Hello, sorry I haven’t been able to keep in touch! I haven’t had internet for more than 30 minutes since Nepal (the WiFi here is very slow and often has time limits.)
Swaziland has been a peaceful month. We spent it at an orphanage called ‘El Shaddai. The ministry sat on top of a hill with one of the prettiest views I’ve seen. The story behind the ministry is inspiring. The founder thought she was called to minister in Turkey, but realized that God was actually calling her to Swaziland. With the support of only $40/month, she began an orphanage in a trailer in the middle of no where. It took many years for her to raise the funds to build houses for teams to stay as well as her own, dorms for the kids, a chapel and a pre-school, but now it is a beautiful home for over 90 kids in need.
Recently the orphanage lost half of its sponsorship due to the organization they were partnering with starting their own orphanage and pulling away. If God has been putting it on your heart to sponsor a child in need, go here:
http://james127.org/el-shaddai-sponsorships
The kids were so smart/kind/beautiful. ‘El Shaddai is a great, safe place for the kids.
Each day of ministry at ‘El Shaddai looked something like this:
6:00-6:30 am: Run (or sleep in, haha)
6:30-8:00 am: Breakfast/quiet time
8:00 am-1:00 pm: Ministry (either manual labor, taking care of babies or teaching pre-school)
1:00-3:00 pm: Lunch/rest
3:00-5:00 pm: Helping with homework for the kids at the orphanage
5:00-5:30 pm: Chapel
5:30-8:30 pm: Dinner/team time
9:00 pm: Bedtime
The first week of the month was the Parent Vision trip, which is where parents can do a week of ministry on the race. My mom came and it was great to see her.
The next week I was on manual labor so I helped harvest corn the whole time, which I enjoyed.
Finally, the last week I helped teach pre-school.
We are now entering month 10 which for my team will be in Mozambique. As the race is coming to an end, I am thinking about what I will do when I return home. I have some ideas that I’m excited about.
