Fair warning: I have no wifi in swaziland so this blog was actually written about a month ago. But, it still applies except for the amount of days and ministry days…
6 days. My squad has been planted in Nsoko, Swaziland for 6 days. It took us 4 days to get here (this consisted of several buses and trains and planes and miles of walking) but we are actually here. We have gone to ministry twice, church once, and the local gas stations once. Other than that, we have been at the team house- or home.
Let’s break down what our home looks like. It’s a green building with 3 team rooms, 2 staff rooms, and a common room/kitchen. There are three porches, a covered area layered in hammocks, and our beloved water tower. Each team room has REAL showers and REAL toilets (praise the Lord). We are on a compound with a care point (a meeting point for children across the community to get food; also where we do our ministry). At dawn and dusk, golden light streams through the windows and God paints a fabulous picture of colors over the mountains. At night, wind blows a heavy sigh against our tin roof and wakes the sleepy inhabitants.
47 people live in the home I just described. 47 pairs of feet walking on these cold concrete floors, making them warm. 47 pairs of hands cooking dinner and making coffee. 47 bodies sleeping on bunks and living together in community. Together, we are learning to live in mass quantities, cook in mass quantities, and praise the Lord together. We come together to worship and clean and point each other towards to the Lord. We are learning what it means to love each other as brothers and sisters unconditionally, even when we steal each other’s hammocks and talk loudly during quiet time.
This type of community is brand-new to me. A group of Christ-loving, loud-laughing, bold, curious, and loving young people. The experience of living with these oh-so genuine people has changed my perspective on what the church is supposed to be and how it’s supposed to play out in daily life. Being around this squad never ceases to make me feel warm, even on the windiest of Swazi days.
So, as this team house gets stocked with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and hung with pictures from our 47 different homes, I’ve started to wonder what makes this place our home. I’ve come to realize it’s not our clothes hanging from the barbed wire fence or our sleeping bags strewn across countless bunk beds. This place has become home through the laughs rebounding off the walls, the deep conversations in the hammocks, the long walks around the compound, and the quiet moments we all share with the Lord. After all, home is where your family is, and we are surely becoming a family.
