This blog is long overdue I’m so sorry! Check out my Facebook page! for pictures!
For a week October 22 – 26 my team, To the Wind, and our partner team WOHC Tribe had the opportunity to work on a garden farm! This time was so rewarding and filled us up with vegetables, sunshine, and some healthy manual labor. This whole time in Swaziland the teams have been working at Care points around Nsoko. Care points are like after school programs for kids in the area. These care points provide the kids in the neighborhood with a meal, safe fun, mentors, and lessons about Jesus. I have loved getting to know the kids and playing with them but they are exhausting and we had been there every week and were in need of a little change of pace and scenery. So this chance to work at the farm came at the perfect time.
We worked with a young couple named Jesse and Macaira who are a part of One Heart Africa missions. Their goal is to create a self sustaining farm for the local people to work and earn crops from. A lot of the population suffers from AIDs/HIV so a healthy diet is crucial to helping extend their lives.
Here in Southern Africa the season is pretty much summer so they are harvesting winter crops such as lettuce, eggplant, rainbow chard, onions and now are starting to planting summery crops such as maize, and beets, carrots and more.
During that week God blessed us with perfect weather, learning opportunities, and fun fellowship with other missionaries who understand the struggles of being a foreign missionary. For example, the language barrier, cultural differences, and fundraising. I was personally filled up by getting into the dirt, pulling weeds, watering, planting, and having a change of pace, and being able to tangibly see progress happen and knowing I was part of it.
Also, I was able to get closer to seeing G$od as the perfect gardener. If you give him control of your life he will pull those weeds around your life that are choking you. He will water you at whatever stage of your journey you are at, wether you are a seed, sapling, blooming flower or a fully grown tree, you still need watered and God knows how much. He took care to plant you right where you would grow the best, but perhaps you uprooted yourself and planted yourself among thistles because you were distracted by their flowers that you didn’t notice their thorns. God sees you in among the weeds and he wants nothing else to pull those weeds around you but you have to give him that control first. There is a parable that Jesus tells similar to what I just said called the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-9 (go read it because the Bible words things so much better than I can!).
Here are some pictures from the farm! BTW the best sunsets ever that sadly no camera could ever do justice.
Now that I am home back at the compound and I am about to get back into the routine of going to care points throughout the week please pray that I stay motivated, look for new opportunities to make connections to the kids, and that God would continue to fill up my cup so that it overflows with joy.
