Wednesdays on the race mean blogging. One of our team leaders, Sarah, gave us the prompt of “what has been your favorite memory in Swaziland, why, and how does it show God’s character?” At first, I could not think of a distinct memory, and after about 30 seconds, a very distinct moment popped into my mind.
First, I have a couple pieces of background information for you.
- We have to wear long skirts to ministry.
- Weather here is kinda bipolar. It can be sunny in the morning and then start pouring rain, while also dropping about 10-15 degrees with the rain. And that’s exactly what it did this day.
- When it rains in Africa, the dirt turns into mud, and the mud sticks to the bottom of shoes like nothing I have ever seen.
- The area around our carepoint, and basically everywhere in Swaziland, is dirt roads, dirt sidewalks, dirt paths, and a lot of dirt.
- Every morning in Swaziland, I have prayed for overflowing joy at ministry.
Ok, so here is my favorite memory. One day last week, our shepherd Mehobisi (pronounced like Mmm-toe-bee-say) told us that we were going to go on a prayer walk through our community. We were all excited because we love seeing the community and people surrounding the carepoint we go to each day. Our plan was just to walk and pray for anyone that we crossed paths with. Our prayer walk was going great, and an HOUR away from the carepoint, it starts to drizzle. We then decide to turn around and start heading back. As we start heading back, the rain begins coming down harder. About 30 minutes later, our long skirts are soaked and dragging on the ground, our feet have gained 2 pounds of mud, Meghan is about to fall over, Jess is about to pee her pants laughing, and Mehobisi is standing on a patch of grass in his perfectly clean vans laughing at a group of white American girls struggling through a rain storm in the African bush. From this description, you are probably wondering why this is my favorite memory. It is because this moment was one of the most joyful moments I have had on the Race, an answered prayer. It was one of those times that was so comically unfortunate that you couldn’t help but cry laughing, while also wanting to scream. Our shepherd is so funny, and loves to laugh with our team, and sometimes even at us. Even while we were slow and a mess in the rain, Mehobisi waited for us, when he had it all together because he apparently has a lot of experience keeping his shoes clean during muddy rain storms.
This fun, wet, and cold day showed me God’s character in a couple way. First, He fills our hearts with joy if we let Him, and He answers prayers. Also, Mehobisi lead us in a way that God does. Jesus is experienced in the whole life thing. He knows how to walk through mud and find the very rare patches of grass to keep His shoes clean. Even though Jesus lived a life completely free from sin, He leads us in our lives, that are sinful no matter how hard we try. Just like Mehobisi slowed down to stay with us, so that we didn’t get lost on our way back, even though he could have been under the dry cover of the carepoint about 15 minutes sooner if he chose to go ahead at his own pace.
