Sweet, Sweet Reunions

I've looked most forward to seeing this boy.  What a sweet reunion it was

We woke up Sunday morning very thankful to have spent the night in a bed.  The past 2 nights had been in the car and airplane.  Church started at 11:00 and we couldn’t wait.  As we walked down the road to church, we reminisced about last year.  Talking about how it felt as if we were dreaming.  We walked down the road, and I was flooded with emotions as so many familiar things surrounded me.  Zanele was one of our translators from last year and I was so excited to see her.  I saw that she was standing at the back of the church so I walked up behind her and hugged her.  When she turned around she screamed so loud so we had to walk outside.  It was so great to surprise her, she said, “Sisi I can’t believe my eyes right now!”  This is what I was so looking forward to, seeing the people I grew to love in the 3 months I lived here.  I can’t describe how it feels when they are so excited to see me and when people who I didn’t spend that much time with, remember my name. 

Zanele then came up to us and said “Jess, I told the pastor that I want you 3 girls to go up to the front and greet the church.”  It is always intimidating speaking at this church, but the people were very happy to see us and so welcoming as always.  After church I got to see Phinda, which was the moment I have most looked forward to since I left in April.  All morning the 3 of us were so overwhelmed with emotion.  I couldn’t even cry because there was so much I was feeling.  Being back here just reconfirms how much I love this country and these people.  If you know me, you know how much I love this boy Phinda.  He is like a son to me, so finally getting to hug him was one of the best moments.  There were tears in his eyes as he said “I can’t put into words how happy I am that you are here.”  We spent the rest of the day with Mbonisi and Phinda.  A few hours later Ayanda came to the homestead and that too, was a reunion I have longed for.  (For those of you who didn’t follow my blog last time, there were 4 boys that became like little brothers to me: Phinda, Ayanda, Vuma&Mbonisi.  I have kept in contact with them through letters and the phone so I have looked forward to this day).  

Phinda & Ayanda.  Although Phinda looks sad, he really was very happy

Lelo has 2 four-wheelers at the homestead so we had so much fun riding them around Timbutini with the boys.  They got a little crazy but we had so much fun taking pictures and videos of each other.  So far, minus the miserable night in the car in South Africa, it has been a beautiful trip.  Being here is completely blowing my mind.  I don’t think it has sunk in for any of us that we are actually back in Swaziland.  We are looking forward to what the Lord uses us for in the next 3 weeks and we covet your prayers during our time here.  These are just a few things I came up with that you can be praying for back home:

-          protection: spiritually and physically

o   Lelo caught someone breaking into his homestead a few nights ago.  This man is now in jail but that was not exactly good to hear J

o   The spiritual atmosphere here is very different than at home; Satan works in very obvious ways which can cause a lot of fear so pray for protection and discernment for us

-          That we would have plenty of ministry opportunities and be sensitive to where the Lord wants us to be

-          This is a minor request, but we are currently staying in lelo’s room because there is another team here staying in the hut until Tuesday.  We were talking with them today and they said there have been mice & rats in the hut: I hate both of these creatures, & I will hate them even more if they try to get in my bed.  You can pray for that however you want to J

-          Relationships to be easy and for new relationships to be formed

4 wheeler time with Mbonisi

I will think of more as the weeks pass but those are just a few.  THANK YOU to those of you who supported me financially on this trip.  I definitely could not have come here without your help and I am eternally grateful to you.  I am getting to be Jesus’ hands and feet on your behalf.  Know that He is doing beautiful things in the people of Swaziland and I am beyond grateful to get to be a part of it.

Love to all of you!

I Slept On the Side of the Road..in Africa

Note:  if you aren’t interested in all the details of my travel to Swaziland, you may want to skip out on reading this blog :)

Here is what I was anticipating my travel plan to look like:

Flight from San Antonio to Atlanta: 3 hours

*I met up with Katie and Kaci in Atlanta so that was a sweet reunion!

Flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa: 16 hours

Drive from Jo’burg to Swaziland: 4 hours

Obviously this did not happen, or I would not be writing this blog.

All my flights went great minus some undesirable turbulence as we flew over the Atlantic.  There were a few moments, as my body shook side to side, that I quickly asked Jesus to carry our plane.  Needless to say, I began to get a little stir crazy after such a long flight and was very ready to meet Lelo at the airport to make our drive so Swaziland.  (Side note: we are staying at the same homestead as we did last year, so Lelo was the one picking us up).  We got our luggage which always makes me nervous.  I am the person who quickly assumes that someone either stole my luggage or it got lost, I know, optimistic right?  But all of our bags arrived and we made our way past customs to meet Lelo. We originally thought the drive was about 4 hours from the airport to Timbutini, Swaziland.  The border closes at 10:00 pm and does not reopen until 7:00 am.  We left the airport around 6:45 pm so we were confident that we would make it across the border before it closed. Then, at 9:45 (border closes in 15 minutes) we were about 10 minutes from the border and we hear a loud pop. Oh, that was just the tire popping.  Just put on the spare right?  Well the spare had been used on the way to pick us up from the airport because the car had a blowout then too.  We rolled down the hill into the parking lot of a gas station where we spent the next 16 ½ hours.  Then the electricity went out, so we were sitting in the dark.  It just seems like its darker at night in Swaziland, and I’m scared of the dark, especially in Africa.  I can’t even put into words the way we were feeling.  We wanted to cry, but ended up laughing.  You know when something happens that is just so ridiculous the more appropriate reaction would be to cry, but you can’t help but laugh because of how unbelievable it is?  This was one of times.  Lelo and Sabelo reassured us that we were in a safe place, and pointed out that there were security cameras connected to the police station in the parking lot.  Not much sleeping took place as you can imagine and 7:00 am could not have come any sooner.  We actually didn’t leave the parking lot until around 10:00 am so spent a total of 12 hours there.  Lots of rejoicing took place when we got to the border and we couldn’t believe that we had spent the past 12 hours, just 10 minutes from the border.  As we turned down the dirt road to Timbutini my heart began to smile, cheesy I know, but this is true.  Pulling up to the homestead felt like I was in a dream.  It was so exciting to be back, but in the same moment I wished my teammates from last year could be there.  A few minutes later, Mbonisi, (who I wrote about in a lot of my previous blogs), showed up at the homestead, and I screamed, of course, as I ran to hug him.  It was a beautiful reunion, and he just laughed as I couldn’t stop squealing because I was so happy to see him. 

            We went to Manzini so we could get on the internet to let our families know we arrived safely, and bought some groceries.  We got home and went to sleep around 7:30 because we were so exhausted.  This time of year, the sun begins to set at around 5:30 so you can’t do much anyways once it is dark. 

So, we arrived safely in Timbutini, it just took a little longer than we would have liked.  It was a memorable experience but not one we EVER want to repeat. 

…to be continued on the blog above