After 2 ½ weeks of debrief, training, relaxation, meeting
the new June racers, celebration, rest, etc we are finally heading out for
“ministry.” Tomorrow, my team and one of
the new June race teams, Team Lego, will be heading out to a rural area of Swaziland. It is approximately an hour and a half from Mazini,
where we are now. We will be
participating in a new “G42” project.
G42 stands for the forty-second generation from Matthew 1 and that is
the generation that is going to change the world. Gary and some of the men we are being trained
by have a vision to raise up 1 million orphans who will reach their own culture
and own world for the Lord. We have
limited information about where we will be going. So far, we know we will be entering an area
where there is over 95 orphans and they get food delivered once a month by the
government and sometimes that doesn’t even come. There are many orphans in Swaziland due
to the AIDS epidemic. It has been
estimated that over half the Swazi people have AIDS. I have not been out there yet, but one of my
teammates visited and came back rocked as it was hard to see these kids without
food.
The good part about this is that there is a group of South
African business men whose hearts have been broken for these children. They realized that AIDS is wiping out their
employment. They are not able to keep
their employees. When they began to look
at the source, they found these orphans.
They have the money and resources to transform this area. We are going to be the eyes and ears of the
orphans and the community helping to connect them with the business world so
that these needs can be met. Of course, in
addition to being the eyes of the community, we will be loving on the orphans,
doing VBS-like things, helping to feed them, and much more. Gary’s
vision is to create “mercy homes.” A
mercy home consists of one “Go-go” or grandmother that looks over 6-8
orphans. They would live in community
and then become self-sufficient through making purses, maintaining a garden, and
eventually, maintaining a coy farm. This
is all part of the long term vision. I
am excited to be a part of the beginning stages of this project in bridging the
gap between poverty and wealth and helping to create a good balance. We will be camping at an abandoned army base
and will only be getting into town once a week so I will only be posting a blog
once a week.
We ask for your prayers for this time:
–
for the orphans-physically, spiritually, emotionally
–
for favor and efficiency in obtaining more food and a
water source for the orphans
–
Bridging the gap between poverty and wealth-for hearts
of the business men
–
Safety, energy, wisdom, for our teams
Provision for details
