This post looks legit

It seems as though the time is coming to an end, but yet so much more is about to happen. In roughly 4 days I will be boarding a plane with 16 other people on our way to Kenya. The photo to the right of these words is in fact the team in which I will be traveling with. We are made up of so many different places in the world! We have team members from North America, Brazil, Ghana, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Tanzania, England and Canada. Yeah, quite a motley crew indeed. We seem to have a pretty good group on our hands, so I’d say. The talents are so abundant and vast that I am reassured constantly that we can accomplish any task God may have for us in the journey ahead. This is our last week of lectures; lemme get an AMEN. Seriously, some speakers were genius but others well… weren’t. God blessed us with some very brilliant people during the teaching phase and it is very cool to see how people’s lives have actually been greatly impacted by their words of wisdom. This week we are being taught on the subject of “The Great Commission” and it is a great week for me. One that hits a spot in your mind that makes you want to get up and just go do something! For me, this was a great topic to end with as we go out into Outreach.

BRING ON THEOUTREACH

Here are a couple of photos I snagged off of Flickr so you guys can get a feel of what I will be seeing when I am on Outreach. I also have to apologize to all the people who made comments about me being with wild animals and me laughing at them saying..”Yeah, it will never happen”. But, actually I found out that when we are living with the Messiah tribe in Kenya we will be living in the “Bush Bush”. So that means truly wild animals.. seeing giraffes and zebras and gazelle on a daily basis. It’s so exciting to think animals are still wild in some places of the world. So here is a bit of what I’ll be seeing. This is Nairobi traffic, yeah it seems a bit hectic. Thankfully we have my good ole’ friend John Knox that can drive stick shift and not me! Even though I would like to learn how. Not in this traffic though please. I have been told by people whom have gone that Nairobi is in a state of constant motion. As you can see many people are scattered amongst the streets and sidewalks. Which brings me to a point where I would like to share a bit of African wisdom with you. There is a term coined from a recent movie I watched called “Blood Diamond”. When you witness something you just don’t understand and wonder why it happened you simply state the term “T.I.A” which stands for This Is Africa. This is commonly used by westerners considering half the crazy stuff we see isn’t deemed crazy by other Africans considering they do the same thing. Oh man this photo below totally explains what I meant on the subject of “T.I.A”. Seriously.. When you look past the airstrip of this major airport you see wild animals! Can’t wait to totally blow up the Nikon taking photos of everything on outreach, hopefully I can look into getting another battery considering there will be a period of time in which we will be without electricity for roughly two weeks. Oh yeah, take away our running water! All in the experience I suppose! To be honest I’ve been thinking of what to write for so long I don’t know what I have put on here. Just please continue to pray for me and the journey God has me on in this moment of my life. I hope everyone has a great holiday break and it doesn’t move to fast. I will be home on the 22nd of February. Can’t wait to see ya’ll.

Love Courtland.

Forgot to put this with the last blog, people wanted to see how my feet looked. Actually another really cool thing to add. Many of the students were really impressed by what I did. Which was kinda cool because I didnt really think tooo many people even noticed it. But the afternoon that I was finished a couple of them suprised me with something so crazy. & Actually really humbling to me. They washed my feet, I mean dang.I was opposed to it at first untill they began to explain which was neat. Like I didn't know what to do, they totally blew my mind.

Update, Sorry it's long.

These past few weeks have been filled with so much stuff, recently getting done with Holy Spirit Week, then traveling about 8 and a half hours to the Surfing Capital of the World! Jeffrey’s Bay South Africa. Although the weather wasn’t exactly cooperative while we are there we still got to experience some of what this new location had to offer. It seems like everything was just amplified at their beaches. The seashells where huge, the waves were really nice, it was SO MUCH colder and there was a sighting of a 25 foot great white shark. Yeah, practically a swimming school bus. I can now say that I have now swam in the Indian Ocean, even though it was scary seeing all the gross squishy bodies of the jellyfish on shore that were seriously about 2 and a half feet wide across the top! I’ve never seen anything that size. Even though the beach was nice on the two days of solid weather, we were there for a conference. “Nations to Nations” a celebration of the work God is doing all over the world. YWAMers from everywhere around Africa gathered in many nights of Worship & fellowship, it was pretty swell. There was even someone from Orlando! Her name was Faith, and she works for Disney. Pretty cool considering I haven’t seen another Floridian in so long. Never realized that I would actually miss my hometown, I really miss the beach. Back here in Worcester it’s sad to think that the ocean isn’t just a 6 minute drive down the road. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with the conference in all though, but I sure do appreciate getting to see a new part of Africa! Even though Jeffrey’s Bay has been deemed the Surfing Capital of the World it is a place in such need. I was walking to the church where the boys were lodging at about 11 one night after my shower. I was alone and all of a sudden I find this little boy running up to me. I was so worried I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, he began to beg and ask for things but with the language barrier I was unable to understand. I felt so bad having to walk along with nothing to give, once he realized I had nothing or the fact I couldn’t understand him he ran back into the alley where he had been sleeping before he heard me pass. Along with the poverty of the people in that town they have been finding a large number of babies in plastic bags (Yeah it’s graphic and gross, but it happens). Babies that have been born by incapable mothers who believe it is ok to simply put the just born child into a trash bag and dump it on the side of the road. It’s so heart breaking to hear a story such as that. I mean yes orphanages are full and your baby may never get adopted, but it doesn’t deserve to rot in a ditch like last Monday’s meat loaf. Luckily there is a group of individuals who were moved by these occurrences and they knew it was time to do something. They created a building in the middle of a main intersection in town called the “Baby Safe”. It was so encouraging to see that people cared enough to build a nice place for the children to be brought to. Although there was something on the side of this building, a mail slot of sorts. I began to think about it and was later confirmed when I asked a lady in charge. The “mail slot” is just like a slot on a mail box at the post office and the women come late at night and place their babies inside this slot and close it, it drops the baby into the building where it is taken care of and safe. It sounds so horrible but I definitely approve of a child be put in a slot rather than a bag. But, it is still disheartening when you ask the question and get the answer, “Yes, it has been used”. Once the week was finished we packed up our 4 cars and headed for home, all happy campers. For some reason I don’t think many people really enjoyed our home away from home. On our way back we happened to see Ostriches, Monkeys, and Elephants! The Monkeys run free, the Ostriches are farm animals and the Elephants lived on a wildlife place. Pretty cool though, especially the ostriches; looked like the Lion King. Lately I have had this thought in my head “How can I help people when I don’t understand what they’re going through?” Every Wednesday as we have outreach in Zwelethemba I have spoken before about how I feel so much for those children, many not having shoes. Having to walk on the hot pavement and then on the rocks and gravel and glass seems like such a pain, literally. So roughly two weeks ago before outreach on the Wednesday of the 21st I slipped off my shoes and socks. Promising myself that I would not put anything on my feet until I saw those children again, to at least get a glimpse of what they deal with. I wasn’t quite thinking about us being in Jeffrey’s Bay the next week so we wouldn’t be back for two whole weeks. What had I gotten myself into, two weeks with no shoes? I was destined to finish as bad as I had imagined it would be. Good News! I made it; I went two weeks with no shoes. There were certainly times where I wanted to give up, but I promised myself and it seemed as though the other students were rooting for me. This experience really made me appreciate shoes and carpet and water, each a blessing from God. It was nice to see that situation I started with myself kind of end with me realizing the little things that God gives us really do make an impact. Something started with no spiritual intentions found its way there. I am trying to really make the best out of Africa, trying to do as much and make as many experiences as possible. I have made a great friend John Knox here, he is from Kansas. We spoke about fasting a bit and discussed how I had never done it, but he has only for half a week or so. After not very much preparation I found myself on the first day of our fast, the first day we left for J-Bay. I was so worried, worried that I wouldn’t be able to go a whole week without food, I mean look at me! It just seems like a death wish haha. Anyways God did it with this too! He took me a whole week man, only water! Courtland Cory, I almost still can’t believe it. Totally shows you how strong God is. My trust in him grew so much over that week, and he really blessed me with the strengthening of a great friendship during that time as well. So with all of my new ventures over we just wrapped up our last day of the “Week of Worship.” It was wicked sweet, I cannot wait to come home and share all this stuff I have learned. I have an ever expanding notebook of things I have written down that I want to talk with people about! Intercession and Spiritual Warfare are the two topics of next week’s teaching. Hope it is interesting, considering I always find my head hurting after all the classes. Anyways I hope everyone is having a great time back in Florida and where else you are reading this from. Youth Sunday is here and I’m totally bummed that I won’t be there for the students to make me proud. It’s going to be so awesome.
Anyways, Love you guys.

Courtland


P.S. here is my Address for those who are asking.
Courtland Cory/ CINDTS
P.O. Box 926
Worcester 6849, South Africa

To this day I still sometimes find myself walking outside my front door and being in total awe of the scenery around me, so different from back home. Mountains are on all sides of me, the sunsets are so cool here, but nothing will beat the sunrises we get in good ole' NSB. I just wanted to thank each person reading this because in someway you have helped me in this journey. From the preparation, prayers, donations and especially Love. We are now in our third week of classes and it's going really well. Imagine studying your favorite subjects for six hours a day being taught by men who have traveled the world gaining knowledge. That is what I'm doing right now! I have learned many many things, all though some of them make my head feel as if it could explode at any given moment. This week our teacher is from Washington state, he is a physicist who has earned multiple PhD's, written four books and has been recognized for discovering three profound scientific discoveries. Best of all, he is hilarious. Totally reminds me of a Les Williams. Super brilliant and funny. Everyone remember to pray for Les!! Hopefully he isn't getting to buckwild out on the road. LUCKY. As for me, classes are well but my favorite part so far comes on Wednesdays! Every Wednesday we travel to a nearby town, Zwelethemba. We have only done one so far, but good news! Today is Wednesday, so I'll be going back :]. It took me a while to get adjusted at first. You always see infomercials and various things on television talking about the homeless children in foreign countries. But, I have realized that until you are standing next to the child you don't fully grasp the concept. Tons of children lined up along a fence waiting to get into the make shift church building. Thanks to a group of South Korean people who have given up their time and life to live among the locals and serve the children with various things, like our weekly Wednesday worship services. Your heart just breaks for these children as run through the door to get a seat, clothed in very old clothes, ripped and tattered. Something which would be deemed Unwearable back home. Some, well many of the children do not have the luxury of shoes. But, the lack of clothes and shoes does not stop those kids from pushing through the door to sit almost two or three to a seat. Yes, they are that small. It's very humbling to see these children so small and malnourished some whom haven't eaten for almost up to a week and I'm sitting here complaining about something on my plate. They are still grateful to their God through it all, it's so encouraging. Because I'm not sure that after a week of no food that I would still be totally happy with God. Once everyone got seated the children quieted down to allow Laimon, our school leader introduce each of us; the calm before the "storm". As Laimon began to strum on his acoustic guitar the place erupted! The children jumped from their seats and began to scream the lyrics of each song, dancing various dances and jumping around like nobody's business. To witness these children cast all their worries aside to worship God was simply breathe taking. Their voices filled the large cement block building, echoing loud enough that you knew the sounds were pouring into the streets outside. I was able to make it through the first two or three songs until I literally felt my heart breaking for these children. Out of nowhere I began to cry! That has never happened just from hearing someone sing, especially in a situation where I couldn't understand the language. I believe God used that moment for me to realize that I truly have a heart for children, and really do want to see change in Africa and other places. As we go back today to Zwelethemba I can only pray that God continues to break my heart for these children and the challenges they face. I'm actually VERY excited because they have sorta deemed me the "School Photographer". It's like all the things I'm passionate about in one package. Thank you all for the never-ending support, love and prayers. Please forgive me if I have not responded to everyone on Facebook it's really hard to keep track. I would love to talk to anyone who wants to. Send me an Email at Courtlandcory@hotmail.com. I have also been asked for my class schedule so people have the ability to see what I am learning about in the various weeks. As well as my mailing address, which are going to be posted once I get the list.
I hope everything is going well in the Sunshine State, Minnesota & Djibouti. I have been praying a lot for the youth group. Many good things have been said to me about it from both staff and students, So cool! Also if there is anything I could pray for you about, just send me an email.

Love you guys,

Courtland

Africaans

I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to keep up with this; I haven’t even posted anymore photos on Facebook! What a fail! My schedule is really starting to get busy. We are also getting our weekly work duties next week so free time may just be a thing of the past. But, I promise I’ll try and keep people updated and put up photos when I can. We had some visitors come in last night! Although they weren’t invited… or here during a decent time. Locals broke into our dorms last night while we were sleeping and came through our rooms. They managed to get away with a women’s bag of stuff and also had fun smashing a car window on their way out. No one happened to see them we just woke up to the aftermath. To be honest I am actually creeped out by it. Just the thought of people being around you, looking through your stuff while you’re asleep. We have everything hidden and locked away now especially the valuables. But, before that fiasco it was a goodnight, we had a group meeting in the classroom and had just an hour or so of praying for one another, our school and other things. Prayers were said in many different languages and if you have never heard a group of people pray in English, Portuguese, Africaans and Korean at the same time, well buddy you are missing out. During the quiet time that followed I started just writing down in my journal. Writing about this feeling I’ve been getting lately, the feeling I get when I go to Detroit. Many people calling it the so cleverly named… “Detroit Feeling” haha. I just decided to post it on here in case anyone wanted to read it. Love you guys, things are awesome here.

It’s what I and the privileged others would call the “Detroit Feeling”. That feeling you get; knowing you’re so close to God. A feeling that seems unreachable when you’re back in your hometown. But… I’m not in Detroit. I now find myself being flooded with the feeling of this closeness but not finding myself in Michigan. I am here sitting in a room, in Worcester South Africa. So would I continue to describe it the same way? Only calling it the “South Africa Feeling” now? Sitting in this room, each wall lined with students. The only light being that of about ten candles flickering around the room; all you hear is a faint whisper of worship music coming from the speakers in the corner. Tonight we are given the opportunity to write down our goals, and place them with others. As well as write down the abilities we believe God has given us. But, perhaps the most important of them all is the chance to write anything on a piece of paper, any worries and struggles anything; place them into this bucket of water only for them to disintegrate and wash away. It allows me to realize how easily God can handle a problem in our life, with friends, parents or us… anything. Love that never fails nor gives up. Perhaps this
“________ feeling” is us as his children realizing how much our Father loves us. Sort of like our parents. We know they love us. But it seems to be so much more apparent when we are someplace else as it seems to be magnified. This could totally just be me, as I’m sure it is but it’s my opinion. When we are home with our parents the love is obviously there, for some families; it’s just a known thing. But when your parents say… take you to Disney World. You realize it then that they do love you enough to take you someplace so awesome. Makes me think of when God allows us to take a trip to Detroit or Africa to learn about him and work with his children. I am not proud of it, but I think I am missing the love God has for me every day. He just doesn’t love me when I’m out in the mission field. He loves me always. When I’m at a show, or in line at the bank even when I’m pooping! Love far more powerful than I can imagine. A love that can bring nations together, even able to get the undivided attention of college students! That’s practically magic. One thing I have learned that I really appreciate is… “Don’t tell your God how big your problem is, tell you problem how big your God is.” The teachers here are really awesome. I just hope I one day have the ability to speak with students with such confidence and faith as these men and women do.

Africa is my home.

I woke up at 6 am here, which is 12 am in America, well Florida and 11 pm for Wade haha. So I thankfully got to take a couple minutes and write some people and return messages I had received. Skipped breakfast and headed for town; town isn’t really scary itself just many of the people seem to stare at me in not the nicest way ahah. After walking to the McDonalds I decided it was time to take a crack at my mission. I had a goal of getting to the mountains; the ones you can see in the photos I have posted on facebook. So I left home at around 9 am here once I got done walking downtown. It seemed like I was walking forever and REALLY seemed like I would be needed new shoes soon! As I was walking I took some pretty sweet photos that I will post on Facebook soon. Walking uphill for about 2 hours is not the most fun thing I have done since I got here. But, I made it. It hurt, it was not so fun but I really needed to do it. I’m practically the poster child for starting a project and giving up, or diet or sport; anything with commitment perhaps haha. But I am seeing that God really helps us, like whether it is this cool 12 km walk I went on today, or the fact that I’m in AFRICA taking the 12 km walk!
We all know there is no way that any of this could have been brought together with just me. Considering my never ceasing procrastination or my eagerness to sometimes not do my best just to finish of job, God came through even during my short comings. It’s crazy how a walk up a mountain opens so many other thoughts in your mind. I’m still bored though, it’s not fun having no one to talk to… some more class mates arrived today. No other guys yet, which worries me. I don’t want to be stuck around a bunch of ladies, don’t get me wrong, I am a sexy man of God!
(Shout out to Kev and Justin haha)But hey, I need other conversation. Anyways I do only have one more day of absolute South African freedom, but it’s hard to know what to do when in a totally new land. Considering I’ve been downtown so much I could make a diagram of it with my eyes closed.
Anyways hope all is well with everyone back in the homeland,
Love you guys.

Courtland Cory.

P.S. if you don’t listen to NEEDTOBREATHE and if you do,
take a lil listen to the song
“Let us love”

“Let us Love like we were children”
That line is so good to me right now,
I want to be able to do just that,

God seems to have me in the craziest situation. I took flight at 1:50 to the Detroit airport, which was just the beginning of my journey thus far. Once I landed in Detroit I went and grabbed myself some lunch and headed onwards jumping on my plane to Amsterdam. What a flight that was, ended up only being 7 hours… but still 7 hours. Due to mind boggeling time zones once I arrived in the Netherlands it was about 7:30 in the morning. Thankfully I was given 10 euro because I was starting to get rarther hungry. Don’t get me wrong plane food is alright, but I was still good from the McDonalds earlier once they were serving. Interaction.. that worried me. I was nervous to sound dumb ordering and not knowing what to order because the food did look good, just didn’t know what was in it! So my morning in Amsterdam consisted of a cold hotdog with ketchup and a coke. Really broadening my horizons huh? Amsterdam also brought on many emotions, excitement aswell as sadness. Realizing that my connections with people won’t be as current due to time constrictions (USA is 6 hours behind) and the very busy schedule I have ahead of myself. One more flight to finish this off; Amsterdam to Cape Town, South Africa. Most wretched of all was this flight, 12 hours. I must have listened to the oddest mix of Taylor Swift, the Chariot, NEEDTOBREATHE and Owl City about 46 times. Managed to watch 2 episodes of 30 rock, finished off with my bestfriend sleep. So here I sit, in a temporary room while they get mine done. I am still at the YWAM base but just not in my quarters yet. It is quite interesting though being in a room full of Korean people all snoring and chatting via webcam with people. I don’t stand out at all… Kinda bummed I landed at night, although a very cool couple met me at the airport to bring me here. It made the hour drive a lot funner. Even though it was quite daunting with all the new road changes and the cars and everyone seems to own a landrover. & really interesting that the police do not infact pull you over for speeding no matter how fast your going. They just use their radars and send you the bill later, also you do not get any points towards your liscence. I am surrounded by mountains and have been warned greatly about the monkeys, they just hang around here. So they notion of this being a quant pretty safe city seems to be fading. I have been told there is a very high drug and crime rate. YIPPEE. I love you guys and will miss you all but I’m starting to really believe God is going to do some wicked sweet stuff in and with me.
Greetings From South Africa.
Love Courtland.