The night we lit Swaziland on fire.
Well its winter in Swaziland while we are here, and that means stuff is dry and it is windy.
That being said we could see fires raging on the mountains around us and below us at times.
But this night was a special one.
One thing that some people don’t realize about the race is the way it tears you from normal things, for guys it’s not that hard let’s be honest, ok so I don’t get a nice piece of meat envry nigh, and oh this is a big one, I have to use roll on deodorant cause the rest of the world doesn’t use stick. But compared to sacrifices/changes to the women on the race, its not guys don’t have it bad.
Women on the race don’t get to feel special as much as they might be used to. They don’t really have the chance to dress up for a nice night or even the need to put on makeup most days, and I’m not saying that is a bad thing, what I am saying is that as guys on the race, it is our great pleasure to make them feel special and loved, and the more that the race goes on the more important it is.
I started by doing a date night with the girls on my team, just to make them feel special.
But this month was more than my team, and as I watched the way that some of the other guys interacted with the girls, I realized that they needed to be reminded of how special they are and how much they mean to us.
So I just did it, I set up a night for the guys to do everything. I went shopping. Ed and I cooked, and then all the guys served dinner to each of the girls on their teams, while they got to sit together at a big table and really be girly.
That was my plan, so I put it into action. I told the girls to come dressed up (or as dressed up as you can be on the race) and to come ready to be served, they all sat down at the table and we first came out with drinks, sparkling grape juice, then dinner. Ok so I’m about to tell you what we had, if you are on the race yourself, please go ahead and get a napkin to wipe your drool up. For those at home it’s really special to have a meal like this on the race. When you eat rice and beans for months on end something like this is just incredible. Dinner was Steak pan fried, with garlic mashed potatoes, steamed mixed veggies (broccoli, carrots and coliflour). Then after dinner was done, well it was time for desert, what had we made, that was the question. Of course to the girls, I don’t really think, were expecting desert, but we had made it. It was an apple desert, with cinnamon, sugar and butter being a part, oh and some dough, almost like mini apple pies for each person with cooked apples on the side, too. Then came the best part, we asked if they wanted seconds on desert and they were, I think, in shock that we made seconds of anything.
But the night was not over yet. While many of the guys were cleaning up, a few others and I went outside while the girls were drinking tea or coffee, and got the fireworks I had bought the other day, and started to set off fireworks for the girls, after a little while, one shot straight out and lit a small fire. Anton and I stomped it out in seconds, then we went to check and see if there were others fires, sure enough over the hill we could see a glow from a fire, we ran for it jumped, the fence, and go there just in time. It was already about a five foot circle of fire. We stomped it out. And that is the story of how we lit the Kingdom of Swaziland on fire.
But if you get one thing out of this I would say take the time to let the girls around you know that they mean a lot to you. Especially on the race, they don’t get a lot of chance to feel great about themselves as women so, bring it men, step up and treat the women around you like the daughters of the king that they are.
Also a little shout out to my brother that helped it go off: Ed, Brant, James, Anton, Andrew, and Josh. Thanks so much.
And lastly for all the special girls,
Katie, Erin, Laura N., Laura J., Jess, Michelle, Cathy, Jen, Tiffany, Angela, Rachel, and Cheyanne
?We Love you, and remember how much God loves you. Hope you had a great night.
