Since Christmas God has been pouring blessings on me and my team. First, after having meat only once or twice since getting to Swaziland, I got a free steak and free ribs on back to back nights! Then we got a free sunset safari near where we live.

Mac, who owns the nearby grocery story and is a very interesting man has become a great friend of our s and set up the safari with his friend, Young, who is the game warden at the place where we go to get internet. We meet them at the grocery store and climbed in his truck. There was a little bit of what looked like red finger paint near the back of the bed. Young came and told us to hop out real quick so he could wash Impala blood out of his truck bed.
 

Turns out when the king of Swaziland needs some Impala for his New Years eve party, he calls Young. We were super excited about this and he took us to the place where they were cleaning the Impalas. We got to see the locker with the Impalas destined for the King and all kids of skulls from giraffes, to kudo, to warthogs. Then we got an awesome ride around to see the animals while they were still kicking. It was amazing but there were not Lions or Elephants there. (I sound like a spoiled brat here)

I think everyone on my team asked for the same thing for Christmas, a Safari. It would seem a shame to come all the way to Africa and not see the animals. The nearby place though only has small animals so we decided to take a New Years day trip to see the big ones, Lions, Elephants and the like. About an hour into our safari we had seen some birds and some poop and that was about it. Then all of a sudden we rounded a corner and were surrounded by white rhinos wallowing in the mud. They were less than 20 feet from our tuck.
 

Then we found a male lion eating an impala right next to the road. He wasn’t super happy to have us looking at him and he even gave us a little roar. It was just a little one as he was slipping in and out of a food coma, but it was terrifying.
 

We also got to see elephants walking down the road and got so close our driver slammed it in reverse because it was too dangerous. We also got to see hippos which turn out to be one of the most dangerous creatures in Africa. They are very territorial and will drown you just for fun given the chance.

Through all of this we got to see the splendor in God’s creation and how extravagantly he shows his love towards us by giving us just what we ask for. How awesome it was to get to be so close to wild terrifying creatures that are also so rare and foreign to me.

 
 

 

Swaziland was an amazing place though because of the people. They have so little some kids don’t have shoes or a home or food. But each and everyone has hope for the future and hope for God’s kingdom to come.

In a country where the power goes out almost every day and where the king takes 4 months off and can’t be bothered even if the country is on fire, God is really their only hope. It is easy to see that here but it is true in all of our lives. All our problems can be answered by having more of God in our lives and that is my prayer for each and every day.