Last month, I was in Nsoko, Swaziland with my entire squad participating in something called “all-squad month”. This means that differing from August and future months on the race, my ENTIRE squad was living together in one place for the entire month.
MINISTRY
Assigned ministry looked like many different things this past month depending on what team you are on. For my team (Team Shalom), our main ministry was going to the Mbutfu CarePoint. What’s a CarePoint? You may ask. A Care Point is kind of like a community center of sorts where kids from the community can come to get food, play and hang out together, and attend a twice- weekly discipleship class taught by the CarePoint shepherd named Welcome. The CarePoint we were assigned to also has a preschool that is in session each weekday morning. Imagine a piece of flat land that is 3-4 acres with a playground and a small building for the preschool with an attached smaller building used as the kitchen. While at the CarePoint, we had the opportunity to help the gogos, or volunteer grandmas, prepare the food for the kids in the morning. We were also able to prepare the classroom and assist/ teach in the preschool where needed. Outside of this, we played with the younger kiddos in the morning and then developed relationships with and let’s be honest, danced the whip and nae nae with the older kids as they got out of school in the afternoon.
An amazing aspect of these CarePoints is that they are run through a partnership with Adventures in Missions and Children’s Hope Chest. A child will never be denied food if they come to one of the CarePoints in their community. Additionally, if they come for food and to discipleship consistently for 3 months, they have the opportunity to begin receiving “gifts” such as shoes and other things they may need. They also have the opportunity to be paired up with a “special friend” AKA a sponsor. This sponsorship helps to support their most basic physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. In order for these CarePoints to run effectively, for food to be provided, for discipleship to continue and other opportunities for the kids to remain in place and expand, they need sponsors to come alongside and support. I have personally seen the love of Jesus poured out at the Mbutfu CarePoint. I have seen the difference it makes in a child’s life when they can go from eating 1 meal a day to now eating 2 meals a day and how something like a pair of shoes can be the golden ticket for a child to get an education.
If you are interested in more information on how you could potentially sponsor a child, visit: www.hopechest.org/sponsor/
If you would like to sponsor a child specifically at the Mbutfu CarePoint, scroll to the bottom of the above webpage and click the appropriate button.
Another area of ministry we participated in this last month is sports ministry. Two Saturdays in a row, our squad helped host soccer tournaments between teams made up of kids from each of the CarePoints in the area. The teams are coached by the CarePoint shepherds through the Umbabalo method which focuses on teaching biblical and life principals while also coaching sound soccer skills. Besides acting like the best soccer moms and dads we can be by being present and cheering for the kids we have come to love, a few on our squad provided testimonies throughout the weekends and presented the Gospel. We saw 23 come to know Jesus as the King of their lives for the first time between the two Saturdays. It was beautiful. Outside of that, as a team we had a couple days of maintenance digging various holes and harvesting vegetables from the garden around the base.
ACCOMODATIONS/ LIVING
What do you mean you lived with 59 roommates? Okay, so not exactly. Let me explain.
My entire squad and I lived on an Adventures in Missions base (at a CarePoint really) in Nsoko, Swaziland. Three teams slept in the church (similar to how we slept in Lesotho in August), 3 teams tented, and two teams (including mine!) slept in dorms with bunk-beds. And then our lovely squad leaders and squad mentor, except Andrew who slept in the church, slept in a dorm. So technically I didn’t have 59 ROOMmates. But, I certainly lived in close community last month. Alongside ministry, we were able to focus on discipleship teachings and soul care amongst our squad too.
We ate together. We learned together. We hung out together. We prayed for one another. We worshiped together. We sought the Lord together. Was it crazy at times? Of course. But, it was a blessing to declare Jesus name together.
I miss my J-squad already. Click on the link in the column to the left to read their blogs and see what powerful things God is doing through and around them.
