Hello family and friends! We’ve been extremely busy since hitting the ground here in Swaziland and it’s been hard to find time to write. But I thought I’d take this time
to update you on some of the ministries our team has been a part of here. It’s a beautiful day here in Swaziland
and the team is out at an orphanage down the road loving on God’s
children. My heart smiles as I see them
interacting with the kids. We are thoroughly enjoying the Lord here and are
honored to take part in what He is doing in our midst.
One of the team’s favorite ministry locations is the
homestead area located just behind our house. Several times a week we
spend the afternoon hours in this rural area. We can be found trekking up the dirt paths of the mountain leading to
people’s homes, talking to people on the roadside, playing with children who
always seem to find the visitors, yielding to the cows that roam freely,
getting to know our new friends, and fully embracing the Swazi culture. God has simply dropped this ministry in our
lap…it was such an unexpected surprise. The team is engaging and
investing in people – focusing on building relationships. During this
ministry we split into 3 groups and each group returns to their specific side
of the mountain to visit with the same families several times a week. It’s
fun to watch these relationships develop and to talk about what we saw as we
process at the end of the day. The
students have started taking ownership in this ministry and we’ve heard on
occasion references to their “Swazi family.” Praise God for him crossing our paths with these incredible people.
One of the other ministries that has impacted our team
greatly is the hospital. On Saturday we
visited the government hospital in Mbabane
and have gone back a few times since then to volunteer in the children’s ward.
The team has been completely wrecked by this! The Lord has opened up a
door for us to simply love on His children at the hospital, both the kids who
have family and the abandoned children. I was specifically struck at one moment on Saturday afternoon. As we were all sitting in this back room
holding the abandoned babies, all got quiet as if a wave of silence swept
through the room. I looked around to see
all of our students holding babies tight against their chests with tears in
their eyes. It was at that point that the
reality of this hit everyone in there. Soon it was time to leave and we
all reluctantly put the babies back in their cribs. As we walked out of the hospital in silence,
everyone was inwardly processing in their own ways. It was a tough
thing. That night we had a great time of
debriefing all of this and sharing our hearts. We’re all wrecked for
sure! But the team is choosing to be vulnerable and real and to walk
through hard things together. In this
God is glorified!!
Unfortunately at this time we are not able to post
pictures. We have yet to find an
internet connection fast enough to do this. But when we get home we’ll post plenty of pictures so you can see for
yourself the things happening here.
Thank you for all your encouraging notes, prayers, and support. I am so incredibly blessed by each one of you
and I thank the Lord for you. I look
forward to sharing more of what God is doing in my own heart through what I’m
experiencing here in Swaziland.
