FIRST OFF: please read this letter in my voice.
Our travel to Swaziland was long. A trip to Atlanta. Hotel. A 10 hour bus ride to Washington D.C. Hotel. 8 hours in the airport. A 12 hour red eye flight to Qatar. Layover. Hotel. Not much sleep. Still grateful for what I got. A 10 hour flight to South Africa. And finally a 6 hour bus ride to Nsoko, Swaziland. It was a lot, but I loved almost every second of it.
My entire squad is together this month-yes all 55 ISH of us. We stay about 5 miles off the base of a beautiful mountain. At the top of the mountain is the border of SA (which is so freaking sick). We sleep on the floor of a church, in bunk beds, on the floor around the bunk beds, outside, in hammocks; really wherever there’s room. Our meals are made by various people in my squad, on many occasions, by singing and dancing all around the kitchen. They typically consist of rice, some kind of meat, or Corn Flakes.. I love it. SHOUTOUT to our cooks! The meal portions are sometimes big, sometimes small, but I’m joyful with what I get. Everything is dusty, dirty, or muddy all the time, lol. Church is amazing and completely the opposite of institutional. They go to PRAISE THEIR GOD. And that’s how it should be. They dance, sing, jump. There’s no wifi and minimal charging areas & that ROCKS because I feel completely cut off from home. I LOVE that. No offense to all of you. I also love you guys.
Community is different, weird, wonderful, hard, & every other adjective in the book, but that’s for another blog. There’s never alone time here…and if you get blessed with it, praise the Lamb because that’s a gift from the heavens. We stay at a care point-(which I’ll also explain in a second), so there are always children around. They are the literal best.
We started ministry today. My team of 7 is at a care point. This is where soooo many beautiful Swazi children go to get meals, play, learn about the sovereign & loving God that we serve, and much more. There are around 40 care points across the area (if I’m remembering right). A 19 year old-wonderful woman named, Bonsile runs our care point. YES. Runs it. Each day she takes care of around 100 children of all ages, some not far from her own. She feeds them, plays soccer with them, rolls around their little cars made of wire and a used bottle, and more, and more and more. All with the most selfless heart. All for the King. It took my team 3 hours & about 9.5 miles to walk to and (a)fro from ministry. Life is weird. Really this is just life though. It’s not a “mission trip.” Or “time to find myself.” I GENUINELY desire, with my entire being, to see the Kingdom of God advance.
We live as intentionally as we can here, which I’m begging God to encourage/help me to bring back to the states. We are in constant prayer, hope to do home visits soon, fulfilling every spiritual, emotional, and physical need we possibly can. I already have stories upon stories & I wish I could tell every single one of them, but I don’t have time like that. BUT if you take anything away from this: SWAZI NEEDS RAIN. So please pray for that. Like actually pray for it. Don’t say you’re gonna do it later. Or say you’re gonna do it & then not do it. Do it right now pls. (that sounded harsh, but for real) My squad has been praying for rain a lot and a few nights ago Swazi had the first substantial rain in 2 years. PRAISE GOD. Stay tuned for the next blog coming cause it’s gunnnna be goooooooooood. Peace, Love, Joy!
~Annie
