The market in Manzini
After taking public home to Timbutini last Wednesday I stopped at the carepoint to see if Bandile was there because I had his shoes. He was so I had him walk home with me and he was so excited. I had him wash his feet off and helped him put on his new socks and shoes. It was such a beautiful few moments for me, I felt like I was washing and putting shoes on the feet of my Jesus. It's hard to describe what it felt like completely but it was perfect. It was so exciting to see him this week come to the carepoint with his socks and shoes on because since I met him like the first week of being in Swazi I have just known him to be barefoot all the time, he looks so different! But so precious.
Where we go to take public home
In the back of the khombi
Phinda, Ayanda & Vuma (when Phinda saw this he laughed
and said I was just so happy!)
Painting Phinda's toenails :)
Thursday I usually go to Timbutini carepoint but went to the hospital instead because Nkhosingphile, the little boy that we have been taking to the hospital for his foot, was going to get his bandage changed and I have really gotten close to him. We went to the grocery store first because a girl on our team, Tori, had a doctor appointment for her back, so I asked Nkhosingphile if he wanted anything from the bakery inside and of course, as a 13 year old boy he said yes. He hobbled inside with his crutches and walked over to the bakery with me. I could see him scoping everything out trying to pick what he wanted so I told him to get as much as he wanted. He got 3 things and a soda :) He had the biggest smile on his face it was so precious. When we got to the hospital I sat in line with him waiting to get his bandage changed. I won't even go into the craziness of hospitals here and how unorganized they are. Sometimes I just laugh and think how shocked people would be in the States if they went to a hospital like that. So we just sat and listened to my iPod and played a game. Another one of my favorite moments in Swazi. It's the little things.
The finished product
They love the iPod and dancing to it!
Love them
Our little family, minus Mbonisi
Love moments like this
Walking to the general store
Friday, was Good Friday so a few of us went to a church service about 20 minutes from the homestead. It was pretty cool, very long of course because all Swazi church services are long but it was quite the experience. I'll write more about that for Sunday. Honestly I can't remember what else I did Friday. I just asked Tori who is sitting next to me in the internet cafe and she couldn't remember either!
Mbonisi; the boy that reminds me of Daniel
Joeboy I can't wait for you to meet him
Bandile and the shoes that finally fit!
Highlight of the week
One of my favorite pictures
This is outside Nando's on Saturday
We were all finally looking after like 5 pictures
This is what we found Phinda doing :)
My bobhuti (brothers)
Saturday was so so fun. Mbonisi, Ayanda and Vuma came to the homestead and walked with Tori, Katie, Debbie I to meet Phinda at the football field. He wasn't there so Ayanda & Mbonisi started walking over the mountain to his homestead to get him. Well a few minutes later here comes Phinda from a different direction, by himself. There are no cell phones. So Vuma does this crazy loud whistle, and a few seconds later we here the same kind of whistle answering back, then here come Ayanda & Mbonisi running through the bushes. It was so exciting I started screaming because of the way they can just communicate through whistling! Love Swaziland. So then we walked to the main road which is about a 20 minute walk through our village and got public to Manzini. Once in Manzini we just had fun. We took them to eat at this restaurant called Nando's and each one of us paid for one of the boys public and lunch. They were so cute eating their food, I'm pretty sure Phinda (my bhuti) may have never really used silverware before so he struggled but it was precious. We were all sitting in the booth waiting for them to bring the food and realize Phinda isn't sitting with us. (Side note: Phinda it 13 and in his own little world; he is such a little boy and sometimes we think he is not even aware of reality). So we start looking around and see him sitting in some booth with a random guy, taking pictures of himself with my camera. We all started laughing so hard, it is just so like Phinda to do something like that. So I asked him what he was doing and he just giggled and said "taking pictures." He loves my camera so anytime I have it he takes it and goes to town, it's always fun to get my camera back and see what pictures he has taken. He had my camera all Saturday. Lunch was fun, it was good for us to know the boys were eating a good meal that would fill them up. We took lots of pictures as always and I will put some on here for you to see. I can't even say enough how much I love these 4 boys. We have just become a family and when I tell them I'm leaving soon they get so upset and ask when I'm coming back. Mbonisi told me he is going to steal my passport so I can't leave. Phinda told me he doesn't trust me when I say I'm coming back soon because he doesn't want me to let him down. Ayanda told me I'm his best friend. So you can see how hard it will be for me to leave this place that is home to me. The people who have become my family (never could they replace my real one though!).
Swazi ice cream is SO good!
See?
My Swazi Daniel Joe
Sick of me, but adorable of Phinda
Vuma
It rains a lot here
Saturday evening I went to another Easter church service with Musa and 2 other girls on my team. This night was absolutely crazy for me. I have never been in a service like that. I have a whole lot of researching to do when I get home after some of the things I saw but let's just say I would not have been able to hold it together, had I been sitting next to my brother, Adam.
Sunday, Easter Sunday! Went back to the same church but this time with the whole team. The place was packed out, it was in like a school gym type thing, so bigger than the CLC at FBCNB but not much. About 2 1/2 hours in I was sweating like crazy and couldn't even understand what was going on so I went to the back and found Phinda so I stood outside with him where the wind felt very nice. Then walked down to our pastor's house which was on that property and watched some of the National Church service that the king goes to. Our church service ended up lasting from about 9:00 - 2:00. Can't imagine what people in the States would do if a church service lasted 5 hours. Probably leave like myself and most of my teammates did. Even Musa and Pastor Walter did so there was no guilt :)
Phinda's photography
Playing cards with the kids at the hospital yesterday
Nkhosingphile
Kids at Timbutini eating
At the football field
What I go watch everyday :)
Sunday night was a lot of fun. Musa and Bheki came over for dinner and hung out for a long time. We played musical chairs. We walked in a circle around Musa's car which was like 30 feet from the scattered chairs and when Katie would stop the music we would all run, screaming to the chairs that were definitely not lined up. It was the most fun game ever! And pretty crazy, with lots of shoving and falling out of chairs but so entertaining. We also had an 'easter egg hunt.' Tori & Melissa just hid a bunch of star/heart beads and we found them and got a cookie for each bead we found. Doesn't beat the easter egg hunts at home!
Phinda again
Soccer shoes :)
Monday all the kids had off for holiday so I didn't go to Khanyisile Primary. There were just a few of us at the homestead so we stayed back and interceded (through prayer) for somethings here in Swaziland like: our khombi (we are down to one now and need it to keep working), Audrey a lady at Hope House who is demon possessed so we prayed for deliverance and freedom for her, and then for the D-Team here in Swazi because their stress load is so much. Musa who is the leader of the D-Team has an incredibly crazy amount of responsibility and stress here. He actually has been suffering from back issues due to stress and has been to South Africa 2 times the past week for doctors appointments. Mom, he is the male/swazi version of you. He is the person EVERYONE calls to help with things because they know he is such a servant and will say yes to everything, even if he doesn't really have the time or energy to do it.
Tori & I cooked quiche on Monday which tasted super good thanks to my mom passing down her great cooking talent to me :) It rained ALL day Monday and some yesterday too so the weather has been super cool! Love it.
Tuesday I went to the hospital again because we were taking Nkhosingphile to get his bandage changed so I went with Neil to pick him up from school. Such a good feeling that when I got out of the khombi he started smiling. I love this kid. So we went back to the homestead and I gave him some corn flakes for breakfast. Then to the hospital and this time we didn't have to wait nearly as long to get his bandage changed so we went to the children's ward and played Crazy Eights with some of the kids there. It was a lot of fun, even though I lost every time. We went to the grocery store and Nkhosingphile was once again very excited when I told him he could get whatever he wanted at the bakery. Dad, he got one of these homemade pink snowball cake things that you like. It was a great day. Every day I keep loving this place more and more, even though it doesn't seem possible.
Tuesday night we had a big team discussion. We have such a big team and it's been really hard to be honest. Lots of us are here for completely different reasons but we never discussed that at the beginning so it has caused some issues but thank goodness it's not the end of the world! I decided form the beginning that I was going to get out of this trip what I put into it. I have had to push through exhaustion at points and choose love and choose the people. But oh the reward.
Wednesday (today) I've just been in town hanging out. I haven't had much down time lately and wanted to spend some time at the internet so that's what I've done today!
18 days until I come home. It's going to be a HUGE adjustment so I covet your prayers in that. Love all of you and thank you for your support of this trip that has changed my life forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment