Hope for Swaziland

The One With the Not So Clever Title

2011-08-04T04:50:00.000-05:00

I always try to come up with a title for my blogs that might catch your interest. With this blog, I couldn’t come up with one. That probably is correlated with the fact that this has been a strange week. I was talking with a friend a few days ago, and I was telling her that I don’t even know how to put in words some of the events that have gone on. Put simply, the 3 of us have had a really hard time being here. I’ll go over some of the reasons it has been so hard:

Springbok General Store

1) I personally came in with the mindset of, “Jessica, beware of any expectations you have, because you know expectations usually lead to disappointments.” I had especially prepared myself mentally for the fact that relationships probably would not pick up right where they left off last year in April when we left. This was the main thing I was concerned about. I wanted to be prepared for the worst. Maybe the people we spent a lot of time with, didn’t really want to spend time with us or maybe they aren’t even here anymore. So, this was my main focus. I didn’t really think about my expectations for ministry. I wasn’t too worried about it because I just thought to myself “we will just do the same things we did last year: spend time with the children in the community at the care points and visit the terminally ill at Hope House.” Plainly put, ministry has been incredibly difficult. Everything has been so much more difficult than we could have expected. Today for example, we planned on going to the care point and being with the kids of Timbutini, but when we got there, we found there was no water = the women can’t cook for the children, which is the entire reason the kids even come to the care points. So when there is no water, there is not food, and therefore no kids. So we just walked home. It’s hard to do ministry when people aren’t there. This has kind of been the norm for us. Basically things that we plan don’t end up being possible. Even in the smallest of plans, we feel very defeated. If you are reading this that probably means you supported me in coming here, so I don’t want you to think that your donation to me was a waste. I’m just being honest about the difficulties we have had here. That is not to say that we have not had beautiful moments as well.

2) Coming independently (without an organization) has proved to be harder than we thought. I am an INCREDIBLY independent person (right mom!) and love when I can do something on my own. So coming to Africa, on my own, with just 2 friends was very appealing to me. I was completely confident that we had everything figured out, and the things we hadn’t planned, would just fall in to place once we got here. Simple enough in my mind. Obviously everything has not fallen into place as we would have liked it to. We have been able to do ministry at Hope House and with the children in the community, just not as much as we wanted to. We are constantly reminded that things in Africa are just more difficult than in America. For example, one day we planned on going to the care point, but it was pouring down rain and freezing cold outside. If I were home, the only thing that would be different is that I would grab and umbrella and jacket then go get in my car and go wherever I wanted to go. In Swazi, when it’s cold, people don’t do ANYTHING. If it’s cold and raining no one goes anywhere, they stay inside ALL day long. There are a few reasons for this: Swazis don’t like the cold and most people don’t have cars, which means if you want to go anywhere you have to walk and no one wants to walk in the cold rain. So we stayed inside all day. We were getting very stir crazy by the next morning, but there was no reason to go anywhere because everyone was locked up in their homes for the day. Also, I have been reminded of how thankful I should be to have a car. When you have to take public transportation everywhere you go it 1) gets expensive 2) is inconvenient and 3) takes at least twice as long to get where you want to go. So for the times we have gone places for ministry, we don’t get to spend as much time there because we have to factor in the time it takes using public transportation.

3) Here’s a short one; being in Africa with 2 other girls and no man is scary. Yes we live on a homestead where Lelo, 28, is 2 huts over but it’s not the same.

4) The 3 of us have talked a lot about the fact that we weren’t worried about the whole “giving up American comforts” because we had been there, and done that for 3 months last year. We forgot the consider that we have been back in America for over a year and have very much adjusted back to the comfortable American lifestyle. The only thing that’s different this time is that we knew what to expect as far as no running water and poor electricity. That has not made it any easier though. It’s not like we have been able to pick up where we left off and be really good at ‘roughing it.’ Unfortunately we are more spoiled than we wanted to realize.

5) I CAN NOT wait to be back in a country where women are respected. You may read this and disagree with me, thinking that American women are not respected. But here in Swaziland, women are merely objects. I can’t even describe how old it is, having men come up to you saying they love you, want to marry you, coming within an inch of your face telling you they want you, being grabbed as we try to find a khombi that is going to our village in the bus yard, being followed around by men, and the list goes on. Yesterday we went to Mbabane, and on the bus ride there I was sitting next to Kaci. She was sitting in an aisle seat, and as always men stopped and talked to us as they walked past, but there was an especially obnoxious drunk man that would not leave her alone. He was literally an inch from her face as he harassed her. At one point he even said, “I am not harassing you, I am just talking.” I think his need to ‘clarify’ this, proves he wasn’t simply talking to her. We have all come to the point where we are ready to backhand any man that bothers us. I know that’s not the most loving response, but I think any woman that came here might feel the same way at this point. We just can’t tolerate it anymore. Even the weird attention we get as we walk around town, with men whispering all kinds of vulgarities about the “white girls.” There have been many times where I told one of the girls, “Oh, if one of my brother’s were here, that man would not have just done that.” I’m thankful for all the gentlemen in my life.

Hopefully this blog has not come across as me whining the entire time. I just want those who are following my trip, to know everything, even the hard stuff. If you are discouraged after reading this, then go back and read my “Sweet, Sweet Reunions” blog of when I first got here. I have been constantly reminded that mission work isn’t easy. There are days when you feel like your presence is pointless and there are days when you feel like the Lord is using you in great ways. We have had both. We have decided that maybe the Lord needed to teach us some lessons that He couldn’t teach us as well in America. The slow-pace lifestyle has forced us to rest. This morning we all spent time reading. I told them that if I were at my home in Bryan, I would have woken up and eaten breakfast then probably opened up my computer and spent an unhealthy amount of time on the internet. But here, that’s never an option so we are taking advantage of that. I have had conversations with the Lord asking, “Did I have to spend all this time and money, for you to teach me such simple lessons?” But I’ve realized, I wouldn’t have learned some of these simple things at my home. He brought us to the other side of the world, and is teaching us very simple, but good things.

Thanks for you prayers and support. I am so thankful to have been on this trip. The Lord has shown me some things that I needed to figure out and couldn’t have done without coming back here. It has been so good to spend time with sweet friends and make beautiful memories with them. We will be flying out of Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday, the 8^th, so please pray for travel protection. I always get a little nervous when I’m flying over the ocean for extended periods of time. Can’t wait to be home.

Love to you all.

I Smell A Rat

2011-08-02T07:44:00.000-05:00

“I smell a rat baby, I smell a rat baby. You better watch out.”

Patty Griffin sings these words and I feel they are an appropriate anthem for the past few days on the homestead. You see, last year when we were here it was summer time so the main issue we had was bugs crawling on us throughout the day and night. Now it is winter, so, no bugs. But furry rodents are looking for refuge from the ‘brutal’ wind and chilly air at night so it seems they decided our hut was the place to be. There was an Adventures in Missions team staying on this homestead that left on Tuesday and they warned us about these rodents, but we were not worried because Lelo reassured us that once we put the rat poison in there, it will not be a problem. So we spent one more night in a different room so the rats could be eliminated without us ever having to lay an eye on them.

Wednesday night was our first night in the hut. We were excited to each have a bed to ourselves and to get settled into the hut. Although we were slightly anxious about hearing/seeing a mouse/rat in the middle of the night, we were hopeful that the rat poison had done the trick.

this picture has absolutely nothing to do with the rat. We only have videos of the rat and those take too long to upload so, I wanted to add a picture just for the sake of having one on this blog :)

3:30 am…I fly out of bed and jump onto the ladder on the side of the bunk bed. I heard a noise that resembled a squeaky mouse = I freak out! Katie and Kaci were also awake because they heard the same noise. We aren’t exactly the fiercest of women, so we sat on our bunk beds with our headlamps looking on the roof and all around the room for the source of the noise. Kaci gets out her camera to document this experience, which was hilarious to watch the next morning. We are eventually tired of looking for the mouse and wanted to go back to sleep. We kept inspecting the roof for anything undesirable and that’s when Katie saw a spider repelling down towards her head, so lots more screaming took place. Followed by the smashing of every spider we could find. We didn’t sleep much the rest of the night because we kept hearing a noise that sounded mousey but at least we never saw it!

Thursday night we were prepared for another sleepless night.

12:00 am “He’s here!” Is what Kaci and I heard, and we immediately went into a panic. We knew exactly whom Katie was referring to when she said “He’s here.” Katie was sitting up and said she just saw the rat jump down from the wall and run across the floor. This was obviously not good news. We spent the next hour and a half screaming and following the rat using our headlamps as a spotlight. We were exhausted because we had realized that the best sleep we had was on the plane a week ago. Fear + exhaustion = 3 sobbing girls. Kaci and I kept saying, “I just want my dad.” We felt so helpless and hopeless. All we wanted at this point was rest. In the past week we had slept, but even our sleeping time was stressful. Up until this moment we had documented the chaos, but when the tears started to fall, we turned the cameras off. Looking back, we all wish we could have seen this incredibly pathetic night. We laugh about it now, but not the kind of laughing where you ever want it to happen again. It’s more a “I can’t believe that happened” kind of laughter.

We have not seen a rat in our hut since Thursday night. On Friday, our dear friend/brother Mbonisi slept in the hut, which allowed us to finally rest, because we knew he would kill anything if he saw it. Our minds were finally at ease. Saturday night, Mbonisi and Phinda slept in our hut, only after they had killed a mouse that made an appearance in the other building where the kitchen is. We were watching something on Kaci’s laptop when we saw 2 (or 3) mice scurry across the kitchen and yes, you would have thought something much worse was happening than the sighting of a few mice, based on our reaction. Mbonisi walked in the kitchen and knew exactly what we had been screaming about. Phinda pulled out his bush knife, which had been tucked away in his pant leg, and they casually walked around the kitchen look for the vermin. When once was brave enough to run across the floor, Mbonisi quickly slammed his shoe on top of it, to which he replied, “Minus one.” Yes, one less mouse we had to worry about. Thanks Phinda and Mbonisi you are heroes.

Bus Yard Adventures

2011-08-02T07:33:00.000-05:00

Yes that is my huge chin, BUT here is a tiny glimpse of public :) Now just multiply it x10 and you have an idea

I will start out by saying that this first week in Swazi has been very challenging for us. I wanted to share some of my raw thoughts and be transparent about the week with you.

Of course we came with lots of expectations, which should have only been a hint to us that they would almost all be broken. Why does it seem like we have to learn the same lessons over and over again? I guess because we don’t actually LEARN them J Coming to Africa as a group of 3 girls has been slightly overwhelming. We are constantly reminded that life would be a lot easier had a guy been with us, but we do have Swazi friends who help as much as they can. Daily outings have proved to be incredibly stressful. When we want to go somewhere we have 2 options: 1) walk or 2) take public. We walk A LOT, but when we want to go to town or somewhere that will take hours to walk to, then we take public. I don’t think I’m going to even try to explain public. I will say that taking public (transportation in a ‘van’) to town is much easier than taking it back from Manzini to Timbutini. You can spend hours waiting for a gumbi (pronounced koom-bee). Thursday we spent 3 hours waiting for one, and finally called a friend who sent his brother to pick us up. Once on the gumbi, you are sitting amongst 15-16 other people who have bags and whatever else in their laps, so personal space does not exist. This part is not as bad as last year, when the weather was hotter than Texas summers’ and your body is sitting right up against another’s. Thankfully the winter here has made that part more bearable. So, it’s about 25-30 minutes from Timbutini to Manzini, depending on how long it takes to make it up all the steep hills. Then the stressful part begins when we get to the bus yard. The best way I can describe this is saying it is a mud pit with probably 100 buses/vans driving around with no regard for people walking in front of them, men SCREAMING the destinations of the different gumbis and every eye being on us as we walk through this massive bus yard. Men love to grab our arms, yell at us, bring their friends to come and stare at us, etc. You can see how this raises my blood pressure slightly. Then you experience all of those things and more, when you come back to the bus yard to get a gumbi back to Timbutini when you are finished in town. We absolutely dread taking public. Last year when we would take public, we thought it was kind of fun, you know an African experience, but now we feel differently. So although this may seem minor as you read it, it has been a huge stress this week for us. Anytime we want to go do ministry, we almost always take public unless we go to the care point at the church by our homestead. We have probably spent more time on a gumbi/bus than anything else this week. So it has been a little frustrating feeling like we haven’t been able to spend as much time as we wanted to at certain places, because you have to consider the possibility of having to wait a long time for a gumbi to come that is going to your destination that is not already full of people. Also, the sun begins to set at around 5:30 so that cuts out a huge part of our day as well because we don’t go anywhere once its dark, for safety reasons.

Monday we went to Hope House, a care facility for the terminally ill. We spent time with a care-giver named Loveness. A few girls on our team last year spent time with her on a weekly basis and we wanted to see her on their behalf as well. She has one of the most beautiful hearts. She is s single mom of 4, her husband died 12 years ago. Her 2 older daughters are South Africa and Zambia (her home country) and her 2 younger daughters (17 & 14 years old) live by themselves in a town about 1 hour away from Manzini. She shared with us how hard it is for her, how much she doubts whether she is a good mother because she is working and her daughters are living alone. But she said “There is no other way.” She is the sole provider for her daughters and the job she has at Hope House is the only job she can find right now. I was in tears as she poured out her heart and talked about how much she missed her daughters. She only gets to see them once a month. We spent some time speaking into her life and praying over her. I wanted her to know that she is a wonderful mother and that the Lord SEES her and wants to bless her for the sacrifices she has made. That she is a strong woman, full of courage, to do something as hard as this. We plan on giving her some money before we leave to help pay for her daughters bus tickets to come and see her.

Wednesday we visited S.O.S. Children’s Village in a town outside of Mbabane (the capital city of Swaziland). We talked with the director and he explained to us the purpose and vision of these villages. If you look back at my blog of when I went to Bulembu last year, this place is very similar. Swaziland can so many times seem hopeless, so it was very encouraging for us to go to a place and see the good things that are happening in Swaziland. I have to dream that the Lord has something big for Swaziland and I can’t wait to see what it is. Here is a link to S.O.S. if you are interested in sponsoring a child. One aspect I really loved about this program, is that even though individual children are sponsored, the money goes into a ‘pot’ for all the children in the house. There are 10 children in a house with 1 make (mother) so this way, all the children benefit equally from the funds. You don’t have to give a certain amount per month, it is up to you how much you can give at that time. Anyways, check it out if you want.

Sorry for the abrupt ending, but that’s all I have for this one!

Sweet, Sweet Reunions

2011-07-25T07:51:00.000-05:00

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

2011-07-25T06:45:00.000-05:00

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

Four Life Sentences

2011-02-03T23:45:00.000-06:00

Can't wait to see these smiling faces!

I sat in my room, eyes closed, meditating on the words sung by Jonathan David Helser (if you have never heard of him, you should look him up right now). After the songs were over I said these words to Jesus: “Let me be exactly like you today. I want to walk right next to you all day, I want to be just like you. So let me do things that you would do, today.” A simple prayer indeed, but oh did He answer them.

I went to the park for potluck lunch, same as every Sunday. But the thing is, at Neal Park you NEVER know who you may meet.

I had heard about him from a few different friends. He is rather infamous around here. One of those people you hear about, and are skeptical the stories are true, only because YOU never meet these kind of people, you only see them on some television show like “Locked Up.” So when you hear about him, you come up with some incredibly stereotypical image of him. How he will carry himself, how he will look, and maybe even what he will sound like. Maybe you don’t do that, but I sure do.

“Hey, I’m Boo-Boo.” Not exactly the name you would pick for an ex-con, right? This was just the beginning of my stereotypical molds being shattered, which seems to be happening quite often in my life. Praise Jesus for that!

When potluck was over I gave Boo-Boo and his girlfriend a ride to go take care of some parole type things. I couldn’t help but think “I must look incredibly out of place walking with these two,” but I loved it! As we rode in the car, I did what I do best, ask questions! You would think someone who has a history like his, would be hesitant about sharing their story, of course I was wrong, again.

One thing I have learned in the past year is that so many more people are willing to share their stories than you would think. I have experienced so much joy and chances to show people that they are loved where they are at. They don’t have to be this ideal person they have set up in their minds to experience love. We just want to love THEM. Once I grasped the concept that so many people just want someone to talk to, I was able to show them that yes, I AM interested in who you are and where you have been!

Jesus continues to amaze me at the people He brings into my life every day. I just hope He keeps on crossing my path with them!

On a different note, I am planning my next trip back to Swaziland! I am hoping to go in July for about a month with some of the beautiful people I went with in January. WE plan on doing the same things we did last time, only now we have so many ministry contacts waiting for us and relationships that we can’t WAIT to continue investing in. I have been brainstorming on how this will all come together financially and all the other details that go into traveling across the world. I would love if you would join with me in praying for this trip. I know the people I met last year will be in my life forever, and I can’t wait to continue my ministry there.

I am so thankful that the Lord has given me something to be so passionate about. I can’t imagine my life without this country and these people. January 31^st marked the 1 year anniversary of when I landed in Swazi. Obviously my heart is wanting to be there right now, but I am so looking forward to July. I’m not sure if anyone ever reads this blog, but if you are, thank you for following my journey the past year!

Bittersweet.

2010-04-17T08:17:00.000-05:00

With Vuma and his precious niece

THE swazi man kick!

Mbonisi, Tori & Phinda

Soaking up those sweet hugs

Last assembly at Mkhuzweni

Love these kids.

Our sweet Ntabas girls

This week was my last week of ministry in Swaziland. A very bittersweet week for me. I am SO looking forward to coming home and seeing family and friends, but will be leaving behind my new family and amazing friends here in Swazi. That also means this will be my final blog post for the trip. Atleast I think it will be unless we go to internet somewhere in South Africa. I will probably do one last update when I get home so I can post pictures from debrief, etc.

Sunday was one of my favorite Sundays by far. I brought my video camera to church and had asked Pastor Malaza if I could record some of the service and he was happy for me to. Little did I know that it would be one of the most energetic services yet! I was standing in the back recording during the singing and all of a sudden Musa starts doing the traditional Swazi man dance. (Explanation: Musa was extra joyful this week because someone paid for him to get the underground cable he needed in order to have electricity, the night before. This cable was the last step in getting electricity at his homestead so he was overjoyed when he found out someone had paid for it.) As Musa is dancing, everyone starts whistling and shouting then Pastor Malaza ties his coat around his shoulders and dances down the aisle and starts doing the Swazi man kick with Musa. I could not stop laughing and was so excited that I picked this Sunday to bring my video camera to church! After church, we had some friends come over for lunch again; Vuma, Sihle/Michael, Selby, Phinda and Ayanda. We made them grilled cheese sandwiches and just sat outside talking like we did the last time they came over. They are just so entertaining and I never laugh more than when I am with them. They stayed all afternoon so we took lots of video and pictures. Phinda loves to get my camera and video camera and document everything we do so he took a video of Ayanda talking to the camera. It was so sweet because he was talking about me and how much he will miss me, that I am his first American friend and how much he loves me. This boy is like my little brother so my heart melted just a little when Phinda played back the video for me. Katie and I asked them to teach us the words to the chant they say when doing the Swazi man kick. They could not stop laughing at how we pronounced the words, then I started to do the dance and they just screamed and grabbed my camera and took pictures. I'll post one of them for you! They stayed way past sunset (I say that because I don't always know what time it is) but we asked them to write in our journals so they all put on our headlamps and wrote us letters, definitely something I will treasure forever.

Moments before I slammed my leg into that wall :)

Some of my traditional outfit

Monday was our last day to go to Khanyisile Primary in Manzini. We just wanted to have fun with the kids this week so when we got there we took them out to the big field and played "duck duck goose" and some other games that eventually turned into them just running around chasing each other. Which I'm sure their teachers appreciated because they had a lot of bottled up energy for that early in the morning. It was very strange to say my first 'goodbye' to people here. I wasn't really sure how to do it. But I will have lots of practice the next few days. Musa picked us up from the school and drove us into town where a few of us ordered some Swazi sandals that are SO cool! I can't wait to wear them. They are handmade and have animal fur on the top.

This morning before going to town

Tuesday I went to Timbutini for one of the last times. I didn't even want to think about saying bye to the kids this day. So I didn't. I was able to serve them the sour porridge which is one of my favorite things to do. I sometimes forget how crazy it is that I'm in Africa, serving food to children I have dreamed about forever and that I've been doing that for the past 3 months. I can't even express how much my heart feels so right when I'm bent over scooping out the food and putting it in their dishes. No matter how hot it is under the metal roofed 'kitchen' my spirit feels so thankful. I can't believe that God chose ME to come and do this the past 3 months. Such a dream come true for me.
That afternoon I walked with some of my teammates to our friend Vuma's house to get him to come play football because he hadn't come the past few days so we wanted to make sure he came. His super cute niece was outside when we got there and I got to hold her! She was super cute and tiny, and I took a picture with her that I will also put on here.

Wednesday was another day that will stick out in my memory. Billy and I went to Musa's house because he was digging where he is going to put the cable for his electricity. He put me to work sweeping his house as he and Billy did man work, which I was totally okay with. After they were finished he took us to the homestead he grew up on and we got to meet some of his family. On their property they have a man that raises pigs, cows and goats to be slaughtered so Musa took us on a tour of all of that. Billy and I both agreed we felt like we were on a field trip. The pigs were the biggest pigs I have ever seen! They smelled absolutely disgusting but I just laughed the whole time because they were so fat. Then Billy went and Musa showed him how to milk a cow. Definitely took a video of that. Billy is so hilarious and because it was him milking the cow, it was just that much more entertaining to watch. We were about to leave when Musa said his make (mom) was cooking for us so we had to wait. He told us she was making this Swazi meal that is basically sour milk with some flavor. I almost started crying because I was just not in the mood to try anything exotic and knew I had to or else I would offend her. Musa was just laughing at Billy and I because Billy also was not too thrilled about this upcoming meal. His make walked out with the tray of food and I was relieved to see that it was just pop, beans, potatoes & chicken!

Sunday afternoon with our friends at the homestead

This afternoon I also went to Phinda’s house to take him a pair of socks I had bought for school and to give his family the picture I took when I brought him his shoes about 1 ½ months ago. They were so thrilled to have a picture and it brought me so much joy to see the smile on their faces when I handed it to them, they couldn’t stop staring.

Thursday was my last official day at Timbutini. I didn’t want to even think about the fact that it was possibly my last time to see most of these kids that I have spent the last 3 months with. But I had a great time just taking pictures and stealing as many hugs as possible. After I left the care point I went to Ayanda’s house. I’ve been trying to go there for probably the past month but it has never worked out so he was really excited that we came over. I also took some pictures at some care points of the kitchens that the Gogos and Makes cook the meals for the children in. I’m hoping to be able to help out in building some new kitchens, but I wanted to be able to show everyone back home what the kitchens look like.

Friday was a very relaxed day for me. I woke up early to go to Mkhuzweni Primary for the last time. I video taped the whole assembly, there was lots of singing and dancing so it was a very memorable last time there. All the kids said “awwww” when the head teacher went up front and announced that it was our last time there. They have been so welcoming of us and the kids really were sad to see us go. Bandile motioned for me to come over to him and asked me if I could come and greet his teacher before I left. It has been so beautiful to see kids open up in the time I have known them. Especially Bandile because as I have mentioned before he was very withdrawn when I first met him, but now he follows me everywhere. Since Khanyisile school is over with, I didn’t have anywhere to be until 2:30 at Ntabas care point. So Landon and I were the only 2 that stayed at the homestead. It was so nice. The most alone I have been since I left for Africa, even though I wasn’t completely alone. I just laid in the hut and called mom! I turned my phone on just to check if I might have reception and I did! I was so excited so I called my mom and we had a very expensive conversation; but so worth it right? Landon and I walked to Ntabas, which was so incredibly far, even to a Swazi. I told Musa we were walking there from the homestead and he said ‘that is punishment Jess!’ But the walk was so good, and we ended up walking a good distance with some of the kids which I always love to do. We had our last Bible study with the girls at the care point. This place is probably the one that I am least attached to. But at the end of the Bible study one of the girls spoke on behalf of all of them thanking us for spending the last 3 months with them. I was have to work so hard at not crying, definitely fighting back the tears.

This is when I realized how hard the next few days will be for me. Saying goodbye to people I have given my heart to; who have loved me in ways I neve3r knew imaginable and been so welcoming of me, a stranger just 3 months ago. But they treat me like one of their own. Swaziland will forever have my heart and I know that these goodbyes will not be ‘goodbye’ it will be ‘see you soon.’

Handing out sweets to the kids

The Ntabas kitchen where we did the girls Bible Study

Last day at the football field

15 Days

2010-04-10T05:58:00.000-05:00

Just some people by public station

Walking home in Timbutini

What our village looks like; this is a homestead we walked past on our way home one day

Right outside our homestead; there are cows everywhere!

Those cows on the right are the ones I took a picture with (above)

Mbonisi's sisters & brother at our homestead

Closer picture; cutest kids ever!

The dump in Manzini; we had to walk past this = smelly

This has been another great week in Swazi. I am entering my last week of ministry and can’t believe it is all coming to an end so quickly. Although I have 2 weeks until I come home this coming week is my last week of ministry because on the 21^st my team will leave for our final ‘debrief.’ A debrief is basically just time for us to relax and have fun, but also reflect on what all has happened the past 3 months and all the God has done in and through us. It will be so hard to say goodbye to all of my beautiful Swazi friends that last week but I am SO excited for our debrief because we are going to St. Lucia, South Africa! It is on the Indian Ocean which is pretty sweet and we have heard it is absolutely beautiful. Our leaders told us last night in the team meeting that we were going there and I screamed and couldn’t stop smiling, because I was hoping that is where we would go but wasn’t sure if our budget would allow it. It is going to be so awesome I’m so excited.

Since my update on Wednesday it hasn’t been too eventful of a week. But our khombi did breakdown on Thursday morning so we are without any vehicle for the remainder of the trip because our other khombi broke down a few weeks ago. Now we just take public everywhere which is what some other people and I had already been doing.

Thursday, since the khombi broke down was very different than it usually is. Normally one group goes to the hospital and one group (my group) goes to Timbutini care point. But this week everyone just got to choose what they wanted to do so that was rather freeing. I ended up going to Manzini with Zanele. It was so fun because she had been wanting to go to town with just me but we never could figure out when to so this week worked out perfectly. She was going to buy the traditional wear for her sister so I went and bought part of the traditional wear, the necklace and the wrap. I’ll buy the rest of the outfit next Saturday hopefully. Then Musa picked us up in town and drove us home. Thursday night is supposed to be guy/girls’ night but since we didn’t have a vehicle we all just ended up staying at the homestead and watching a movie in Lelo’s house. So, Thursday = pretty uneventful.

Friday a few of us went to Mcuzweni Primary School down the road and did the morning assembly with the kids. That afternoon my group took public to town for our last Friday at Khanyisile Primary School. We didn’t realize at the time that it was going to be our last Friday so we were kind of caught off guard by that. We got a ride from some random guy to the public station because it was going to be a really long walk. It’s really hilarious how trusting we are of people here. In the States I would NEVER get a ride from a complete stranger, but here it is just normal! So we really appreciated the ride even though we were crammed in the back of his Pajero, it was just one more African experience to add to my list. When we got back to Timbutini Neil, Landon and I walked to Musa’s house to visit him for a while. I absolutely love how laid back life is here. You are never in a hurry to go anywhere and have as much time as you want to just sit and be with people, I wish America would get a small dose of this mindset. Kevin, Landon and I walked to the general store by Musa’s and bought crème donuts and Sprite, a typical purchase here. Kevin drove me to the football field to see all my friends so I was there for a while then hurried home with Katie because a huge storm was blowing in. It’s so crazy because all day there will only be a few clouds in the sky and super hot outside, then around 5:30 huge ‘thunder heads’ (like that mom!) come out of no where and lightening is crazy. So the lightening was getting way to close for my comfort so we hurried home just in time to make it before it started to rain. The rain didn’t last long but brought with it very windy cool weather for the night and early this morning. So the past few days have just consisted of me soaking up every second with my Swazi family. Whenever I have free time I fill it up with them. That is what this next week and a half will be like for me. Probably very exhausting but so worth it.

Today I have spent lots of money! Buying gifts for people adds up after a while and it’s so hard to not buy for every person I know. Everything is so cheap but after buying lots of cheap things it starts to get expensive.

Today is also Lelo’s birthday. If I haven’t already said before, we are staying on Lelo’s homestead. He’s 26 and they guys have spent a lot of time hanging out with him so tonight we are doing a big party because it is also a girl on the team, Becca’s birthday tomorrow and Kevin who I mentioned on Wednesday’s blog, is moving to Mbabane tomorrow so we are having a joint birthday/going away party tonight, so I’m excited about that.

Enjoy the pictures!

At Khanyisile Primary on Friday; with Thabiso & Qiniso

my 2 favorite Grade 3 kids

Qiniso & Thabiso

Siviwe; he's in my Grade 2 class

Kaci & I with our Grade 6 girls

they all started screaming for this picture

Musa doing laundry at his homestead

So this is really dark but this is Michael/Sihle; he calls me

his wife, I had to hold his face for the picture because he kept looking at me

See?

Finally!

Michael & I with his brother Musa

In the khombi this morning; all my friends & I always look for

this guy when we take public, this morning a few of us were waiting by the road to take public and a khombi turns around to get us and it was his! The 3 of us (girls) screamed and when he got out he gave us all a hug then I asked to take a picture with him. He then proceeded to tell my friend Debbie that 'I love you.' Swazi men are very bold!

Beautiful People

2010-04-07T07:53:00.000-05:00

I had absolutely NO time on Saturday to update my blog because I came to town with my 4 Swazi brothers that we hangout with and had over for dinner on Sunday so we spent all day with them and took them out to eat at Nando's which is one of my favorite restaurants here in Swazi. So I'll give a quick update of what the past week has been like since last Wednesday's update.

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.

When it rains, it pours...

2010-03-31T04:34:00.000-05:00

I'm updating my blog today because some girls on the team and I came to Manzini for our 'day to pick what ministry we want to do.' There is a place called Hope House here in Manzini, that is basically like hospice in the States. Half of my team goes there on Mondays & Fridays, when I go to Khanyisile Primary School. So Kaci & I wanted to come meet the people they have built relationships with at Hope House. Then we decided to spend the rest of the day here in Manzini. We woke up this morning at 6:00 to walk to school with some of our friends, then we took Public (transport) to town. Taking public is SO much fun, because instead of being in our sick khumbis we get to ride to town with Swazis and just talk with them. It's such a fun cultural experience, and I got to do it on Saturday too! So I don't have to write about the past few days when we come on Saturday, I will write about the first half of the week now :)

On Sunday we went to church, like always. Going to church here is one of my favorite things, I will miss it so much when I come home. There is nothing like Swazi church. Afterwards, we came home and we had some friends over. Katie, Debbie, Tori & I have made lots of friends here so we get to spend time with them everyday at the football field. We invited 4 of the boys over for lunch on Sunday after church and we made pizza for them. Phinda & Ayanda were at church with us, so they walked home and then with Katie and I to go to Vuma's homestead to get him. When we got to Vuma's we could hear that he was still in church which is in a room on his homestead so we just waited outside. I learned that his family goes to a Zionist church. I had never heard much about Zionists until coming to Swaziland but I have met quite a few kids who say they are Zionist. Nathan, Adam, Dad do you know anything about what Zionists believe? That's something I want to research when I come home. So anyways, Vuma eventually came out and we walked back home and made pizza and bought them soda. It was so much fun. My favorite Sunday for sure; most Sundays are pretty stressful and busy, just like they are at home but it was nice to come home from church and just hang out with the boys and get to know them better and outside of just the football field. They love to laugh and make us laugh all the time. They let us paint their toenails! Swazi boys like to do one stripe of toenail polish on their toes, and we noticed this one day at the football field so we decided to ask them if we could paint their toes and they said yes! I of course was so excited since my brothers would never in a million years let me paint their toenails :) When we asked Ayanda how he felt about his toes being painted he said "I feel so happy and proud." Ha, he is so cute. Ayanda is 13, Phinda 12, Vuma 15 and Mbonisi 15. We love love love these boys. I especially do because they remind me of my Joe Boy. Especially Mbonisi, it makes me miss my little brother a lot. They love to sing so Ayanda said "we will sing a chorus for you" then I asked them to do a Swazi dance for us, so we got our our video cameras and they sang and danced for us! I can't wait to show that video to y'all, it's so great. We went walking around Timbutini after lunch and bought them more soda at the general store. Bandile, the 10 year old boy I bought shoes for on Saturday in town met us at the store. He walked home with us and wanted to get his shoes from me, he was so excited. When we got to our homestead I got the shoes and he tried them on, his foot wouldn't even fit inside. I got the size he told me to get, but I think it may have been a long time since he got a pair of shoes so he gave me his old size. He looked so sad when he had to go home without shoes, but today I'm exchanging them and will hopefully see him this afternoon. Other than that small disappointment, it was such a perfect day

Monday was great at the school in Manzini. A few kids were absent in our Grade 2 class, and one of my favorite kids Bandile was one of them. I thought maybe he was sick, but I learned from the teacher that his mom had died this weekend from complications in here pregnancy. Please pray for Bandile and his family. That was heartbreaking for me to hear, not that I would want it to be any other child's mom, but Bandile was one of the boys I have spent time with at the school so that was hard for me.
It has been fun to see the same kids every week because certain ones get so excited to see me and will run up and say 'Good morning teacher Jessica' and give me a big hug. The kids are so sweet, it's going to be hard to tell them bye in a few short weeks.

Tuesday was first of all, incredibly hot! We keep thinking we are going to have cool weather but a few days later there will be no clouds in the sky, and the African sun seems to be much hotter than at home. We went to Timbutini and all the kids were already there at noon. I asked them why they got out early and no one knew so we just played for a few hours then taught a lesson. I know I have said this many times but it's so funny to me how all the younger boys and I seem to get along so well. They all yell 'Nothando!' when they see me, I feel like I have 20 little brothers. Bandile (the one I bought shoes for, not the one whose Mom died) I have noticed spends more and more time next to me. When I first met him about a month ago he would always run away when he saw me. But yesterday especially I noticed how wherever I went he would be right next to me. I pretty much love it. There was one little boy who didn't have shoes on and had accidently kicked a stone with his big toe and was bleeding pretty badly so Bandile followed me as I carried him to set him in the shade, then Bandile came with me to the General Store to buy a bandaid for him. It takes Swazis a while to trust you, but once they do, they don't leave your side. I'm so thankful to have been here for long enough to experience the part where they want to be with you all the time and do whatever you do.

We started to walk home after we taught the boys and girls their lesson and a crazy storm came out of no where. The lightening was striking way too close for my comfort so I walked home very quickly, while taking a video of myself! When we got home it started to POUR. I love African storms, they are so intense, the thunder sounds like it is in your hut and the rain just comes down in torrents. When it finally let up we walked to meet our friends at the football field, and eventually to Vuma's house on the other side of the mountain. Mbonisi walked us home because he lives by us. We decided to walk him home because dinner wasn't ready so we got to see his homestead. His dad, Elliot, is the man who picked us up from the airport in Jo'burg, I have a picture of him on my first blog once in Swaziland (he is walking across the road holding bottles). So we know his family but had never been to the homestead. His Make, Busi, does our teams laundry every week and she is so sweet. His little brother Sito is the cutest kid I have ever met. He always has a smile on his face, Mbonisi said he even smiles when he sleeps. So we got to see his homestead and then Elliot wanted us to meet the rest of his family since they all live on the same big piece of property. I was the first to hug Mbonisi's aunt, who grabbed me and kissed/smacked her mouth against both sides of my neck and then started tickeling me! So, I am incredibly ticklish on my neck/collarbone area and so it took all I had not to freak out when she did that. Mom, I wish you could have experienced it! Oh gosh, I'm laughing now just thinking about it. But Mbonisi's family was so beautiful. It makes me sad that we haven't started going there sooner. They were so welcoming to us 4 and were just so excited to meet us. His crazy aunt asked which one was his wife and he pointed to me. So I think that makes me about 4 different guys' wife. It was getting dark at this point and we aren't supposed to be out when it's dark, which frustrates me and my independent personality. Mbonisi is such a sweet guy and told us he wanted to walk us home. He reminds me so much of Daniel. He is such a gentleman, always walking us home and making sure we are okay. His personality is so much like Daniel's, maybe not as sarcastic, but he is like the Swazi version of Daniel. That's why Daniel is coming back with me at the end of the summer! He is just so protective of the 4 of us and has such a sweet spirit. His dad has raised him so well because he is the same way. I wish I could bring him back with me!
It was not raining at this point but a few hours later it was. Our electricity went out last night and was still off when we woke up this morning. I loved laying in bed listening to the storm outside, one of my favorite things to do at home. But the homes are so different here, it sounds like you are outside in the middle of the storm. I was a big fan of the storm until about 11:45 pm. I woke up to water pouring on me from the roof. Our hut has a grass roof, so this is a problem when there is a torrential downpour. So I decided I could either get in bed with someone else which required me getting out of bed, or just moving. So I pulled my sheet and sleeping bag off the bed and curled up on the end of my bed, because the water was pouring right in the middle and creating a nice sized puddle at this point. It wasn't a slow drip, it was like someone had a water pitcher and just poured it on my bed. Not exactly an ideal to wake up in the middle of the night! But what an experience. Only in Africa :)

This week has been so much fun already. I have been hoping the last few weeks would go by really slow and this week has been so I'm grateful for that. Only 3 1/2 weeks until I'm home which means we only have 2 1/2 weeks of ministry because our last week is our debrief in South Africa I think.

No pictures today because I don't have my cord so I will be putting them up on Saturday.

Ngiyakutsandza umdeni.

Less than 30 days

2010-03-27T08:18:00.000-05:00

Dad, here's that picture you wanted right?

This week was so different from any other week so far. One of my favorites for sure: because we barely had any team meetings which seem to be the thorn in my side! The week started out kind of weird because we went to the internet cafe on Sunday so I felt like I was one day off all week. The days continue to be very hot, which gets old after a while so I am very much looking forward to having A/C when I get home, even just a fan will be nice.

Monday we were able to celebrate one of our Swazi friend Bheki's birthday which was a lot of fun for me because it was my night to cook. So we made him a special birthday dinner which he got to choose what he wanted to eat and we decorated a chair for him to sit in and put up some other decorations and bought him a cake. Musa came over as well so it was so fun to celebrate with him. He said that last year the only person that told him happy birthday was his mom, which of course made me want to cry, and he didn't stop smiling all night, it was so great. I took video of singing happy birthday to him, it was definitely one of the most fun nights here in Swazi. Most of us made him birthday cards and he was so excited he started reading all of them right away.

Wednesday was the best day in Africa for me. Myself, along with 5 other girls, our translator Titi and Musa left at 6:00 am for a town called Bulembu. Kaci had been on a mission trip there Summer 2009 and wanted to go back so we go the permission to go. It was about a 3 hour drive and so much fun. The town is literally on top of a mountain so the weather was beautiful. There were sometimes where it looked like we were driving through Switzerland, it was so crazy because I would have never pictured any place in Africa being so mountainous. There were a few times where we weren't sure if the van would make it up the mountain but we did! Bulembu is a town that was bought by 2 individuals in 2002. The town had shut down, and these people had the vision of making it a self-sustaining town by 2020. The town is mainly for orphans, and the workers in the town know that they are doing their jobs, whether it be with lumber, honey, mining, etc. that it will affect the orphans in the village. It is a pretty cool concept but I don't want to butcher it so I really hope you will take the time to check out this link and you can find out all about it: Bulembu Link. We had a lot of fun exploring in the town and getting to see all the different parts of it and meet some beautiful kids. It was really encouraging to see a place that is full of hope and is doing so much for the people I have grown to love. I would love to spend more time there in the future. One thing they do is build these homes and have Swazi women come in and be the Auntie to that house. They will put 7-8 children in the home and they make these families for the kids. The process of getting a child into a house is about 2 months because they like to see which of the Aunties are meshing with what group of kids and what kids are getting along the best, then they put them in a home together and become a family. It is so awesome and encouraging. Definitely lifts your spirits after seeing many sad things in our village of Timbutini. It was such a great day. Musa is so much fun and I sat in the front seat with him there and back so we had really entertaining conversations, and he would burst into song at random moments and I would have to remind him that everyone in the back was sleeping. We did manage to get a flat tire which I helped to change :) Musa wanted to stop at KFC in Manzini to get ice cream for all of us so that was really fun. (KFC is a really nice restaurant here, it looks nothing like America). So, although I probably didn't do a very good job at explaining the day, it was my favorite day yet in Swaziland. I think I'm just pretty tired right now so I apologize now for this blog, it might be my worst yet!

The rest of this week has just been so strange. I'm not really sure why, but it went by really fast and there were mornings I woke up so early that I'm pretty exhausted. Pray that my last few weeks in Swaziland will be full of different kinds of ministry opportunities and that the Lord would use me in ways I couldn't even imagine. Less than 30 days until I come home, very bittersweet for me, but it will be good to be home. I am already looking forward to my next trip to Swaziland!

Once again I apologize for the lack of content this week, I'm sitting in the internet cafe and it feels like a furnace in here so I'm anxious to get out! Here's some pictures from the week:

The hike from Sunday

Bheki on his birthday :)

Musa & I

Bandile is on the right; I will be delivering his

shoes to him this week, I'm so excited!

This is on our way to Bulembu :)

Bulembu

So excited to see grass!

Musa with a precious little boy in Bulembu's ABC orphanage

The flat I helped Musa change!

My favorite flower; they were everywhere

Titi and I; she's really short

So good!

A few more pics

2010-03-21T08:05:00.000-05:00

pipe

just some warthogs outside in the yard

Dinner Saturday night of debrief

In our hostel

for you sister

My disgusting feet after the hike, lots of mud!

sweet friends :)

All the girls on the team at the top of Execution Rock

Shoes & Hospitals

2010-03-21T07:02:00.000-05:00

Friends at the soccer field

Tor-Tor before church

Katie wearing my wrap

Kids playing with the parachute

Cutest thumb sucker ever

Cheeks

Girlfriend and Diane

(Girlfriend is the nickname we gave her

because she has attitude!)

Zanele and I were serving food to the kids

my friend Bheki (he's on the D-team and I'm cooking

his birthday dinner monday night!)

pretty girls

for you mom :)

the day it rained and poured!

Phinda the day I gave him his shoes and socks

with Phinda's family (he was holding my hand) I love my

Swazi brother

waterfalls we went swimming at Saturday

Culture show

the Swazi man kick..SO awesome

Week 7 in Swazi was perfect. Each week I fall more in love with this place. I can't believe we only have 5 weeks left until we come home. I'm excited to be home, but not excited to leave. Does that make any sense? The Swazi people have become a second family to me and the friendships I have made are so beautiful. I can't put into words how thankful I am to be here. The outcome of certain things the past 8 months allowed me to come here and if they would have been different I know I would not have chosen Africa now. I am so SO glad my life has turned out the way it has. God, your plan truly is SO much better than mine, and your ways SO much higher than mine. It's so crazy because at the time of certain things happening in life you don't understand why and think there couldn't possibly be a better way, oh but there is! There is no place I would rather be in life than where I am right now. The Lord has given so much freedom for me to go wherever and not have circumstances at home tie me down and I absolutely love it! In Jesus there is the greatest freedom.

So this week my blog is going to be a little different because I don't have much time to type so I won't do a day by day explanation of the week.

The week was great though. Each week is better and better. I get to be with my friends on the team, but more importantly I get to be with my beautiful, amazing Swazi friends. I can't belive how close you can get to someone in only 2 months. On Monday after Khanyisile Primary School we went to the hospital to visit a 12 year old boy, Nkhosingpile, who we took 2 weeks ago. Some of the team met him at a care point and his leg was bandaged. He had been in some kind of accident involving a motorcycle so they decided to take him to the clinic where they found out he had a broken bone. So, very glad they took him. When I met him, he had been in the hospital about 5 days because he was waiting for a hard cast. At the hospitals here, people spend so much time just waiting for something they need, when at home you can go to the doctor, get a cast, and go home all in the same day. Nkhosingpile said that he hadn't seen his mom in a few days and no one knew where she was. By the time I saw him, he said she had only come to visit him once. I almost burst into tears. He still had a smile on his face as he sat alone in his wheelchair outside. We took him back inside and he hobbled to his bed. I felt and instant connection with him. I introduced myself and he said "I'm sorry but I don't know if I can remember that." So I told him to call me by my Swazi name, Nothando. That, he could remember :) So I got on the hospital bed with him and we played the dot game, where you try to make as many squares as you can. He loves that game. He was so sweet, at one point he just put his little arm around me. Once again, my tender heart (that has become even more sensitive since being here) melted. We just sat with him and talked, because he doesn't have any visitors. Can you imagine that? Being 12 years old, by yourself in a hospital that isn't in the best condition? He was so brave and joyful. It was really hard for me to say goodbye to him, because I don't go to the hospital anymore, and because I knew he would be spending the night by himself. So I wrote him a card that one of the girls on my team took to him on Thursday and he read it to the whole team. He was discharged Friday night and Musa was able to pick him up from the hospital and take care of him.

One of the highlights of my week was taking the school shoes to my Swazi bhuti (brother) Phinda. We had planned to meet at the football field on Wednesday at 3:30. Well, the biggest storm I have seen in Africa blew in about 2:30 so I wasn't able to meet him Wednesday. I was pretty bummed out because we had both been looking forward to Wednesday. I do see him everyday at the football field because he is on the soccer team that me and a few girls go watch practice everyday. I decided to walk down to the field once the rain slowed down just to make sure he hadn't walked there to meet me despite the storm, but he wasn't there. Tori & I just hung out on the empty field doing stupid things until the boys showed up. So when Phinda showed up we decided that I would come to his house on Thursday. So, Thursday afternoon I had been waiting for him at Timbutini because he said he would meet me there after school, but he didn't show up. I started walking back home and saw and kid in a blue hoodie walking along the road watching us. I didn't know who it was but figured out it was Phinda so I yelled for him to come walk home with me. I asked him if he had any socks and he said no. Sweet Melodee Burt bought me some new socks before I left for Africa and there are a few pairs I hadn't worn yet so I brought them out to him and he was so excited. He picked a green pair and a blue pair. So Melodee if you're reading this, know that you blessed the sweetest boy in Swaziland when you bought me socks that day at Old Navy. He looked at me and said "I'm so excited," I said, "About what?" and he said "My shoes!". One of my favorite moments here. His homestead was about a 20 minute walk from mine. Through the brush and off a mud path, which is how you get to every homestead here. When we got to his house we shouted "Ekhaya." This means 'home' but it's what you say when you get to someone's gate and that lets them know they have visitors. We went inside the gate and I met his family: 3 brothers, mom, dad and sister with 2 babies. They had mud huts for their home (I took some pictures). When I pulled out his shoes their faces lit up. His dad said "Sgiya bonga kakhulu" (thank you so much). I asked if I could take a picture with their whole family and his Babe (dad, pronounced Bah-bay) wanted to change into a nicer shirt first. I showed them the picture and they asked if I could bring them a copy, which I was planning on doing. I'm confident they don't have one picture together as a family, so I'm happy the picture I give them will have me in it! This is one of my favorite memories in Swaziland. I told Phinda that I am his American sisi and he is my Swazi bhuti. I can't wait to come back and visit him.

Last week I prayed for clouds because it had been such a hot week and the Lord gave us clouds and wind all week long, and even a few days of rain. The African sun is merciless so clouds are always a nice relief.

On Tuesday I taught the lesson for the Bible study Stephanie, Calie & I do with the translators. Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother, was who I chose to talk about. I told Titi and Zanele that I was really challenged by her prayer life. She was in her 60s-70s and was still praying for a son. She didn't grow weary in worship of the Lord and knew that if the Lord chose not to give her a son, He would provide for her in other ways. In those days, if you did not have a son to take care of you when you got older then you were on your own. Elizabeth didn't fear this because she knew that if there was not a son, the Lord would be their provider. She prayed years and years for the same thing, not receiving an answer from the Lord for a very long time but she continued to pray for it. That was definitely challenging to me in my prayer life. Am I willing to continue to pray for something I am passionate about even if I don't receive an answer in MY timing? So often I think I have the right to receive a quick response to my prayers, but where do I get that idea from? At the end of the Bible study I was so encouraged when Zanele told me how much the lesson spoke to her heart. She had been struggling with prayer about things and she said this lesson is exactly what she needed to hear. She went into more detail, but I won't write about it because it's not important to y'all. So that was great confirmation for me that the Lord had given me the right words to say and that it wasn't me catering to what I thought they might need to hear, because I had no idea these things were going on in Zanele's life. All the glory to my Jesus.

We left Friday morning for our halfway debrief, although we are more than halfway because we have been here 7 weeks and only have 5 left. We went to a game reserve in Mlilane and stayed at a hostel. It's a 2 story room so the boys beds are downstairs and the girls upstairs, even though we could see over the railing down. It was a good time of relaxation and getting away from the homestead. The point of a debrief is for you to get away from ministry for a few days and 'process' what has happened so far and look forward to what is ahead. I didn't really have much to 'process' because I do that pretty well in my journaling. I really ended up missing my ministry in Timbutini while we were gone. I absolutely love the ministries God has given me here and am soaking up every second I am here. We spent Friday and Saturday night at the hostel and came back today (Sunday). That's why I wasn't able to post my blog yesterday because we just got to Manzini today.

I hope the blog was okay this week, I just didn't have the time to type about each day, but the 2 stories I shared were the highlights of my week and definitely close to my heart so I hope you could see that through my words. Enjoy the pictures! See you in 35 days! I love you family.

Swazi my Home

2010-03-13T06:03:00.000-06:00

Our soccer boys warming up :)

Tickling Sibusiso

Pinda and Ayanda

Pinda is the short one & I bought shoes for him today!

Tori, Debbie & I with our husbands

Mine is in red!

Love Africa

Singing with Bheki

Eating Sugar Cane with Gogo

(never had it before so good!)

My 2 favorite men in Swazi

Bheki & Musa

Soccer shoes before they practice

They bring a big bag and dump it out; whoever gets there

first gets the first pick of shoes

Ayanda my friend

Thulane

Go bobhuti go!

View from the Soccer field

On our walk by the field

This is why they are so "fit"

Mr. Mamba carrying the parachute for me

Tnamiso :)

Pinda, the boy I bought school shoes for today!

Nahti & Thulane

The boys

This was hilarious

Best friends :)

Week 6 in Swaziland. I am in love with this country. Each day I fall in love with it more than before. The people just make you want to stay here forever. I am already getting sad about the fact that I have less than 2 months left here. It's been a weird switch emotionally for me. Not that I don't want to come home, I do and I miss family and friends and the comforts of home. But when I am here, I am completely care free. I get to hangout with my Swazi friends all the time, talk about Jesus with them, eat meals together and go on walks. That's pretty much what each day consists of for me. I have really bonded with 3 girls on my team and we have so much fun together. Since I know I can talk to them when I get back to America I am trying to soak up every second with my Swazi friends. Zanele and I have become incredibly close, she is truly like a best friend and I get really sad when I think about saying bye to her. Down the road from our homestead is the soccer field that Tori, Katie & I go to every day and watch our friends play soccer from 4-6. They always expect us and watch for us down the path and get huge smiles when they see us coming. The other day we brought some music for them to listen to while they practiced and they loved it. It makes me laugh when I realize that most of my Swazi friends are boys. That comes as no surprise to me, having grown up with my 3 brothers and their friends. A few of their names: Nahti (18), Thulane (19?), Owen (12), Seth (13), Selbi (?), Wandile, Ayanda (14), Pinda (13), Tnamiso (11ish), Sibusiso (5). These boys are what I look forward to every day. All of them but the last 2 boys play soccer every day. I actually met Ayanda and Pinda at the Fun Day Saturday we had a few weeks ago at Timbutini. So I have known them a little bit longer but Pinda plays soccer at the field so I was excited the first time I watched and saw that he was on the team. Musa and Bheki are two guys I have talked about in other blogs. They are on the D-team and we spend a lot of time with them. We go to some schools on Thursday & Friday morning and they are the ones we go with and then this week when I cooked on Monday, I invited them over for dinner so we got to hangout with them outside of ministry so that was fun. We probably see them 4-5 days a week and I have really enjoyed getting to know them. I could write forever about my friends but I will save that for my journal :) Now I'll let you know about this week!

Sunday - church is always something I look forward to every week. It's such an awesome start to the week, being able to worship with the people here and getting to hear their perspectives on life. I went with 3 other people on my team to go teach Sunday school at 10:00. I was in the younger kids class and we taught them the story of Joseph because that's a lesson I had prepared for the school I go to on Mondays. So it was a lot of fun getting to teach the kids in Sunday school. Then church was after and lasts about 2 1/2 hours which I am so glad it does because the singing is amazing. I haven't recorded a church service yet but I will before I leave because there is nothing like Swazi church. On Sunday nights we usually do worship together as a team after dinner. I invited Bheki to come because he told me he wanted to come the next time we did it. He and I were talking about playing the piano and I told him I played so he brought his keyboard to our homestead and wanted to play with me. He carried it on his back all the way from his homestead, so crazy. He showed up at the gate with a huge smile on his face and the keyboard on his back. We went inside and he started playing and wanted me to sing so I did and we had so much fun. I will post some pictures from that. So anyways we started team worship pretty soon after that. In the middle of worship a police car pulls into the homestead following Lelo's car and we were kind of wondering what was going on but had a good idea of why the police was there. Two girls on the team have had money stolen from our hut while we were not there. One girl had $240 USD stolen and another had 170 Emanlengeni stolen from her. We had come back to the hut on Sunday from church and her sheets were pulled off her bed and everything was on the floor. We have our hut door locked so weren't sure how the thief was getting the money then I walked outside and realized that my arm could reach the stuff on the bed. So anyways long story short, the guy who had stolen all the money was Maxwell. Lelo's cousin who comes to the homestead all the time and is drunk 24 hours a day. It's pretty sad because we had somewhat befriended him, as much as you can befriend a drunk. So he was arrested that night. They couldn't find him so they were looking at our homestead for him but he wasn't here but they found him later. So all of this happened in the middle of worship so we decided to go inside and asked Bheki if he would lead us in singing with his keyboard and he looked so happy. It was so great to be able to bless him and give him the chance to worship with us.

Monday - Khanyisile Primary School day. We taught Part 2 of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors this week. We didn't finish the story so the kids were all upset because they want to know what happens at the end. In mine & Kaci's Grade 3 class we did picture frames for crafts. The kids were ecstatic and it was pretty chaotic. We never realize how crazy it's going to be, but it seems like Grade 3 is the most difficult class. We had a lot of fun with them though and they were all excited about the sticky foam designs they were able to put on the frames. So the school was fun as always. We got finished a lot earlier than normal so spent a good amount of time at the pool after. I got sunburned. This African sun is so much hotter than Texas sun, you can get sunburned after being outside for 15 minutes. Tori & I cooked hamburgers for dinner and Bheki (pronounced Beggy) and Musa came over for dinner. Monday nights are fun because it's a free night for us and we just got to play games with them. Then we all got in a circle and they had a dance off with a few guys on our team. Swazis definitely dance better!

Tuesday - Calie, Stephanie & I were planning on doing a Bible study with our translators last Tuesday but they didn't show up so this week was our first meeting. They were a little late but that's Swazi time for you. We talked about Mary & Martha and how Jesus told Mary that, "Martha has chosen the good portion." How we so easily get distracted by being busy for the Lord that we forget to sit with Him and listen to Him instead of always serving serving serving. Mom, I definitely have your servant's heart and that's something I have realized here in Swaziland that it's good to serve but I can't forget to spend time with Jesus. So the Bible Study went really well and they are looking forward to next week. I have been going to the hospital every Tuesday but now I am going to Timbutini care point. I requested that I be switched with another girl that had been wanting to go to the hospital. I already go to Timbutini on Thursdays so I like being able to see the kids on twice during the week. We just play with the kids on Tuesdays because Christine, the American we work with at the school on Monday's comes and teaches a lesson to the girls while we are there so we don't have to prepare anything. Which is really nice because we have so many lessons it seems like we plan during the week. Also, my friend Ayanda came and I haven't seen him in about 2 weeks so we talked for a really long time and I told him to meet me at the soccer field where I go watch all the boys play. Sibusiso (5) fell asleep in my arms which was really funny because he is always so full of energy but he wanted me to hold him. So after I had been holding him for about 2 hours he finally fell asleep and it was SO precious. I want to bring him home with me. I always tell him "ngiyakhutsandza" which means "i love you" and he says "love you Nothando." He is my little boy :) After the care point we come home and so I asked Ayanda and Pinda to walk with me. Tori let them listen to her iPod and they were so cute singing the songs. American R&B artists are incredibly popular here so they were singing all the words to the songs. I showed them pictures of my family and they just stared at them for a long time. I told Ayanda that I would make him a bracelet and bring it to the soccer field. We met them at the soccer field at 4:30 and he was waiting for me to get there and was so excited when I gave him his bracelet. He said "I will wear this for all of my life." I can't say enough, how much I look forward to going to the soccer field and meeting my friends. At first they are a little shy but it doesn't take long for them to be your best friend. One of the boys I was sitting next to proposed to me. It's so funny because it's like no big deal to just straight up ask a girl to marry you if you like her here. On Monday I was proposed to as well. A nice self-esteem booster! Katie and I wanted to walk up this path on the side of the mountain by the soccer field so we started to walk off and Selbi yelled after us to stop because "there are lions". So I told him to walk with us, then he said he was kidding so I told him he just told us there were lions because he wanted to walk with us. Which was true! So Tuesday, another perfect day in Swazi.

Wednesday - Our day to do whatever kind of ministry we want. I go on home visits every week and really enjoy it. This week we went to a Gogo's house we have been trying to see for a few weeks but she is never home. Today she was finally home but when we got there she was in the field so her great grandson went to get her for us. She is 90+ years old and still works in the field! Swazi women are so strong it amazes me. We talked to her for a long time and brought her a loaf of bread and a liter of Coke. She was so thankful because she had just run out of food this morning and didn't know what she was going to eat. She told us that the Lord always takes care of her. She has 11 kids (6 have died), 27 grandkids, and I don't know how many great grandkids or great great grandkids. She still walks to church every Sunday. What a powerful woman of God she is, I was blessed just to sit and listen to her talk. We were going to fetch water for her so we walked down the road with the containers but the person in charge of the padlock for the water pump didn't have the new key so we couldn't get any water for her. Then we went and visited Musa's Gogo again. She is still in the same physical condition with not being able to use her legs from her stroke and has slurred speech but every time we ask her how she is feeling she says "The physical doesn't matter, my spirit is well!" What a testimony of joy she is to me. Last week I mentioned that Zanele told her I was Musa's girlfriend and this week she remembered me and said I must marry Musa and so should Zanele. Then Zanele and I can live on the same homestead together and cook for her! She is a pretty funny lady and she was just eyeing me the whole time, I guess sizing me up! I read Psalm 73 to her. I especially wanted to read the verse in the chapter that says "my flesh and my heart may fail, but God remains the strength of my heart and my portion forever....the nearness of God is my good, I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works." Then we sang "How Great is Our God" with her and prayed for healing of her body. When we left, her caretaker climbed the tree with Zanele and picked Guavas for us. I'm pretty sure they aren't the same as Guavas in the States but they tasted pretty good. I'm always nervous to eat things right after you pick them here because I don't know how clean it is but we always ask for grace on our bodies and haven't been sick yet, so praise God. Wednesdays are a lot of fun for me because our leaders aren't around and we just get to do whatever ministry we want and I love seeing our translators so we get to spend the day with them. We invited them over for dinner and it was a lot of fun to just hangout with them.

Thursday - I go to Timbutini from noon-3:30 with just three other girls on the team. It can be a little overwhelming some days because there are so many kids and just 4 of us but this week wasn't bad because a lot of the Primary School kids were at their track meet in Manzini. I met some new boys and talked to them for a long time. Boys here like to talk a whole lot more than girls, at least they talk to me a lot. They are so entertaining. I feel like I'm gaining new little brothers every day and it makes me sad to think about leaving all of them, but I won't talk about that now! We brought one of those big parachutes that kids love to play with. I was carrying it from our homestead to the church and we came up on a group of boys so I had one of them carry it on their head for me (note one of the pictures). His name is Mr. Mamba, I couldn't remember his first name because it was really long so he told me to call him Mr. Mamba. The kids went crazy when we got out the parachute. They were screaming and running underneath it, I wish I had my video camera because it was awesome. I love Thursdays at Timbutini because normally our leaders don't come with us so it's just me and the kids, which is my favorite thing.

Friday - we went to the Primary School in the morning. There was a lack of communication with Musa not letting us know his van was broken down so we got to the school later than we wanted to but it all turned out fine. Of course, I always love going to the primary school so this week was great just like the others :) This afternoon we went to Khanyisile Primary School to teach Grade 6 & 7. Kaci and I have the Grade 6 girls and this week we taught on abstinence and the girls received it really well. They were very interested in what Kaci had to say and they asked some really good questions. At the end of the lesson they wanted to act out a boyfriend/girlfriend scenario and it was absolutely hilarious. They acted out a first date and eventually proposing and they loved it! Kaci and I were incredibly entertained by them. After the primary school we go to Dabas care point. This week the girls wanted to talk about 'puberty.' A surprising topic for us to talk about but girls here are very interested in learning about things and are not shy when asking questions so we really like spending time with them every Friday.

After we get home from ministry every day a few of us girls go on a walk to meet our friends at the soccer field. We have been going for 3 weeks now and look forward to it every day. The other day I met a guy, who proposed to me and still gets excited everytime he sees me. He says "my wife! It's so good to see you!" Don't worry mom :) He is pretty cute though, I'll post a picture. Swazi men are something else, I can't even describe them to you, so if you want to know, come to Swaziland! So all that to say I am SO enjoying the friendships I have made here and am not ready to leave them. Luckily I have just as much time left here as I have already been here. Does that make sense? In other words, I've been here 6 weeks and still have 6 weeks left! The first few weeks were all about building relationships and now I just get to enjoy them which is the best part.

Swaziland has a huge piece of my heart. I know I will come back here many more times and am already planning in my head when the next time will be and I want to bring some of YOU with ME!

Pictures

2010-03-06T06:43:00.000-06:00

Sibusiso & "Michael Red"

The lion masks we made for our Daniel and The Lions' Den

story at the Primary School Friday mornings

Crocodile at dinner in Nsoko!

Kaci & I

Katie Thrasher

Piled in the van on our way to girls night at Rustic Tavern

I might have put this picture up before

But I love him, so here it is again

On the wall by my bed

My S'Swati name is below: Nothando

Grade 3 kids smiling

Bird Attacks & Soccer Players

2010-03-06T04:45:00.000-06:00

This is Cheeks. The cute baby that fell asleep

on me

At dinner in Nsoko last week

My friends :)

Before church on Sunday all the girls minus Liz our leader

Back row: me, Stephanie, Becca, Debbie, Katie, Melissa

Front Row: Tori, Kaci, Calie, Katie

Girls night on Thursday at Rustic Tavern

One of our Grade 3 classes after Crafts

Eating a chicken they had just killed

I'm holding a bone :)

My man Sibusiso at his homestead

Go Spurs Go! This was for you Dad :)

Us with the guy we previously called Donkey

We learned his name is Thulane; we call him Wayne

Cute Singosee. One of the little boys at Timbutini

Owen, Me & Seth

My 2 new best friends at the soccer field

Sunday - Church starts at 11:00, Swazi time, which means not really at 11:00 but that's when we get there. This Sunday was a little different because the main pastor, Pastor Walter was not here and Musa who leads the music was also gone. I love when he leads the singing because he is the most joyful person I have ever met, he radiates Jesus. Each week, they have asked 2-3 of us to be part of the service by going up to the front and testifying about something we have been learning recently or really anything we want to share about. I volunteered to speak this week about Romans 8:1-2 which says, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." I shared that although I have read this verse many times, not until I have been here in Africa did the Lord really speak to me through it. I told them that for a while now I have felt like I had to earn God's favor. So, for example if I have not spent time reading the Word, I will start to pray and then think that I'm 'not allowed to' because I haven't read the Bible in a few days. So, because I hadn't spent time with Jesus, I keep not spending time with Him because I feel like I have to earn His favor, and it's just a confusing cycle of that over and over. But, praise Jesus that He has set me free from believing the lies that Satan was telling me. I told them that if we believe that we have to earn God's favor, then that makes it about us, and God's grace has nothing to do with our actions. So that's what I shared, and I had a translator which was pretty cool & Mom I had Tori video tape it so you can see it, I knew you would want to :) After church every week we come home and eat PBJ for lunch, same thing we eat every day for lunch. Then take naps, which were awesome because the weather has been beautiful lately I actually got cold Saturday night and had to use my covers for the second time here.

Monday - Manzini Primary School from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm which is my favorite day of the week! This week Landon, Stephanie & I taught our Grade 2 class the story of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors. We stopped the story at the place where his brothers throw him into the pit and he is sold into slavery. We told them we would finish the story next week and they responded with lots of "awwwww"s. One boy, Pohla, who is an American said "I know the end of the story!" So I quickly told him not to ruin it for everyone else :) Then we had this black paper that when you scratch off it turns all different colors. So we cut out coats and gave the kids construction paper to glue it on to and they loved scratching off the black and seeing the color underneath. Once boy said, "Teacher, how do you make these magic sticks?" and I just laughed and said "I don't know it's just magic I guess." He was disappointed. Then Kaci and I went to our two Grade 3 classes and did arts & crafts with them like we do every week. This week we brought string and every possible bead you could think of. The kids started squealing when we walked in the classroom and were so excited to see us. Then when we said we were making necklaces they got even more excited. The boys even wanted to make necklaces and one boy said, "Teacher these beads are marvelous. They are magnificant!" We had a lot of fun, but decided necklaces are not going to be a repeat craft because beads were every where. All the kids would come up to me and want me to tell them how beautiful their necklaces were. Man, they are so cute! We got to go swimming after we were done with all our classes and the swimming pool was amazing. Then on the way home we stopped at the gas station and I bought a Rolo ice cream bar, doesn't sound like Africa huh? But we were soon back at the homestead and so we were reminded we are not in America :)

Tuesday - my hospital ministry day. Starting this week, 2 other girls on the team & I are doing a Bible study with our translators, Titi and Zanele. We just want to be able to minister to them since they are always on ministry with us helping translate so we wanted to do something that was just laid back and that would bless them. We plan on studying different women in the Bible and just talking about what that would look like for us today. Well we told them to get to the homestead at 9:00 am and 9:30 rolled around and still no Titi and Zanele. So I called Zanele just to make sure they were coming because there was still just a chance they were late (Swazi time!). But Zanele said, "Oh Sisi I'm so sorry I forgot, and Titi went shopping in Manzini for the day." So I laughed and told her we would meet Wednesday morning instead. So that's how today started out for me! Then we go to the hospital from 12-2 and pray for the people and just talk to them since not many people visit there. The little girl Nothando that I have a picture with from the hospital a few blogs ago, the one that was abandoned by her mother, well she was adopted this weekend! It was bittersweet for me because I was so looking forward to seeing her, since last Tuesday was our day off for the week and so I didn't go to the hospital. But I'm so happy she has a family now, that I heard are from New Zealand. So praise the Lord! The hospital was pretty empty today, which I guess is a good thing, but that also meant we didn't have many people to talk with. Katie, Tori, Titi and I went to the women's ward to pray over them. The first woman we came to was talking very quietly and didn't look well at all. Titi asked her why she was in the hospital and the girl told her that yesterday (Monday) she drank poison because she was trying to commit suicide. When I heard that I was overwhelmed and didn't really know what to say to her to encourage her. We were about to start praying for her when the nurse came up to take her blood, then she started to throw-up black stuff so we went to the other side of the room to pray for another woman. We asked her why she was in the hospital and she said because she has been bleeding for a long time and it won't stop. This morning I had just been reading the story of the woman who had been bleeding for years. Jesus was being pushed on by the crowd from all sides but the woman shoved her way through the crowd because she just wanted to touch the hem of Jesus' garment. When she did Jesus turned around and asked the disciples who had touched him, and they said "Jesus there are people crowding all around you," he answered "Yes, but there was someone because I felt the power go out of me" and he turned to see the woman who had come back to Him. She was immediately healed because of her faith. So when the woman in the hospital told us this was her disease I was so excited to pray for her. Tori and I prayed for her to have the faith that Jesus will heal her and then I read that story to her, not even knowing if she understood English. When I finished she said, "Ngiya bonga sisi," which means 'thank you sister.' So I guess she understood! We were about to go back over the the young girl who tried to commit suicide but there was another woman across from her that did not want us there. She told us that 'we are sick, you shouldn't be here, leave us alone.' When I walked in the ward I noticed how this lady basically looked really mean and so we didn't know what to do. We pulled the girls Mage (mom) aside and told her the situation and the Mage told us she wanted us to still pray for her daughter. So I read Psalm 139:1-3; 13-16 which say, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways...For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well. My fram was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." I really wanted to emphasize that last part to her. What beautiful words to be spoken over someone who wanted to end their life yesterday. We told Mage that we will continue to pray for her daughter. So overall Tuesday was a pretty slow day, but being able to pray for that one girl was worth it.

Wednesday - as I have mentioned before, Wednesdays are our day to choose what we want to do. Our leaders go to Manzini for the day so we are in Timbutini by ourselves. Last week I stayed at the homestead and cleaned but this week I wanted to go out with the translators and do home visits. I went with Zanele and two girls from the team to Musa's Go-Go's homestead. When our team visited her last week she had not been doing well. She suffered a stroke a while back and last week was not able to talk or sit up. Today she was sitting up on the floor and talking with us. She wanted us to read the story about when Elijah stayed with the widow and her son and asked her for food. I guess this is one of her favorite stories in the Bible because she was very happy for us to read to her. When we were getting ready to leave Zanele tells the Gogo that I am Musa's girlfriend. So Gogo asked me if I was ready to cook dinner for them tonight! Musa walked in and was enjoying the idea of me being his girlfriend, it was pretty hilarious. Then as we were leaving, Gogo said, "She is still Musa's girlfriend!" So what do you think Mom? :) We went over to Musa's house and talked with him for a while then he gave us a ride to the other homestead some girls were visiting. The woman's name is Timbi. Her son is Sibusiso, I have a picture with him on my last blog. Kaci & Katie were there with Titi and they had just killed a chicken and it was cooking when we showed up. So we waited until it was finished so we could eat some. The chicken they killed actually had a bunch of eggs she hadn't laid yet so they asked us to eat them. It pretty much tasted like hard boiled egg yolk (when we got back to our homestead, Lelo told us that now we will get bad diarrhea from eating it, so we will have to wait and see!). As we were leaving Timbi's house Musa pulled up in his van which was very convenient because one of the girls had just broken her flip flop and couldn't walk back to the homestead so Musa gave us a ride. But, before I got in the car he said, "Jessica, say to me 'How's it going sweetheart?' ". Haha, so I did and he was thrilled. You never know, maybe I'll just get married here, I have plenty of options! Anyways, the rest of today we are just around the homestead, I'm planning on having some much needed alone time. The weather is awesome today, super windy and very overcast. I'm not too good at guessing what the temperature is outside but I would say its in the low 70s which is a nice break since it's summer here right now. It's pretty funny because on days like today we don't 'bundle' up because it's not cold, but we met our translators at the church and one of them had a heavy coat on with a beanie. Swazis definitely aren't used to cooler weather. We show up to the care point and kids have on 'ski' jackets and heavy pants! So that's Wednesday.

Thursday - I go to Timbutini care point from noon - 3:30 when the D-Team does their Bible study with the kids. We took beads and string to make necklaces and bracelets with the little kids and they abslutely loved it. I am continually amazed at how well behaved the children are. Titi just told them to sit down on the floor in a circle and we would pass out the beads and string to them. The oldest kids there were 5 years old and we had even 2 year olds that would just sit down and quietly wait for us to hand them the beads. One little boy, Slelo, was helping his little brother make his necklace and it was so cute! All the kids help each other, even if it's not their brother or sister they are just all so helpful. One little boy, Cheeks, fell asleep in my arms for a long time. Mom, you would have loved it :) The D-Team was there preparing for their lesson and one of the guys on the team, Bheki (pronounced Beggy), we have built a good realtionship with him, so I talked to him for a long time. He is the kindest person in all of Swaziland and always has a smile on his face. Eventually the older kids started showing up and my Tnamiso was there! I always love seeing him. He wanted me to make a necklace with him so as we were making it I had him practice telling me the color of the beads in English. He would get frustrated because he would confuse them sometime, but once he figured out something was 'red' he would point to the red flowers on my skirt. We finished making his necklace and I tie it around his neck. Then he sees that other kids have longer necklaces so he gets a longer piece of rope and brings it to me and says he wants to put the beads on the string now. So I had to take all the beads off his necklace and put them on the new one. So I made him practice his colors again! He was very excited when I put the necklace on him. I looked up and all of a sudden there were kids surrounding the bead bags and all I could hear were beads hitting the floor and decided against picking them up. They had a lot of fun though, necklaces seem to be a big hit here. Next, back at the homestead for about an hour. Tori, Katie, Kaci and I went on a walk, we have been walking everyday because that's the only time we have for exercise. On Tuesday, Tori and I were on a walk and saw some boys playing soccer down the road from our homestead so we stopped and watched them play; so now we go watch them and when we leave they all stop and wave and say 'see you tomorrow'. I made some friends, Seth (13) and Owen (12) and they translate for me what they guys on the field are saying. Which usually consists of them talking about how beautiful we are as they play soccer. If you need a confidence boost, just come to Swaziland, because everyone loves white girls! We met a few other guys too: Donkey, Voma, Noti and Justice. Donkey told us he was 24 and we believed him. Then Owen told me Donkey was 'very lying, he is only 15.' I think he just wanted us to think he was 24 because we told him how old we are. I seem to always make friends with the boys here, Mom why do you think that is? So we have a lot of fun cheering for them as they play and counting as they do their pushups when the other team scores. They laugh at us and we laugh at them. Switch gears again. About 6 people on the team have been sick this week. Four girls have Tick Bite Fever, either a tick or flea bit them and they get this scary looking bite and a fever and body aches. So I'm pretty paranoid about getting sick, mainly because ticks are disgusting and I would freak out if I got bit by one. So pray for health for me as it seems like lots of people are starting to get sick.

Tonight we had our girls night, which we are supposed to have every week, but our leader has slacked off so this was only our second one. She surprised us and took us to Manzini to get dessert at Rustic Tavern. I got a brownie with ice cream and chocolate sauce, yum. It's always nice to get off the homestead and do something because we get pretty bored around here.

Friday - I go to a primary school down the road from the homestead. Musa picks us up at 7:00 am and we go to the school and play with the kids outside until assembly starts at 7:30. Bheki went with us this morning too. We told the story of Moses Parting the Red Sea and so we needed kids to come up on the platform and be the Red Sea parting. First I told Musa to have kids come up if they wanted to volunteer. No one was coming, so since I have a lot of friends there I started yelling out all of their names telling them to come up on stage. There are about 400 kids so they were getting embarrassed; they forgot I knew their names so when I started yelling for them to come up they were hiding behind their friends, especially the older boys. I got a few of them to come up on stage but eventually just got some of the little ones on the front row to do it. I played the part of the Egyptian so when I tried to cross the Red Sea the water came all around me so I told the boys to circle us and wave their arms around, and all the kids thought it was hilarious. Success. Also, Donkey who I mentioned on Thursday, was at the Primary school this morning, so when I saw him I grabbed Tori and told her we had to go tell him we knew he wasn't 24. When he saw us coming he just started laughing and his friends were laughing at him. I said "Donkey, I know you aren't 24," and he said, "I am 24, I am 24." I am having so much fun making friends here. That is one thing I will not be ready to leave. It's really hard because I am making such close friendships with people but when I go home I can't call and email them like you can a friend in the States. So that's been really hard for me to think about, but that also means I will be coming back, and I want to bring some of you (fam) with me next time. Swazis are such beautiful people and they have stolen my heart for sure.

This afternoon is Khanyisile Primary School in Manzini. We teach Grade 6 & 7 a Life Skills class. Kaci & I will be doing Grade 6 & two other girls do Grade 7. The topic for this week is "Respect: Gossip and Reputations." It went really well, I think the girls enjoy having younger people teach them. Quick story: on the way to the school, I was looking out the window to the right and all of a sudden I hear a fluttering and something hits me in the face/neck. Initially I thought it was a piece of trash, but look down and quickly realize that, no it wasn’t a piece of trash, but a BIRD. Yes, a bird. We had driven through a flock of birds and somehow one flew inside our car because the van windows were open. It managed to hit me in the face and land in my seat. I started screaming, which is what I do best and flew to the seat in front of me and crouched in between 2 of my teammates. Not really sure how I got up there, but was all of a sudden screaming and hiding from the bird. We continued to scream for a long time and my eyes were watering I was laughing so hard. Zanele just picks it up and says, “It’s just a bird.” So I yell and tell her to throw it out the window! It was a very exciting ride to the school J

One more story. The guy I mentioned who we called Donkey and wasn’t 24, well he told us that it is actually another guy, Noti, who is called Donkey. I asked him why they call Noti, Donkey and he said, “Because he would always go to school and then leave. When we asked him why he would leave school he would say it’s because he missed his donkeys.”

We watched our soccer guys play again, they now expect us to show up everyday and all start smiling when we walk up to watch. It’s a lot of fun and they are all so good! Even the little boys. So that’s all for now, there is always more that I can write but I never have enough time. Thanks for reading J And enjoy the pictures!

Jesus In a Wheelchair

2010-02-27T05:07:00.000-06:00

At Ramblas in Manzini

Tnamiso wanted to take my picture

Tnamiso & I (he is one of my 5 boys)

Tickling Sibusiso (another of my 5 boys)

Excited about some good lemonade

My American relief

Outside the Manzini market with my 3 girls (Tori, Katie, Kaci)

Bakery goodness

Skype with the fam in the internet cafe

Me, Debbie, Kaci, Katie in Manzini

Landon, Tori & I outside the Manzini market

Sunset from our homestead

Sweet kids waiting in line for the jump castle

Passing out bananas & apples on Fun Day

These boys loved posing for the camera

Our kids at Timbutini

(left) Bentley (right) Sibusiso

my 2 favorite boys at Timbutini

I have officially been in Africa a month on Sunday. In some ways it has gone by so fast by then again it does seem like a very long time since I have been home. I am building some really close friendships with a few of the girls on my team. In a group of 16 people, it is natural for certain personalities to be drawn to each other more than others, and everyone seems to have found their place on the team. Once again I will just give you an idea of what I did each day of the week, but first I want to tell you a little about Swaziland. I realized last night that I haven't really said much about the country so I want to take the time to do that.

Swaziland is first of all beautiful, as you can tell from some of the pictures I have posted. It does not look like the Lion King, which is what I was expecting! There are some places that do, just not in our village. There are mountains all around us. Actually if you are using the toilet that doesn't have a door, you have an awesome view of the mountains, it's so beautiful. The other day, Kaci and I were filming the homestead because she wanted to do a video tour of the place and when we got to the toilets we were showing how gross they are and then looked up and said "Well I guess the view is pretty awesome" as the sun was setting and the mountains looked pretty amazing. So even in the dirtiest places, if you just look up you will see something beautiful. Swazi people are incredibly friendly, sometimes too friendly. The men here SO want to marry a white woman, that proposals are pretty much a daily experience for at least one girl on the team.

Let me give you an example: Thursday morning I was brushing my teeth. To give you an idea of how everything in this story goes I'll explain brushing your teeth here. Obviously we don't have sinks/running water so we just grab our water bottles and go behind our hut in the grass to brush our teeth. A 'road' runs behind our homestead, so every morning while we are brushing our teeth kids on their way to school stop and talk to us on the other side of the fence. The road is about 20 feet from where we brush our teeth, and about 3 feet from the toilets, so we have to be careful & fast when we use the door less one in the day time because people will walk by, and if you are using the bathroom you just casually wave and laugh, only in Africa :) . Okay well Thursday morning I was brushing my teeth and 5 men are walking down the road. They all stop and come up to the fence and start talking to me, as my mouth is filled with toothpaste. A little more background: right now it is the season for a certain fruit that falls from the trees and the people collect it and make a very strong alcohol from it. Their version of moonshine? So all these men were on their way to very drunk. So I just said hi to them and kept brushing my teeth. They were very excited to see a white girl, and said that I looked "very lovely." I've never been told I looked lovely while brushing my teeth. Well my leader Liz is really paranoid about men talking to us here so she didn't want me to stand over there anymore so I had to finish brushing my teeth some where else. If I had stayed I probably would have been proposed to by all 5 of them. But, a guy on our team, Billy, went over and talked to them. They were offended that I had left (I felt rude for leaving) and one guy said that it was his Go Go's homestead we were staying on (which it was) so Billy couldn't tell him to leave, since we were from America. Billy asked them where they lived and said he would come visit them. The man said "I don't want to be friends with just you, I want to be all of your friends." Another guy said to us "You don't need to be scared" "We leave here with your respect and you have ours." Pretty hilarious to hear them yelling across the fence. Liz and Neil, our leaders are nervous about us talking to people so they always come out when men walk by and say "Okay bye, you have to leave now," but they are harmless, and just want to talk to you so I always feel bad when I have to just walk away or ignore them when they say hello, so when my leaders aren't around I talk to them! Don't be afraid Mom, they really are harmless, just very friendly and hilarious.

So all that to say Swazi people are very friendly and forward. It's funny because in their culture it's rude to ask personal questions but they will straight up ask us if we are married or have kids, which we can't really ask them so it's kind of interesting. Swazi people literally do nothing all day. You ask them what they did that day and it usually involves waking up at 5:00 am or earlier, doing their chores and once they are finished with work around the homestead for the day, they just sit around. We go on walks and you just see people sitting, everywhere, doing absolutely nothing. That's one thing we were told in our culture orientation our first day here, that Swazis do nothing all day long. It's nice at first but I am definitely excited to be home with things to do. There is this thing called "Swazi time." I don't know if I have mentioned it before but basically it means that Swazis don't really go by a watch. If they say something is starting at 11:00, there is about a 50% chance it will start at 11:00 so that's why there is not really a time for us to get out of church on Sundays. Church is never less than 2 hours, like this past week I think it was around 2 1/2 hours. I can't imagine people's reaction back home if FBCNB went until 1:30! Swazis just live a very slow paced life, so something else that I've noticed is that they walk SO slow. Not a big deal, but they are never in a hurry. They think PBJs are really strange. They love to take pictures. I gave my nice camera to Zanelle on the Fun Day last week so she could take some pictures and she got so excited and I saw her organizing all the kids to pose for the camera. They are very strict with their children. Zanelle told me that it's okay for you to 'beat' a kid with a stick if you don't know him. So if a kid runs across the street when they shouldn't have, it's okay for you to "shia" (beat) them with a stick, and they parents don't care! Can you imagine that happening in the States? They love "umlungus" (um-loon-goos) which are white people. We will be driving down the road and hear kids shouting "Umlungus!" and then waving at us and running after the van.

Okay so I realize how long all of that was, so I will give more facts about the country on a different blog, but now I want to tell you about the week, it has been very different than the others.

Monday - my day to go to the school in Manzini. This is definitely my favorite day, besides communication day. This week we taught them the Tower of Babel and had a craft for them to make their own towers which was a whole lot more fun for them than I expected. It was really funny during the story when I was talking about how God confused the languages of the people and gave the example of a person going up and speaking Chinese to their friend, and their friend answering in S'Swati. Then I said "Wouldn't that be confusing?" and one kid said "No! I speak Chinese" keep in mind I was in Grade 2. We just started laughing because we forgot that kids outside of America can speak more than one language. So I asked the kids to raise their hands if they spoke 2 languages and all of them raised their hands, then 3 languages and some put their hands down, 4 languages and their were 3-4 kids who still had their hands up! It was crazy, and I was so jealous. But we had a lot of fun telling them the story. So that was my Grade 2 class. Then Kaci & I went to our Grade 3 classes and did the Salvation bracelet for their craft. They loved it and it was a really great way for us to present the gospel to them. We did the reading time with Grade 2 & 4 which is one of my favorite parts because they are just so fun. Then, the headmaster told us last Friday that we can go swimming anytime we want to as long as there is not a class swimming, so we all went to the pool, but I left my "swimming costume" as Swazis call it, at the homestead so next week I will be bringing it!

Tuesday - this was our day off from last week. Since Saturday we did the Fun Day at church all morning we only had an hour and a half at the internet cafe so we got this day as our day off. We left for Manzini around 9:30 so we were there by 10:00 and spent all day there. First a few of us went to an air-conditioned internet cafe that we found a few weeks ago. The A/C felt so good, I hadn't been in a cold room in like a month, so that was nice. By the time we were done there it was noon so we walked to Ramblas, the restaurant by the grocery store we go to. Eventually the entire team was eating lunch in there. I got a chicken & cheese quesadilla, chips (fries), lemonade & a strawberry smoothie. What a nice taste of home; that was the first time I had something other than a PBJ for lunch in the past 5 weeks. They also have WiFi in the restaurant so I paid for that and anytime I go back I get to use it so I got to talk to my sweet mom on skype. Then a few of us walked to a bakery called Bakers Corner. The best baked goods and pastries, Dad we could have done some damage in that place and it is so cheap you would have wanted to buy everything! Tori, Landon and I split a slice of carrot cake that tasted like heaven, I got a chocolate cupcake & a white-iced with sprinkles donut. We decided we will be visiting every Saturday. Then we all went to the Manzini Market. It is kind of a 2-story building with no walls. The bottom is just vegetables and fruits and next to that people sell clothes and shoes and other random things. I would describe the look of the booths as what you would imagine houses in a slum looking like. A bunch of tarps making the roof and walls of each of their booths. Then the top floor is where I will be doing all my gift shopping at. They have all the handmade jewelry, bowls, drums, paintings, jewelry boxes, etc. I took videos of the place it's pretty crazy all the things they are selling. I kept myself from buying anything this time because I want to do all my shopping right before we leave. Okay then I went back to another internet cafe with Kaci & Katie (2 of the 3 girls I'm closest to, the other being Tori). I got to hear Dad, Nathan, Adam and Mom's voice! It was so good to hear from home and sorry for waking all of y'all up, but it was worth it right? After round 2 at the internet I went to the grocery store, then back to the homestead. It was a great day off to be away from our homestead because I get stir crazy there. Then that night we did what they called a Prayer Watch. We were up from 10-4 am and worshipped, prayed and read scripture. It was an awesome and encouraging time for the team.

Wednesday - Since we were up until 4 am we didn't have to be ready for ministry until noon. I was up until 5:00 am because I've been sick the past week; I won't go into detail but most of the team has been some kind of sick this past week. So I only got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep but God's grace is enough. Wednesday is our day to do whatever ministry we want to do. Yesterday there was a group that went on a prayer walk/home visits, one to the Timbutini care point, and my group of 4 girls stayed at the homestead and cleaned all afternoon, which definitely needed to be done. I didn't leave the homestead all day which I didn't realize was a big deal until Thursday.

Thursday - As I write this part it is Thursday. So I woke up this morning feeling pretty discouraged. Every morning we meet at 9:00 as a team to pray, sometimes we just pray as a big group and sometimes split up and pray in smaller groups. I was completely honest with my group and told them I didn't want to be in Africa today. I didn't leave the homestead at all yesterday so I think I just feel really bored and ready to get back to having things to do at home. I told them I don't want to feel like that because my heart does desire to be here but today was just a day where I didn't feel like being here and wanted to be home. But this afternoon we are going to Timbutini care point and doing some crafts with the little kids and I will get to see some boys that I've started building a friendship with so I'm excited about that.

This part I am writing on Friday, about Thursday: God really used the kids at the care point to lift my spirits, I knew that would happen once I got there. We took bubbles and foam visors for them to decorate. I had one of those really big tubes so the bubbles are huge and when the wind blew and the bubbles appeared the kids started screaming. I got Kaci to video tape me doing the bubbles with the kids because it was the cutest thing, they would chase them so far until they popped them. They loved decorating the visors and they looked so cute wearing them, except they couldn't keep them on so we had to fix them over and over. At around 2:30 the older kids show up because they get out of school at 2:15, my favorite kid, Tnamiso (I have a picture with him on the last blog & today) showed up and I wanted to go to the store across the road to buy some fat cakes so he went with me. He wanted to race me so he said "1,2,3, we go!" He was fast, but I beat him :) Then we get to the store and he beats his chest and says "I AM TIRED!" It was so funny so I did it back to him, then we raced back and he beat me. I absolutely love Tnamiso. He asks the rest of the team where I am when I'm not at the care point so that always makes me feel good. I met another boy on the Fun Day last Saturday whose name is Ayanda. He is 13 years old and one of the sweetest kids. I saw him a few days ago on our daily walk around the village and we talked to him and his friend Pinda. I noticed that Pinda's shoes were falling apart so yesterday I found out what size shoe he wears and I plan on buying him a new pair since he only has one. So Pinda & Ayanda walked us back to our homestead then went on to theirs. Here when you are good friends with someone you hold hands, so Ayanda & Pinda walked away holding hands. When I first got here I was still in the American mindset so I thought it was weird, but now I think it is such a great thing. So, then I see Ayanda again on this day, Thursday, and he is walking to the care point as I am walking back home and we stop to talk for a little bit and he says, "I wrote this for you,"and hands me a folded up note that says 'My Friend' on the outside. He wrote that both of his parents don't work and he wants to go to an all boys school because they teach very good English there, and he doesn't like being distracted by the girls at his school, so he wants to go to the all boys school. Since both of his parents don't work (which is not uncommon in Swazi) he needs support to go to school and was asking me for help. Obviously I can't write him a check for his schooling but I want to do something. He told me I am his very best friend and "I love you my friend, very very very much my friend." It was a sweet note and I know that he really does want a good education so I'm not sure what to do, any suggestions Mom, Dad, etc.? It's no surprise that I always am drawn to the boys here, having grown up with all boys, and I feel like I am just beginning to build lasting relationships with the people here, and I want to come back and visit (possibly bring my family, ya?). So all this to say, that Thursday turned out to be an awesome day in the Lord, being blessed by my beautiful kids here that I grow to love more and more each day.

Friday - Normally on Friday afternoons from 1-2 I go to the school in Manzini and teach Grade 6 girls, but today is a holiday for them so we didn't do that. But I am starting to go to another Primary school just down the road from our homestead with some people in the morning to do a lesson at their morning assembly. Musa picks us up at 7:00 and drives us to the school, it’s about a 5 minute drive. WEll as we were driving, I was sitting in the front seat with him and he slows down as we approach a little boy in a wheel chair that comes to Timbutini care point and church, named Thando. Musa asks me if I want to get out and push him to school. I jumped on the opportunity and got out of the car before Musa could even stop completely. I walked over to Thando and his brother who was pushing him down the road and asked if I could do it, so he let me. It was one of the most beautiful times for me so far in Swaziland. Pushing a little boy down a gravel road, with the beautiful mountains in front of me and hearing the kids laugh behind me; it doesn't get much better than that for me. I started praying silently for him as I walked, and the Lord brought to my mind Matthew 25:35-40 "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the rightewous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?....' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my borthers you did it to me." All I could think about was that I was pushing Jesus in a wheelchair. I can't even describe to you this moment for me, but it was beautiful, and something I will treasure forever. Thando & I weren't even speaking but I felt so connected to him because it was just the 2 of us going down the road with only the mountains ahead. Thank you Jesus for this amazing opportunity. It is these kind of things that I long to do here in Africa. I would walk that boy to school everyday if I could. I could go on and on about this morning but I won't! We did Daniel & the Lions' Den story with the kids and I got to play a lion, with my 3 girls (Kaci, Katie & Tori) so we roared/screamed as loud as we could, and Mom you know I loved that! After we were finished with the assembly we say bye to the kids and you feel like such a celebrity. They all ran up to me and wanted to hug me and do the Swazi handshake which I will be bringing back to Texas because it's so cool! One of my little boys from the Timbutini care point, Sia Bonga ran up to me and gave me a huge hug, once again, melt my heart! I so look forward to every Friday I will get to go and see these beautiful kids.

Switch gears. We have to leave the country every 30 days, not sure why maybe it's because we only have permission to be here 30 days at a time, I don't know. Sunday will be 30 days, so Friday is the best day for us to leave the country. We went to Nsoko, Swaziland where another AIM team, the Novas Team which is an 8 month program, is staying and doing ministry and spent the night with them. Our team got to go out to eat at a restaurant called Safaris and it was absolutely amazing! I forgot to bring the pictures to post this week, so I will put them up next week, but the restaurant was breath taking. There was also a real crocodile outside in the pond that I took a picture of so that was pretty exciting. I ate margarita pizza which made me think of Europe family! Then got ice cream for dessert which was super tasty. We spent the night in Nsoko and then came back this morning so we could come to Manzini for our communication day. Less than 2 months left in Africa, this month has gone by so fast. Each week seems to go by faster than the last. Thank you to those of you who pray for me and my team, we have been so blessed.

What I hope for myself each day in Swaziland: Jesus above me, Jesus below me, Jesus to my right, Jesus to my left, Jesus in front and behind me, When people think of me they think of Jesus, when people look at me they see Jesus, that everyone I talk to hears His voice, and everything I touch feels the warmth of His hand. I want to be mistaken for Jesus.

Only 3 Pictures Because Internet is Slow! TIA

2010-02-23T07:53:00.000-06:00

Bentley, Me, Sibusiso & I don't know his name

We named him Bentley because he dresses so well!

Kaci & I with the kids eating their meal at the care point

Our church/Timbutini care point that we spend a lot

of time at

Beautiful Feet

2010-02-20T08:58:00.000-06:00

I didn't update my team blog this week because I really didn't feel like thinking of something to write about so this week it's just this blog I'm updating.

So first I'll explain the title of my blog. The phrase at the top of my blog on the mountains was kind of the inspiration for it and on a random note, today a girl on my team said "Jessica, you have really pretty feet." So after thinking about what to title my blog I thought that would be good! In Swaziland, so many kids don't have shoes. They have their school uniforms on but are barefoot (ed). These kids walk miles just to come get a meal at the care point, so their feet are calloused and usually have cow manure on them or just mud. Well, my feet definitely could use a pedicure (Mom) when I get home, but I still want them to be beautiful, in the sense of the verse I have at the top of my blog. "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news." We often walk to care points to meet these kids and spend time with them, and I know that I want my feet to be the feet of Jesus; bringing hope to Swaziland.

I will give you a brief description of what my week looked like. I'll try to do this each time I update, I think it's the best way to let y'all know what has been going on instead of just telling you one story from the week.

Monday - I went with a group of our team to the Primary School in Manzini. Each grade has 2 classes so their are around 40 plus kids in each grade. This school is very nice and the kids are so well mannered. We taught Noah's Ark to Grade 1 & 2, Kaci & I were introduced to Grade 3 because we will be doing a craft with them each Monday, then we went back to Grade 2 and they had to practice reading in English to us so they just had kids books to read and we would sign off on them, then we did the same thing with Grade 4. It was a lot of fun because when the kids come out to meet you they are so polite and say "Hello Teacher, how are you?" and anytime you address them they call you "Teacher" I love it! So I will be doing that every Monday.

Tuesday - I was with a group that went to the hospital. We had gone there our first week in Africa but I had not been back since then. Katie and I teamed up and went into the Children's Ward first. We went into the malnutrition unit which also is the place for abandoned babies. There are 2 abandoned babies there now. Since they are abandoned the hospital staff obviously doesn't know their age or name, so Katie gave this precious little girl who is probably about 4 months old the name "Nothando" which is my S'Swati name, meaning Love. She is the one I have a few pictures of holding here. As soon as I picked her up she started giving me this huge smile and it was the cutest thing ever. Just one more piece of my heart given away here. I don't know if I've written about this in my last blog but I will again. Her mother asked a stranger to hold her while she (mother) went to the restroom, but never came back. So Nothando has been in the hospital for a few months and I guess she is up for adoption or in the process. It's so sad to know that she doesn't have any family. So Katie and I will be her family the next 8 weeks we will be here. We walked around the ward and just talked with kids, they light up when you talk to them, hospitals here are so much more sad than in the States. Katie let a little boy listen to her iPod and he loved it. Then we went to the women's ward. There were probably about 15 women in this area. We prayed for most of them but some had family there so we didn't want to interrupt their time together. The first woman we prayed for spoke very good English. We just started talking with her and in the middle of the conversation she said "will you pray for me?" and we didn't really answer her but kept talking. She told us she has malaria and has been hurting all over her body, mainly her head and back. So then we asked if we could pray for her and she said "Seriously!" She was so excited about it, so we both prayed over her for healing and for her relationship with Jesus and when we said amen she looked up at us and said "All my pain is gone now. It's only in my head now." I like to believe that Jesus healed her and she was so happy, I told her we would be back next week but that I didn't want to see her next week because I hoped she would have been able to go home by then. She said she wanted to see us though, so I will let you know next time if we see her on Tuesday. Then she asked us to pray for the girl in the bed next to her. She said she has just come back from x-ray and cries all the time because she is in so much pain. So we just gently put our hands on her and started praying for healing & peace and all of a sudden she just stopped crying and relaxed. I don't know if he healed her permanently or just gave her temporary relief but either way it was awesome to see Him work immediately and in a way I had never seen before besides in the Bible. So Tuesday was a really great day to see Jesus use me

Wednesday - each week we are going to use this day as a day where we don't really plan anything but spend all morning until noon alone with Jesus and ask Him to show us where He would have us personally serve that day. So the morning was really a nice break for me because we are serving all the time that there have been a few days where I don't even get time alone with Him. So we had a few hours to be alone which I love. Then in the afternoon I went with a group on a home visit then came back and were done for the day. So overall it was a pretty low key day, which we need.

Thursday - this was the best day of my week for sure. I go to the TImbutini care point at our church up the road with just girls on our team, which is a nice break from the boys. There were only about 9 pre-school age kids in the morning so we just held them and some fell asleep, but I started taking pictures with the ones who were still awake because they love taking pictures and seeing themselves, they can't stop laughing when they do. So that's what some of the other pictures today are from. Then while we were at the care point, a huge flat bed truck, the size of an 18 wheeler pulls up and Musa (a guy on the Discipleship team at the church) asks us to help them load like 60 bags of porridge so we can take them to another care point. So 8 girls are picking up super heavy bags and throwing them up on top of the truck, it was hilarious and we were all laughing because Musa told us we were too slow. We spend a lot of time with Musa because he works for AIM as well and leads the singing on Sundays. He is a great guy, and very cute :) Then he tells us all to jump up on the back and go with them to drop the food off. So, in our missionary skirts we jump up on the back of this huge trailer and ride down the dirt roads to Tuwane care point. It was so much fun. Definitely an experience you would only have in Africa and we were all laughing the whole way there. The weather that day was also amazing because it was overcast with an amazing breeze so it was just perfect weather to ride on the back of a truck. It has been so hot every day so we loved the past few days of great cloudy/rainy weather. So we unloaded the bags and then got dropped off back at Timbutini care point. Then, walked back to our homestead and got in the vans to go to Spar, the grocery store in Manzini. We LOVE going to the grocery store. It's a nice taste of civilization for all of us and some people go crazy on buying snacks. Then a few of us went next door to this restaurant that has Wi-Fi, called Ramblas and got smoothies and iced coffee. It was so nice to be in a restaurant at a nice table with real glasses, not plastic. Then on the way home it was raining and we saw a double rainbow. Seriously the day was SO good, we couldn't stop talking about how great it was!

Friday - I go with the group back to the school in Manzini. But Mondays I am there from 8:00 - 1:00, but Fridays we just go from 1:00-2:00 and only meet with Grade 6. We will be doing a 'discipleship' type class/life skills with them. Today we just listened because Christine (the american teacher who also works with AIM that we work with) already had a lesson planned. Then we go to another care point in the afternoon, called Dabas. Katie, Stephanie & I are the 3 girls in this group and at this particular care point there are a lot of girls 12 & up that we are going to do a Bible Study with and mainly just talk about life with. So we met them today and they all wrote their crazy long names down so we could memorize them, and next week we will start the lessons. I am actually teaching the Grade 6 girls in Manzini next week so that should be fun. At the school on Fridays we will split up the guys and girls so we can talk about more gender specific things with them, so I was assigned by Christine to teach next week.

Saturday (Today) - This morning the Discipleship Team at our church in Timbutini put together a fun day for the kids in the community. They had a jump castle and soccer balls, bubbles, frisbees. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of kids there. They all sang songs and I video taped it. I'm in love with their voices!

Here are some pictures from the week:

Baby Nothando from the hospital

Sunset from our homestead

This is Tnamiso; I love this kid, he is such a trouble maker

but I'm so drawn to him

Some kids at the Timbutini care point they are so fun

The really good stuffed bread for dinner

on the night I cook with Tori

Me holding a Fat Cake/sweet bread Dad you would love them!

This is our homestead; the building you see is the kitchen/boys room

Me with baby Nothando at the hospital

She is laughing here, not crying even though it looks like it

Our ride on the back of the truck! Me, Liz & Kaci

The others on the truck; Katie Thrasher, Katie Tupper, Zanelle

and handsome Musa :)

Sorry I couldn't upload as many pictures this week the internet was really slow so next week I will put more

Loving God & People in Swazi

2010-02-13T07:10:00.001-06:00

Tori & I...this Friday & I hadn't showered since Tuesday, thank you Africa

Team Blog Update

Lots has happened since my last update. I will give a short explanation of what we did each day this week. I absolutely love our translators and I have gotten to know them very well, they call me GoGo Jesse (gogo= grandmother)

Zanelle, the translator I am closest to gave me a Swazi name this week. She says you have to get to know someone before they can have a Swazi name because here names actually mean something. So a few days ago she gave me the name "Nothando" pronounced (Notando) which means "Love."

Sunday - I experienced my first African church service which was beautiful. The people all have beautiful voices, and you know they are singing with all their heart, where back home I may be in the sanctuary with a couple hundred people and still hear my own voice; the church we go to is about the size of my kitchen, living room & computer area at home (for those of you that have been there) and there were not nearly as many people, half of them children and the singing was incredible; all the kids sing and dance, I loved it! So the singing lasted a little over an hour and the preaching was over an hour too so the service ended up being close to 3 hours which is crazy considering I start getting anxious after an hour back home but the time went by so fast and I can't wait to go tomorrow. Also I have been so impressed with the kids here, they are so well mannered and even the youngest ones all sit so still during the super long services, definitely taking notes for one day when I have kids :)

Monday - we went to a "Game Sanctuary" which is basically the same as a wildlife ranch but the animals are actually supposed to be here which is really cool. We didn't see much though so that was kind of sad so I'm hoping we will get to go on a safari before we leave. We drove around in our vans for a long time looking for animals and saw some zebras, wildebeests, monkeys, wart hogs and some other weird animals but no giraffes or hippos so that was sad. Then we went to this really great shaded area and spent 2 hours by ourselves praying and seeking God in what we feel He has for us personally to do as we are here in Africa. It was really good to hear what everyone felt like they were here for

Tuesday - we split up into 2 teams, so 7 each with 1 translator per group and went to two different care points. If a place is within walking distance, we walk, and walking distance here is much longer than what I would consider it to be at home. We walk to church which only takes about 15 minutes, we can see it from our homestead, and that is also the location of one of our care points. So one team went there, and my team went to another one, which was almost 1 hour walk one way and it was so so hot. I will probably write about how hot it is the whole time, because it just is and I'm jealous of the apparently crazy winter weather y'all are experiencing back home! So at the care point we played with the younger kids while we waited for the older ones to get there from school, which they walk from. (Side note: most people don't have cars so they walk crazy distances just to get groceries then carry them back on their heads which is really impressive). Once the older kids got there I was the one who got to serve them their food. It was such an exciting moment for me, realizing I was in Africa serving food to hungry kids who walked miles just to get there. They have such good manners. Once it's their turn to be served they hold their bowl out, I would scoop the food into it, and they would bow/curtsey and say thank you. Then when they are finished eating they all (even the 3-4 year olds) go rinse out their bowls and wash it off with clean water, bring the bowl back to me, bow/curtsey and say thank you again. What would your reaction be if a kid in America did that? I think I am definitely going to experience some culture shock coming back to American kids! Then we taught them the story of Noah and had them be the animals and make the noises which they thought was so funny. I taught them a song I learned when I worked at TbarM, called Bombelela, which is an African song and you say "Bombelela.....Jesu Bombelela" which means "Hold on....Hold on to Jesus" and they all really like it so it's fun for me to teach it to all the kids at the different care points.

Wednesday - we went to the hospital. I'm not going to write about that because that's what I wrote about on my team blog so you can read it on there.

Thursday - we went to another care point we have spent a lot of time at, and it is also the place where one of the Americans who works for AIM here has this group called Timbali Crafts, and the women make purses and jewelry that I will definitely be buying as gifts. So I had the privilege again of serving the children their morning meal. Okay, so the reason I basically get to serve all the meals is because I go up with Zanelle our translator and start serving, maybe that's selfish but I really like doing it. So we were at the care point for a pretty long time, playing games with the kids and singing songs. Then we left and went to the grocery store! Which is seriously like the highlight of our weeks because it is air-conditioned in there and it's just fun to buy food.

Friday - we went on home visits to some people in Timbutini. My group went to a man's house who goes to our church; he is 32 and has to use a cane because he's had lots of health problems so we wanted to just go spend some time with him; we walked; we asked him to tell us the testimony he told on Sunday in church because that day no one translated for us so we didn't know what he said but at his house we brought our other translator Titi, so he told us his story from Sunday, then told us how he came to know Jesus; it was a beautiful story and he, Samson has such a heart for the kids in Swaziland; then after lunch we split up again and went to 2 different care points we hadn't gone to before. The one my group went to is brand new and hasn't had any visitors so the kids were very different than the other places we had been. They didn't run up to us wanting us to hold them like most do and they were just staring at all these white people which probably looked strange to them. This care point, being brand new only has 2 pots the Mages (mothers) cook with and then they have an area plotted out for where the kitchen will one day be. The 'framing' was just big tree branches being held together in a square with wire, it's something you wouldn't have seen from the road because it was pretty far back in the bushes. So we gathered all the kids and walked down to a more cleared area and I started out by teaching the kids Bombelela. They loved it and wanted to sing it over and over. We told them the story of Noah and had them act it out, which broke the ice and they started laughing and having fun with us. After the story they sang some of their songs, we knew one of them because we sang it on church Sunday. Every time the kids here sing, I feel like I'm getting to listen to the African Children's Choir because they all have beautiful voices. Then we just started playing random games with them and I ended up playing soccer with all the boys while all the girls played a game kind of like duck-duck-goose. I preferred soccer and the boys thought it was fun that I was playing with them. They didn't really speak English but I could tell what they were saying because they would tell each other to always pass me the ball, so I had a lot of fun with them and it has been so great to learn how to get past the language barrier. We didn't even have to talk when we were playing soccer but we could laugh and joke with each other. Once again I see that love is our common language.

So as you can tell it has been a very busy week for us and today we found out, FINALLY, what we will be doing on a regular basis, but T.I.A. and plans can always change. I don't remember if I wrote before but that stands for This Is Africa. Fluidity is the key, not just flexibility. But I was SO excited (mom) to find out that I will be going to that really nice school in Manzini, every Monday and Friday and teaching some music/crafts/Bible stories to Grades 1-2 and maybe 3. I think I mentioned in my blog from last week about that opportunity and how much I wanted to do it so I was super excited when I found out today that I will be going there every week. Then we will be doing some hospital visiting and prayer as well as the Hope House and care points every week. Sorry this is so long but I have one chance a week to tell y'all what I've been doing, so it will always be long!

Love you mom, dad, N&K, Adam and Daniel and everybody else but I have to say my family's name :)

I have had a dreams the past few nights about being home and so the homesick-ness is starting to set in so pray for me that I won't get too sad!

Here's some pictures from this week:

On the game reserve..not what you would expect in Africa?

Crocodile pond; but didn't see any :(

Wildebeests (not sure if I spelled that right)

There were so many monkeys jumping through the trees

Me & Zanelle (my favorite of our 2 translators; she is 26)

Cow stomach & rice..Zanelle tried to get me to eat it, I passed

Titi (left) Zanelle (right); they wanted me to take a picture of them eating the cow

stomach that they think tastes so good

One of the carepoints; at Pastor Walter's church (where we go)

This little girl wanted to take so many pictures;

they love cameras & say "shoot me, shoot me"

The girl above wanted to take this of me

I want to bring these 4 home!

Happy February From Swazi

2010-02-06T08:31:00.000-06:00

(I apologize ahead of time for any spelling/grammar mistakes on any of my posts. We only get one day a week to have internet so I type as fast as I can!)
I think it's good that I've waited until today to write a blog because if I would have written one Monday y'all would have missed out on knowing all I was able to see and do this week. Marius, our contact here, has been so great and exposed us to so many different opportunities that we could take part in while in Swazi. We have been to a facility for terminally ill patients, a school, care points all around Swaziland and had a little tour of Manzini. It has been a very exciting week and I know the weeks ahead will be filled with so many life changing experiences for me.

Coming in to a trip like this, it is really hard to know what to expect, whether it is what the people will be like, your 'housing', the orphans, etc. But no matter how hard I may have tried to figure out what it would be like, I wasn't even close! Swaziland is absolutely beautiful, it reminds me a lot of Italy (family). The mountains are gorgeous, and it is so green because they get a lot of rain this time of year. Definitely not the "Lion King" place that I imagined. We (the girls) live in a hut with a grass roof :) We are staying on Lelo's homestead in Timbutini. People in Swazi live in homesteads, where there are a few different huts that family will live in. So Lelo lives on this homestead with his Go Go Shongwe (Grandmother Shongwe) and his 2 sisters. Most homesteads have more relatives on the property but his situation is a little different. We have had to get used to no air conditioning or fans, the electricity works about 50% of the time and we have outhouse type bathrooms, and a bucket that we shower out of! We have decided the bucket showers are kind of fun, but not when the wind blows the door open; that happened to a girl on my team yesterday and she started screaming so loud I thought something much worse was happening. There are 11 girls and 5 guys on my team, which is actually really big for a Real Life team.

When we went to Hope House (terminally ill facility) we got to go around and pray for the people there. It was so humbling to walk into the room and just talk with them and see the hope they had. One lady I prayed for was there because she had a stroke and although she could still feel her legs she couldn't walk. After praying she looked up and said "I know that Jesus can heal me, nothing is too big for Him." It brought me to tears to see the smile on her face, the joy that she was able to have despite here undesirable circumstances, and the hope she had in Jesus as her healer. I really hope to be able to spend time there every week helping take care of the patients and just being someone they can talk to. I'm really excited about that opportunity Marius gave us. Another thing we did was go to care points. Care points are places that children go to get 2 meals a day. The Go-Gos (grandmothers) and Mages (mothers) in the community go there everyday to make the children meals. The kids will walk miles just to get a meal, so we are able to meet them there and play, which is so much fun. It's really funny because the younger ones that are not as good at English have memorized a few English phrases. We got out of the combees (vans) and walked down to the kids and they run towards us, jump in our arms and all at once they started saying: "Hello, my name is _____" " I am ___ years old (and they hold up their fingers)" "I am a girl/boy". I started laughing it was just so funny because a few of them got confused at whether to say boy or girl. Although there is a language barrier, I have realized that we share a language of love. They just want you to hold them and play with them. They love my watch and want to wear it and push all the buttons. One day at the care points I was playing tag with a few kids, they love to hold your hand so we held hands and I started running around the field with them. Then we started playing follow the leader, it was so funny because at one point I stopped and bent over because I was out of breath and they thought they were supposed to keep copying me so they all bent over and acted like they were out of breath. By the end of the game I had about 6 kids running around the field with me. This is a dream come true for me. They win my heart the second you see them.

Another place we went was one of the schools in Manzini. The king's son goes to this school so it is the top school to be at and the kids are very well behaved. I will most likely be 1 of 4 girls that gets to go every Monday we are here, from 9:00 - 3:00 and teach Grade 1 & 2 crafts, songs and Bible stories. I am so so excited about this. All the kids speak English very well so there is no language barrier. I hope to start on Monday but we aren't sure yet. I will be helping Christine, a part-time teacher there who is actually from Connecticut. So pray for that opportunity for me, I really felt like Jesus wanted me to be there and I know I could learn so much.

A few things you could pray for: unity for our team because as you can guess with 11 girls there will be drama (although there hasn't been yet), restful nights, a continual breaking of my heart for the people here, good health for the team. I actually felt sick this morning but I said "Jesus, I prayed for healing for the crippled woman with faith knowing you could heal her, so I know you can keep me from getting sick" within a few minutes I was feeling better so I was very grateful! We are each also updating our team blog so check that out because we will all have different stories to share & what I post on there will be a little more 'formal' since it's not my own personal blog.

I miss home and family already! Mom, you are still the best cook in the world, and I already know all the things I want you to make me when I come home. Happy late February 1st :)

Cute kid I got to play with at a carepoint;

This care point was very well sponsered by a church in California

Where the kids get a drink

of water; I thought it was a cool picture

This is Elliot; on our way from South Africa to Swaziland, we all of a sudden stopped on the side of the road and started honking..some boys ran down from the house in the field and handed these bottles to Elliot: it is spoiled milk and Swazis LOVE spoiled milk

This is the girls hut..African right? Definitely no fan or Air conditioning

My bed with the green; fam pictures at the bottom :)

Africa today!

2010-01-29T08:32:00.000-06:00

I know I updated last night but I wanted to remind y'all that my team will be having a blog. When I'm not able to update this one our team blog will be updated. They are going to be putting a video they made from our night on the streets in Atlanta up soon. They showed it to us last night and I think that once you see it you will have a very good idea of what we did that whole night. So don't forget to check my team blog as often as you check mine!

http://swaziland.adventures.org

Can't wait to get on the plane, even though it is about a 17 hour flight, I know that Africa is on the other side. All week we have been doing listening prayer. I didn't know what that was before this week but God really used it to encourage me. We would stand in a small circle with a few people and close our eyes; one person would step in the middle and without us looking to see who it was, we would pray and ask the Lord to give us something to say to them. It was really new and uncomfortable for me at first but God really touched people's lives with words spoken over them. One thing a girl said to me, who didn't even know who I was or where I was going: "I see feet running on a road; it's a dirt road and the feet are children's feet"
Okay so that might sound crazy to you, but all day I had been talking about how the children in Timbutini, Swaziland will walk miles just to get to the carepoints we will be working, so they can have a meal. I wanted to walk these roads and meet the children so they didn't have to walk that way alone. So, when this girl said that to me I got chills and was just amazed at how God spoke through her when she didn't even know that is what was on my heart all day. There have been many other times throughout the week where similar things happened. I hadn't shared my heart for the children there, and so many people as they prayed for me just talked about how they knew that when I held the children, they would feel Jesus' love, and when I played with the orphans, they would see Jesus. It was so encouraging to hear other people confirm what has been in my heart for years. In the next few days I will get to do these exact things! I love my family and friends and miss you already.

Picture Update

2010-01-28T22:20:00.000-06:00

This is the cabin at AIM...no electricity, 3 bunks high with all 25ish girls sleeping in it

Top Picture: is my whole team with the painting we did today

Bottom Picture: Tori, she's on my team and we have really enjoyed talking (Mom this is who I was talking about) and she is letting me use her computer to put these pictures up!

Our Team Blog

2010-01-28T13:27:00.000-06:00

Today they were talking about blogging while we are in Africa. Obviously we won't have wireless internet in our little African farm, but we will be about 20 km east of Manzini (Swaziland's 2nd largest city) so we will have the internet cafe there. I hope I am able to update this blog as well as write on our team blog, but if I am not, then we will be updating our team blog weekly so you can read not only from me but from my other team mates as well. So Mom, they told us to tell parents that no news can be considered good news. If I haven't updated in a while then we probably just haven't had time to make it to the internet cafe. Hopefully we will be able to post pictures as well.

We leave for Africa tomorrow. It's so excited that a day I have waited years for is finally here, and I'm so looking forward to holding those orphans. Pray for safe travel for the team and all our luggage to get there the same time we do, we don't have any connecting flights so if our luggage is on the plane in Atlanta then it should be there when we arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Already miss people, but so glad God chose for me to be here.

Our team blog will be: http://swaziland.adventures.org

Cold Nights & A Gracious God

2010-01-27T22:20:00.000-06:00

So Monday morning I left for training camp which is located in Gainesville, GA. I met my team in the Atlanta airport and we were eventually given instructions to find a way to get to the Atlanta Safehouse. For some reason it didn't even cross my mind that a safehouse is a homeless shelter, I just thought that it was a cool name for a restaurant, so yes dad my blonde moments continue :) . But, that's definitely not what it was! So once we got there we were taken to rooms with lots of bunk beds and everybody quickly claimed one. Then we went upstairs and got our dinner: a peanut butter & jelly, an apple and chips. I was very tempted to complain but didn't see how I could with so many homeless people downstairs. Our next instructions were given to us in an envelope and informed us that we would be spending the night on the streets of Atlanta, seeing firsthand what these people face every night. I was definitely scared and not to thrilled to be honest. After a long day of traveling we were all just looking forward to getting in bed. So we went out around 9:30 that night and were not supposed to come back to the safehouse until 4:00 am. So we went out and just talked to people. It was crazy to see how easy it was for hem to come up and talk to you. Almost every person would start out asking if we would pray for them and then once we did they didn't hesitate to ask us for money. We were told not to bring money with us so we didn't have to lie when they asked us for money and we said no. But once we told them we couldn't give them money they were not interested I talking to us at all. It was really discouraging that they would pull the "God card" to try and get something from us. A few of the homeless would 'prophesy' over us then ask us for money. The first person, Greg, did this to my group. Once we told him that we couldn't give him any money he told us that we didn't need to listen to men (our leaders that told us to not bring money) but to listen to the Holy Spirit who Greg felt like was telling each of us to give him money. He then accused a few people of not tithing enough, it was pretty crazy. It was definitely one of the hardest nights I've had but I'm sure by the end of the trip I will have many more.

Yesterday we got to the AIM training facilities, and found out we wouldn't have electricity. So last night when it got below freezing I quickly realized I would not be sleeping, which unfortunately ended up being the case and morning definitely could not come soon enough. But God has given me grace sufficient for the day. Just a few days in and I am already learning so much. But tonight, they let us go up to the main cabin where we meet & have meals so I am so grateful for a warm place to sleep tonight. Tomorrow is our last full day of training and it has been pretty intense so far. I'm having to learn that just because some people worship a certain way doesn't mean that it's wrong for me not to, that my relationship with Jesus is my own. So I have continually prayed for my worship to be my own, for me to not judge other's worship and for me not to change the way I worship just so it will be like everyone else's.

I have been told we will be able to update our blogs Monday, February 1 but I'm not sure what internet will be like in Swaziland. It is Africa so I know things like that are not very consistent but I hope to update as much as I can. Friday we leave for Africa and I absolutely cannot wait to be there. This time in Georgia is necessary for our team to get to know each other but my heart aches to be in Swa ziland. It has been really 'neat' (mom) to see how God put our teams together. I looked around and saw that each team has its own personality and the girls on my team are so awesome. Actually right now they are all doing push-ups because we are going to have a workout group in Africa. We will see how long that lasts!

I covet your prayers as the Lord is already stretching me. Next time I update I will be in Africa!

The picture is of the homeless shelter we stayed in. Not a very good picture, but it's all I have so far, hopefully the next ones will be of some beautiful Swazi people.

A Few More Weeks

2010-01-08T13:16:00.000-06:00

So the time is drawing near for me to leave for Swaziland. I leave 2 weeks from this coming Monday and the realization of that is exciting and scary at the same time. There is so much I want/need to do before I leave, and the biggest is to finish my support raising. If you could pray that God will provide all the funds I need to make this trip I would so much appreciate it. It has been hard trusting that the money will come, no matter how much it is. So, if you think about me and my trip pray for that please! I have really enjoyed being home with my family and friends and know it will be hard to say bye to everyone for 3 months but I absolutely can't wait to be in Africa. I know I will be completely shocked when we arrive there, because I don't think anything can prepare me enough for the hurt and darkness there. BUT we desire to bring HOPE. It has been so encouraging to be able to meet my teammates through our team blog Adventures In Missions has set up for us, and so exciting to know that we will all be making this trek together. I do know that we are required to update our blog TWICE a week so you will definitely not be left without plenty of details about what my life will be like there. Which hopefully means I will be able to update this blog twice a week as well if I have time. The posts most likely will not be super long, but who knows. So if I am not able to update this you can go to our teamblog: HERE. Thank you so much to those of you who have already began praying for my trip and helped support me, I am truly eternally grateful for this opportunity.

In the works...

2009-12-04T12:59:00.000-06:00

So in 2 weeks AIM will be purchasing my plane ticket for Swaziland, which means that I need to have raised enough money for them to purchase my ticket. This is where friends and family come in. I know that I sent out support letters with response cards but I wanted to make this option available for you also. I not only need financial support but prayer, as there is so much that goes into a trip like this. So if you are not able to give financially I covet your prayers! But, if you would like to support me monetarily on my trip, you can click here Once on that page you will be asked to select the program you wish to donate to, from the drop down menu and you will select "Real Life" and then enter my first and last name. I will continue to update this as often as I can and whenever I find out more details I think you might like to know. Also my team will have a blog while we are in Swaziland that is already set up and I will be posting on that as well as on my own. Here is the link for our team blog.

Patiently Waiting

2009-11-30T16:50:00.000-06:00

I want to start my saying thank you for being interested in what I am doing in the spring! I wanted to keep this blog while I am in Swaziland because it will be the best way for me to update everyone at once on how life is there. I'm not sure how often we will even have internet access but I will definitely update it as much as I can. I don't have much to write about now because obviously this semester isn't even over yet but I can tell you that I am so looking forward to my trip. I have noticed a trend lately; as I am studying and getting so tired of it, I find my mind wandering to thoughts of Swaziland. But, I know that I need to stay focused on school which is really hard not only because there are only 2 1/2 weeks left in the semester but also because I can't wait for Africa!