Spending this past month in Nsoko, Swaziland I have learned a lot about Swazi culture. I have seen the beauty, the pain and the love this culture does posses firsthand and my heart has often broke. It’s a very burdensome place and if your not ready for it it will swallow you alive. One of the biggest things I have learned is that everyone has a strory and most are heart wrenching. But I have also seen the hope Christ brings when these stories are told and out in the open. I have seen women come around women and offer hope, prayer and greatest of all love and understanding to these stories.
Seth Barnes, who is the founder of AIM and who also happens to be my squad coach (along with his amazing wife Karen) has a vision for the women of Nsoko. He wants these women to open up and share their pains with one other and in those pains come alongside and offer encourgment and love. If these women don’t tell there stroies, which their culture tell them not to, then they hold in these hurts and never heal from them. Not healing is NOT good. I know that from experince because if you don’t heal then those pains will constantly come back to haunt you and allows satan to have a foothold in your life. So he wanted us to do a weekend devoted for these women to be able to have a safe place to share. So what we did is have a women’s retreat. It was called, “Beauty from Ashes; I told my story”. It was a three day retreat (Friday-Sunday) of lots of pain, hard stories, and love.
When the 30 women arrived on Friday we greeted them with big hugs and smiles. We wanted to make their arrival special so we decorated there room with candy, balloons, and cards. We also put signs on there wall of truth about thier lives, things like beauty, hope, and love. The weekend was about showing the women how beautiful and important their lives are and the freedom God can bring them.
That night Kara and Krystle spoke about what the weekend was going to look like. We gave them there (very) pink shirts which the wore all weekend and we made special name tags so we could learn their names. God had his hand on the weekend within the first few hours. Orginally we had the all of the ladies in a big room together but it rained, the power went out and the bathroom flooded so the place we stayed allowed us to move the women in ten different rooms with three to a room. The rooms were way nicer and the women were full of joy and very grateful for the beautiful new rooms. The next day was the day of ASHES. The day way designed for there stories to start being 
shared and for the women to learn to be vunerable with one another. Krystle told the women the importance of opening up and we allowed the women to start get ting up in front and share. We offered prayer for the women who wanted it which was most of them. As the day went on the women opened up more and more and most of the shared there pains. We also had small groups designed for the more intimate feel. I had the plessure of leading one of the groups. My heart broke because these women had been through so much. Some had AIDS, some of their husbands died, some have been abused, some raped, and some dont know when their next meal is going to come from. But each women shared and the others grieved with them. We cried and laughed at times but in that prayed over each women and encouraged each one. The women were also given a journal to write down their stories. In my group we got to fill out these journals. We water colored pictures, wrote stories, and had fun. Each women learned how to share these stories.
shared and for the women to learn to be vunerable with one another. Krystle told the women the importance of opening up and we allowed the women to start get ting up in front and share. We offered prayer for the women who wanted it which was most of them. As the day went on the women opened up more and more and most of the shared there pains. We also had small groups designed for the more intimate feel. I had the plessure of leading one of the groups. My heart broke because these women had been through so much. Some had AIDS, some of their husbands died, some have been abused, some raped, and some dont know when their next meal is going to come from. But each women shared and the others grieved with them. We cried and laughed at times but in that prayed over each women and encouraged each one. The women were also given a journal to write down their stories. In my group we got to fill out these journals. We water colored pictures, wrote stories, and had fun. Each women learned how to share these stories. 
That night we had a special day of ashes. Maithili shared about ashes and pain and in the end asked the women to nail there pains to the cross. She told these women how God was in control and he wants to carry all of their burdens and heal them. So
we gave the women little slips of paper and pens and had them write their worries and pains on the slip. Then one by one they nailed them to the cross. It was one the most beautiful moments I have seen on the Race. After we offered them prayer. We prayed for healing over their hearts and spoke life into the lives. While we were praying Kara took the cross outside and burnt the slips of paper with their hurts on them. After she brought them back in and talked about there burdens being ashes but how God can make beauty out of them. I got the chance to speak after about the healing God has done in my life and how at times they might feel broken but the Lord with take that brokeness and trade it in for completness in him.
The next day was the day of BEAUTY. The day was designed to make the women know how beautiful they are and also how precious their stories are. Tara shared about the importance of beauty and how God views us. After we had a banner for all the women to decorate with paints. The were supposed to write or draw things of beauty and the truth over there lives. It turned out beautiful and very colorful just like their lives. They also took time to write a story book ending to their lives in there
journal we gave them the day before. They had a chunk of time to write how they wanted the rest of there lives to be. We tried to teach them that they have to power to dictate how there lives will turn out if we rely on God. After we had the closing ceromony. We wanted to bless there lives and make them feel even more beautiful. So we gave them things to represent the weekend and what God wanted to do in their lives. Isaiah 61:3 was our theme verse.
…to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
We gave them a crown of beauty and place it on there heads. It was a gold ribbon tied in a bow of thier heads insteed of the ashes they had experinced all weekend. Then we annoited their heads with oil. Our main translator made a cross on each of the womens heads to represent gladness insteed of their mourning. And we gave them a garment of praise. We gave them a head scarf to represent praise insteed of despair. We also prayed over each women. After we sang songs and praised God. The weekend was amazing and God really brought healing and beauty to these women. He allowed them to understand the importance to their stories and how much he cares about the things each one of them has gone through. They told their stories and God is going to write a story book ending in each one of their lives. I feel blessed to have been part of this amazing weekend and pray that the Lord continues to work in each of their lives.
