A Week in the Life of Sarah in Swaziland!
SUNDAY
8:30am- Morning Devotional! This is a time where the whole squad gets together in the morning and has their quiet time with the Lord. I love these 30-intentional minutes to be in fellowship with my squadmates.
9:00am- Breakfast!! We eat the same thing for breakfast every morning (except Saturdays and Mondays): Hard boiled eggs (sometimes scrambled on a special day) and oatmeal. It wasn’t until the end of October that I started to get tired of it.
10:30am- Church! We walk about 10 minutes down the road to Ellohim Church where we are greeted by sweet faces of all ages. The first hour or so of church consists of praising the Lord in song and lots of dance. They are so hyped up during worship and we love to dance with all the children. The next hour and a half is when the preacher gets up and gives his sermon. It’s all in SiSwati so normally everyone reads their Bibles or draws with the little kids.
I have also had the opportunity to go to Big Bend Community Church and lead worship. It is such a sweet church that feels like a church in America. The congregation is made up of people from so many different countries (mostly in Africa). The morning I got to go was a really filling morning because it felt like home… church in the morning, staying to talk to people, going to the store after, doing laundry when we got back… it was a great Sunday.
Then we have free time and team time from after church to dinner.
5:00pm- Dinner and a teaching! There are about three people from the squad in charge of cooking dinner on the weekend. They do a great job! We also have a teaching from the squad leaders this night. We have covered a lot of things and also gotten to hear their testimonies.
Bedtime:)
MONDAY:
We are free to rest or do whatever until 2pm.
Our host created a worship class that meets on Monday mornings. It has been such a highlight of my time in Swaziland. We have had different assignments involving writing (anything from songs to poems to stories) based on passages from the Bible. It’s been a time to explore all kinds of worship. I have loved spending time with this group of people with the same passion for worshipping the Lord.
2:00pm- Squad or team worship. This time is a really cool time to worship in new ways as a whole squad or just as a team.
3:00pm- deep clean… this is when we take the time to serve each other and our hosts by doing a deep clean of the compound. Lots of sweeping, mopping and bleachingJ
5:00pm- Dinner and women’s night! Since the boys are gone on Monday nights for prison ministry, the gals hang out. We play games or have fellowship with each other in different ways.
Bedtime:)
TUESDAY-FRIDAY:
8:30am: Morning Devos
9:00am: Breakfast
10:00am-11:00am: Walk three miles to our care point, Mahangheni, for ministry.
11:00am-3pm: Ministry! Each team has a different care point around the city that we go to where we all do similar work. Our everyday jobs include making and feeding the kids lunch (rice and beans) and, of course, playing with them. Throughout the week we also create and give lessons to the kids, make posters for the classroom, and go on home visits to locals in the community.
5:00pm: Dinner! Our squad is blessed with two Swazi women (Faith and Doly) who come and cook for us. One team gets to help prepare the food with them. We have a balance between traditional Swazi meals and American meals, both equally delicious.
Sometimes there are more teachings spread out in the week. We also have team time after dinner. This includes a different thing each day… Journey Markers, blogging, feedback, etc.
Bedtime:)
SATURDAY:
This is the day that is designated as our sabbath day. We have the whole day free before dinner at 5pm.
Some typical things that people do are:
– Go to Savemor the local grocery store to get snacks for the week.
– Go to Nisela to get wifi, pet the zebra, and have a nice meal.
– Stay at the base and rest…
- Spend time with the Lord
- Watch movies
- Cook fun meals
- Hang out with squadmates
- Etc.
The sabbath is a true blessing that is a time to fill up and get ready for another week.
(Today 11/17 our day off looked a little different… we got to go two hours away to a craft market and a nice mall. It’s been a great adventure day so far!)
Each week is unique. If it rains, we stay at the base. If we are needed for another ministry opportunity, we will go do that. There are so many new things happening every week which makes it fly by. I cannot believe how fast time goes by for a place that is so slow-paced. The peacefulness of the days amazes me still.
