I can feel it now. The idea that when I come home I will definitely romanticize the time I saw spiders in MY hair… Life in Africa people. It’s real.
After Two buses, two planes, a quick stop in Qatar, a grand total of 87 hours of travel later, we finally made it to our new home!
The first few days in Swaziland were not at all how I expected them to be. With catching an illness that put me down in the dumps day three of living in Africa to being thrown in a classroom with sweet sweet preschoolers and their big brown eyes staring up at me waiting for a song or our next move, I have had not enough time to prepare my brain for this.
The starting point of my world race cannot be contained in one blog, and for that I am sorry. We have zero wifi here in Nsoko so if you’re wondering why I posted a blog and didn’t contact you to let you know that I’m alive its because one of our squad leaders posted this for me on their fancy wifi machines.
….Hi friends, I’m alive! I love and miss you.
My team and I get to do ministry at the care point right where we are living! Near the Anchor Center (our home) are multiple small buildings that hold preschool and primary schools and high school on Friday’s. My favorite way of living life is to do it with people. Here, I am literally never alone. Honestly, I don’t think I could be alone if I tried (besides with the beautiful view of the back of the bathroom door). In Swaziland, I get to do life with people that (semi kinda) know my language and who DREAM of going to New York City one day. Can’t say I’ve ever been but I think I like Swazi more than I could ever like NYC.
Our days have been filled with trying to learn SiSwati (the language), learning how to take the public transportation to go buy snacks, spending time with our squad, and enoing under the Milky Way at night. Like an actual dream.
All glory to Jesus for the way that I have been feeling- Not homesick but missing my people. Missing my mommy. But alas, in the midst of the long travel days, drifting in and out of sleep on a bumpy bus, sitting on a playground listening to students sing for music class, I only feel like this is always what I was suppose to do.
I was always going to be on a plane for what felt like a thousand hours to get to Swaziland.
I was always suppose to be singing with a class of preschoolers.
I was always suppose to get sick on the third day of living in Africa. (Which ended up opening up new friendships with a common thread of Jesus and our love of movies).
Always.
This trip. The World Race Gap Year. This is one of the things that Jesus made me for. And that feeling is one that’s hard to explain. I guess you just know when you’re walking in His will.
Thank you for reading this, my heart misses your smile.
All the love,
Emma
PS PICTURES ARE COMING SOON!!! The wifi machine cannot handle pictures.
PS PS Prayer requests for Swaziland are RAIN, Swazi has been in an insane drought for over a year now.
