(The view facing north as seen from our living area)
"Welcome to the kingdom of Swaziland!" That is what the young customs officer said as he stamped my passport. At that border gate, our squad would separate for the first time since the beginning of the race. 3 teams would head to the Adventures in Missions house somewhere near the capital, 2 would head to south eastern Swaziland, and my team and an all girls team would head to the El Shaddai orphanage located in the mountains of northern Swaziland. It took us 3 hours to get to our site which was supposedly only an hour away(welcome to the world race and 3rd world country traveling) I was dumbfounded by the sheer beauty of this country. I could't believe that God had blessed my team and I with this wonderful opportunity to spend the next 3 weeks in this beautiful place.
(The view on my 1st hike of the northern ridge, I am seen in the middle of picture)
(The El Shaddai orphanage as seen from the northern ridge. The orphanage is in the middle of the picture on the grasses hilltop with large trees)
After taking the time to get a feel for the place we were shown to our rooms. The 3 men in my team including myself would have our own little house, and the woman of both teams would share a house. There is also a community house with a kitchen and 2 small dining tables that we eat dinner at each night. Our teams decided to combine our teams budget this month and prepare meals together. So each night we meet for dinner as a large group and enjoy spending time together.
(My resting place. Some nights I sleep in the hammock, others on the bed)
At the El Shaddai there are various types of ministry that we have been involved in. There are preschool ministry, the baby house(a house full of kids under the age of 3), scraping paint off walls in preparation for new paint, gardening, painting, chapel, and tutoring. The children here are pretty well educated and there is a school that is located 100 feet outside of the orphanage. The school is completely funded by the Swaziland government and every child from the orphanage attends school. At first we tried to see where we could help out at the school, by my teammate and I were immediately shot down because we didn't have "teaching certificates" although we both have Bachelors Degrees and I showed them my ministry ordination papers. God had other things in mind however and we are able to use our man power elsewhere. The teams are broken up into 2-3 person groups and we rotate in various ministries each day. My two main ministries are paint scraping and gardening, but I also help tutor in the afternoons when the children are done with school.
(Helping a little girl named Bongile(Bong ee Lei) with english homework)
(Cutting grass using the slasher in the corn fields near the orphanage. The northern ridge is seen on the top right of the picture. Although I can't remember her name, God healed this amazing ladies left knee that has bothered her for sometime. Go Jesus!)
This month has been extremely different from last month for numerous reasons. We are constantly surrounded by God beautiful creation and mountains rather than the poverty we were surrounded by in Mozambique. We also live at our ministry site which is different from last month. The climate is different, the people are different, and the types of ministry are different. Although English is the primary language in Swaziland, its hard to understand at times and most speak it brokenly. The heart language is Swazi I believe and is nearly impossible to learn compared to the Cena language in Mozambique that I picked up easily.
Every morning I work out and have gone out and hiked two mornings, I plan on doing more hikes over the next two and a half weeks before leaving this place. The beauty that we are surrounded by is incredible. This country is truly blessed with the lush green mountains, and ridiculously beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The people here unfortunately have to climb and walk hours to reach their homes and the workers here at the orphanage walk upwards of an hour each way. Walking is the African way, something I learned last month. And have put into practice this month as well.
(View on our second hike. Looking north towards the orphanage from the southern mountain tops. The orphanage isn't seen due to the clouds that seem to be constant every morning.) 
I have quickly fallen in love with the beauty of this country, and look forward to more hikes each morning, as well as gardening and tutoring the young kids. I never realized I could learn so much about a people group teaching them math and english, but I've learned a lot about their character, their humor, and their personalities just engaging in tutoring with them for an hour a day. I am still wild at heart, but for the second time on the race I've discovered a softness in my heart for children I never thought existed. This month I am inwardly focused. I plan to spend a good deal of my time being more relational with my teammates as well as those from the all girls team. I'm looking forward to more exploration this month and I'm hoping to camp out with the men overnight one of this days, and see what other beauty we can find. I'm still the wandering and exploring Andy God made me, always looking to push a limit of some kind, drive something as fast as I can, or jump off something. I'm wild at heart, and God loves that about me.
(An action photo of me bouldering in the clouds on the southern mountain top)
Lastly. I am going to make a conscious effort to blog at least twice a week. Internet is sporadic in Africa to say the least but I think I will purchase an internet stick today here in town that will enable me to keep up with emails better, Facebook, and post 2 blogs a week. So if you haven't subscribed to my blog yet, please do so by entering your email on the left hand side of this web page so you don't miss out on anything that God is doing. I love you all and I'm praying for you guys. If you've read this blog I pray that God will surround you in His love and that you will grow to love Him for the rest of your days.
(A beautiful place for a bible study early one morning in the kingdom of Swaziland)
