As we are now rapping up ministry in Madagascar, I thought I would give you all a summary of last month in Swaziland (sorry guys slightly behind….). My team along with three other teams on our squad found ourselves in the Busch of Nsoko, Swaziland. Nsoko is one of the greatest poverty stricken areas. When you say your going to Nsoko, people ask why. Our vans pulled up to the AIM base team house that would serve as our home for the next 24 days. I was really excited, because I knew from the first sight I would experiencing real living in the Busch of Africa.
The house had a room for the guys and a room for the girls. However, many of us tented because it was much cooler. [Huge shout out to Hannah Reid, the best team mate ever for letting me continue to share her tent after mine broke in Mozambique. I owe you big time girl!!!] We had a kitchen. And as a team would be in charge of cooking all of our meals. We had bathrooms with real toilets, which we managed to clog as soon as we arrived. Africa really messes up your body. Note to self, don’t flush the toilet paper, EVER! We had to use the wooden outhouse for the first couple weeks before they were able to fix them. Plus, a handful of our squad mate spend ministry days digging up poop and putting in new pipes for the toilets. We also greatly appreciate, and owe them big time too!
Our weeks were set up as the following. Mondays and Wednesday we would serve in the AIM base either in the preschool, helping with administration or doing manual labor around the grounds. Tuesday and Thursday, our team would go to our care point. Each team was assigned a care point. Our care point was in a village called Mahangeni (See my Carepoint Video blog for a peek at what ministry at care points looked like). And Fridays were ATL (Ask the Lord) days. On these days, we would either go back to our care point, go on prayer walks for the community, or follow whatever we felt that the Lord was asking us to do that day! Most of the month’s ministry involved working with children. Which was fine with me!!
Swaziland was overall an interesting month for me. Living in a larger community was harder than I thought it would be. The team house was quite small for all of us. So there wasn’t too many places you could go when you wanted to be alone or have some quiet time. On top of that, Nsoko was a very dry and barren land, and I felt the same about my walk with the Lord. It was a month where I felt I needed to fight for a lot. Fight for my faith, fight for the time I spent with the Lord, fight to be present. Though it was hard, it was also good. One of the moments that was super impactful for me was the night I shared my whole testimony with my team. Though I dreaded it, it really showed me how present the Lord had been through my life and throughout my story. And I know that He will continue to be present for the remainder of this journey and long after it is over.
Madagascar Updates to come……
much love, hw
