South Africa
South Africa Mission Trip 2015
South Africa Mission Trip 2013
On August 11 seven people departed from Hopewell to begin a nearly two-week mission trip to South Africa. The group includes HUMC members and people from other churches who have answered the call to serve (Lauren Baldwin, Tony Brantzeg, Tracey Fernandez, Jill Halverson, Jen Lisowski, Dick Pry, and Leah Ranalli). The team will be building another home (house #18) for Mosaic to help them expand on their self-sustainable orphan care model, and, of course, they will also pay a visit to Aunt Suzie and the elderlies. All of the travelers will return to the US on August 24th, except Jen who will spend a little more time in South Africa visiting other ministry partners. Please pray for all of these individuals and praise God for bold missionary efforts out of Hopewell UMC! Thanks be to God!
You can read the team's Mission Trip Blog right here!
Hopewell's outreach effort in South Africa is multi-faceted. Our work has partnered us with many ministries already working to address the enormous problems created by poverty, racism, and the AIDS pandemic in particular. Hopewell has had a full-time presence in South Africa since 2008, beginning with our first Missionary Jen Lisowski (left in the photo), and continuing in 2012 with our new Missionary Jordan Ridge (right).

Jordan, like Jen before her, is based in the town of Potchefstroom throughout the year. Her mission includes identifying ministries that Hopewell can partner with on a long-term basis. You can read about her experience in South Africa here. In addition to Jordan's on the ground presence, Hopewell has sponsored mission trips, comprised of youth and adults, to South Africa for the past four years.
Hopewell's current mission in the Potchefstroom region supports the work of several dynamic ministries that are providing care for families and children who are living with AIDS. Those ministries include:
Ikageng Daycare Center for the Aged
This daycare center exists to give elderly women in the Ikageng Township a safe place each day to share meals together and receive training in cooking, gardening, and sewing. While many of these women struggle with their own physical and sometimes mental ailments, they also provide loving care for other elderly women in the community.
Mosaic Community Developments
Made by Mosaic
Cape Town Area
In the general Cape Town area, we support H.E.L.P Ministries, a hunger project providing a daily lunch for school children. We also have provided salary support for a librarian and a computer lab teacher in addition to other financial assistance and physical volunteers at the Nederburg School, a public primary school located near Cape Town with approximately 720 students.
