I don’t know where to start because I don’t really know that I understand just how much my heart grew last month. I fell HARD for Swaziland and our ministry there. We worked with El Shaddai orphanage about 30 minutes outside of the capital city of Mbabane. There are 38 children there from 3 months to high school age. We were living with two other teams there and so we rotated each week through the three types of ministry work we were doing, helping out at the preschool, hanging out at the baby house, and digging a new septic tank for the boys’ house.
So back to falling in love…our first day at El Shaddai was a Sunday, so we walked up the hill to the church and had all sorts of little ones sitting around us, so excited to meet their new friends for the month, as I was walking out one little girl grabbed my hand and walked me back to our house, so started my love affair with one little girl named Lindo. Then I met so many others (one of my dears, Wendy/Nozipho will have her own blog, we have a pretty great story to share) Gift, Nothando, Ruthie, Maria, Bongiwe, Boy Boy, Jaedan, and a ton of others that I wouldn’t even begin to know how to spell their names.
These children have my heart, I still (ten days later) can’t write about them without crying. I MISS them, I want to be there with them right now, even in the midst of the incredible ministry I have this month (which I’ll blog about soon, promise). I want to walk up that hill in the morning and see them heading off to school but stopping first for a quick hug. I want to go to the baby house and cuddle with my little ones, Joseph (he was my favorite little guy), Benjamin, Kevin, and the rest of the boys there. I want to wait for the older kids to come home from school so we can work on homework together and then take a little break and play outside before heading to chapel in the evenings. I want to gather all of them around a watch a movie and hear them laughing and giggling at Madagascar, and telling the older girls one last time that we are NOT watching Twilight so sit back and enjoy the show. As much as I miss my family back home (and I really really really miss them, more than I ever thought possible) there is just something drawing me to that place.
I don’t know what God has for me after the Race, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back there, but I do know that I felt part of myself there, a part of my heart will always be at El Shaddai.
This blog feels so inadequate to explain what I think and feel and love about El Shaddai it feels so bland. Clique though I know it is, words can’t even begin to explain how much I loved my month in Swaziland. I hope to one day be able to share more of this story with you face to face because maybe then I could really explain what happened to my heart this month.
Also I am a terrible picture taker, and I’m not with my team this month…so I can’t steal pictures from them right now, promise I’ll put some up soon so you can see the smiling little faces I’m talking about.
