Roosters crowing, chickens clucking, dogs barking, and rain water dripping. These are all typical sounds that can be heard throughout the night at our ministry site. There are forty of us who share four showers, all of which have little to no water pressure. The majority of us are sleeping in our tents and we all share one, very small, kitchen. While these are all things that could potentially have an impact on our perspective this month, there was a greater encounter and influence that forever changed my outlook on the race and in life.
Our society often enables our circumstances around us to define us. It doesn’t always stop there as it can have a contagious effect on others as well. As our teams have reflected over the past few months, we frequently comment that many people have the gift of influence. Whether it is realized or not, attitudes can have a positive or negative impact on one another. As a result, it something that we strive for to use this influence for good and to allow a positive perspective to spread among one another. A couple of months ago I can recall a night when two of our teams actually lived this out. We were volunteering at a church service after a long day of ministry when we were told that we didn’t have to move any of the chairs in the auditorium. We were grateful to hear this as we could finally end our long day, eat dinner, and head home to rest. Shortly after, we found out that we actually did have to move the hundreds of chairs back to their original spots. To my surprise, we did not let our exhaustion interfere with the opportunity to serve well. We turned the task into a dance party, smiling, laughing, and singing the entire time. It was a beautiful moment to think we could have easily let our circumstances define that situation for the worse, but instead we exhibited self-control and had a positive outlook on the situation.
This month, as we began to settle into the homestead where we were staying, our minds could have easily reflected on the “inconveniences” of our environment as well. Sure, there were certain things that weren’t ideal but as I began to realize I was identifying such circumstances, I started to pray for a change of heart. My prayer was that I would be grateful and have a positive perspective, allowing only for peace and contentment to harbor internally, and no other emotions. The next afternoon, God answered my pray with a divine encounter. As I was hanging my laundry to dry, our host Stephen also came to the line in the backyard. He was checking on his clothes when he initiated a conversation with me. He began talking about Swazi history and culture, sharing how the HIV/AIDs epidemic used to be even worse than it is now. He said he lost nine family members because of it and struggled with others who all faced similar hardships. Stephen shared how grateful he was for help from outside countries like the U.S. since they were finally able to have an impact on the Swazis. Before, nobody would embrace each other’s empathy because everybody was experiencing the same suffering. When people who weren’t directly impacted by the HIV/AIDS empademic came to help them though, they began to listen and make changes. As a result, the king encouraged everyone to welcome Americans and outside assistance. That is partially how Stephen began to develop his hospitality. More importantly though, his influence came from God and the calling to love his brothers and sisters in Christ. He acts as a father to us while we are staying with him and treats us as his blood sons and daughters. He explained how he started hosting missionary groups from the U.S. through his church and was inspired to build bathrooms for showering and a gazebo for a place to have meetings. He shared his dream of building additional dormitories and a larger kitchen for groups to gather and cook their meals in. All this is possible, he explained, through his wife who works for the government. They are able to borrow money from them to build such additions on their expansive homestead. He even walked me over to their fence line in the back and showed how he is hoping to redivide the land with his neighbor so it will be more beneficial and accommodating for their plans.
After about an hour had passed, he reminded me that we are always welcome back if we ever make it to Africa again. He said even if his eyes are closed, that his children have been raised to have the same hospitality in welcoming us home. Talk about a tear jerker. As I walked away from Stephen I literally cried over his heart for complete strangers. Here I was selfishly wishing that I was sleeping better at night when he and his wife had taken out loans to house people they don’t even know! He truly lives out the command to “love your neighbors as yourself.” This was a complete heart check that realigned my posture toward our circumstances. I was no longer fixated on wishing that we had a bigger kitchen for forty people or that my tent and clothes inside could stay dry. Instead, I was grateful and humbled to be staying at the homestead of The Khumalo Family.
