Sawubona (Hello) from beautiful Swaziland!!
After 3 days of travel, we finally made it to our home here in Ezulwini,
located 10km outside of the capital of Swaziland,
Mbabane. As I write this, we’re embarking on day 3
here. We’re beginning to settle into our
home here and are currently making ministry connections. As you pray for us, pray that God will
continue to open doors of opportunity for us to love Him and His people here.
The team continues to bond as we discover the joys and
challenges of community living. We’re
quickly becoming family…one VERY large family of 21! Each evening we
gather to talk about the day
and share our experiences with each other. We’ve also had some time for
people to share their timelines. We’ve all been tremendously blessed by
this
time that we can grow closer as a team.
We also have an addition to our team. Her name is Khanyisile and she
has come to live with us to help with translating. She’s also a great
resource when it comes to
us navigating our way around town. We
are excited to have her with us and are looking forward to learning
more about
the Swazi culture through her. We have a
lot to learn!
Yesterday afternoon, we split into 2 groups for
ministry. One group ventured off on foot
towards the homestead (neighborhood) located just behind our house. John, Amber, Tawney, Rob, Derek, Bekah,
Jennifer, Shannon, and Seth enjoyed an afternoon of getting to know the people
in the homestead. They met many people
and were able to encourage them and simply share life with them. They also had fun playing with the kids at
the school located a few blocks from our house. They returned home yesterday evening bright-eyed and full of
stories. We are planning to spend many
afternoons in this neighborhood investing into people and we’re all excited for
what God is going to do through this time.
The other group made up of Chris,
Ian, Peter, Lauren, Rachel, Hannah, Kirstie, Kaitlin, Sarah Laine, Sarah,
Whitney, and Kayla spent the afternoon at the Sandra Lee Centre, which is an
orphanage for abandoned children. The
missionaries that run this ministry are friends of AIM and it was great to
connect with them and serve them. We had
a full afternoon of loving on the 20 children there. We returned home with new friendships built
with these kids and we cannot wait to get back to them.
Thank you for all your prayers. We’ll
continue to keep you updated as best as we can. Please specifically pray for:
- Continued
good health - Team
unity as we continue to grow together - For
God to open doors for us to take part in what He’s doing here. - Discernment
as we choose ministry locations for the next few weeks
