look forward to traveling to Cape Town and working with the community there as well as the student ministry of Northpoints’s partner church Southpoint, located in inner city Cape Town. This letter is simply to let you know of what I am going to be doing this summer and to ask for your support. This trip does of course require a notable amount of funding. I need to raise $3200 dollars in order to be able to go, and would greatly appreciate any support large or small towards helping me reach this financial goal. There are multiple easy ways to donate. In addition, or if you are unable to financially support me, I appreciate all prayers and moral support as my team and I prepare for this upcoming trip.

Thanks So Much For Your Support,



Alex Korchan