Swaziland was full of all sorts of adventures, but one of the best was experiencing the Lord’s healing. Here are a few stories to tell of His Glory….
Florence
During our first week, Corine took 3 of us on a walk to
visit her friend Florence. She is one of the few people in the village who will
admit to having HIV, as many are in denial. They claim to just have “the flu”
or a “cold” because to admit it is HIV is too shameful for them. Florence makes
her living as a seamstress, sitting on the floor using a hand-cranked machine
to make her wares. Back in January, her CD4 count was getting dangerously low,
as was her weight. If she had gotten started on ARVs, this may not have
happened. Though many nations donate millions of dollars for AIDS relief,
including ARV’s, most of these are confiscated at the border of Swaziland then
sold for high prices on the black market….never getting to those that need it
most. Florence was dying, but there was not much they could do because her body
was so ravaged. Miraculously, she turned around and her CD4 count & weight
started steadily climbing. Praise God! When we went to visit her, she was doing
well and showed off her CD4 card, showing how much she had improved. It was so
wonderful to see her happy and healthy, with lots of sewing to do to make a
living for her and her young daughter. A beautiful woman.
GoGo Sunday
Our team met GoGo Sunday after our first week in Swazi. She
had suffered a severe stroke and was placed in the hospital with a feeding
tube, oxygen, and was under constant care by her daughter-in-law. Our team went
to the clinic and met her, we were burdened by her condition, and came back to
visit and pray with her every day for almost 2 weeks. We brought her and her
caretaker a meal, sang some praise songs, read her some Bible stories, and just
pleaded with the Lord to spare her life. It seemed like such a hopeless
situation-she was an older lady, and it seemed to just be her time to go,
according to the staff and others around. We continued to have hope that the
Lord would heal her, and we were so thankful when we got to witness her steady
recovery. She had her feeding tube taken out, there was some movement in her feet,
she started to acknowledge us with little noises, and you could see renewed
life in her eyes. We left unsure but hopeful that the Lord would keep doing a
work in her, and that she would make a full recovery. We left a lasting
impression on her and her family, as well as many of the other patients and the
staff there at the hospital.
Sadly, a week after we left Fontotje, Corine emailed me to
let me know that GoGo had passed. I was sad when I received the news, but she
went on to tell us that she had gotten even better after we left, and spoke
often of the white people who came to pray with her. We are so thankful for the
time that we got to spend with GoGo Sunday, and we know that she went to meet
her Heavenly Father with such a hope and faith.
The Blind Man
One morning, while the majority of our team headed into
Manzini, there was a group of us who went around the community to pray for
those that needed it. Lauren, Steve, Vinny, and I headed out, led by Lakametzi,
to visit those that were stuck at their homes. The first man we visited was
paralyzed from the waist down-we prayed for his healing over and over,
expecting the Lord to show up, but left him still sitting on his mat. Our next
visit was to a blind man. We prayed for his sight to be restored, and I
believed that the Lord would do it. That was one thing that I learned this
month-if you ask God for something, believe it! Even if it seems impossible.
Who made the eyes? Who thought of pupils, irises, optic nerves, retinas,
corneas? The Lord created it, he can take it away or he can restore it.
We prayed for the man a couple more times, and I felt
something tugging on my heart. I had recently read the story of Jesus healing
the blind man-how he spit into the dirt, smeared it on the blind man’s eyes, and
washed them clean. I know this sounds as silly as I felt when I thought of it,
but we were fools for Christ that day! I put some dirt into my hand, and let
everyone spit into it. I mixed it up, and Vinny (after asking permission)
placed it on his eyes. We carefully helped him wipe his eyes clean, and waited
in expectation for his sight to be restored.
He still could not see.
I was slightly frustrated at this, because we stepped out in
faith, doing something seemingly foolish, and nothing happened. But, we did
show him the love of Christ. Is that not a miracle enough in itself? Was the
gift of eternal life and a hope for the future more amazing than anything
physical?
Punu
Punu (“Chad” is his
American name that we christened him with) was a 23 year old guy in the village
who volunteered at Hope Rises. We met him the first week we were in Fontotje,
and he was one of the stand-out nice guys who didn’t ask us to be their second
wife or if we take any of the alcohol (ridic). We all got to know him better, and
Emily especially took an interest in him (because she cares so much for
EVERYONE, not because of the suspected goodlookingness that he happened to
have), and talked to him about his future, his dreams, his goals. He has a good
head on his shoulders. Emily asked him one day if he had ever been tested for
HIV (as most people in Swazi either have the disease or just don’t know they
have it yet), and he hadn’t been tested for a few years. We didn’t pry him
about his “habits”, but Emily suggested that he should go get tested again,
hopefully before it was our time to leave. After a few failed attempts due to
the clinic being closed and the machines not reading his blood correctly, we
finally got him tested & received the results on our last day in Fontoje. I
fasted that morning, begging the Lord for a negative test, for a miracle, and
the words to say if He chose not to heal him. Emily, Vinny, John, Punu and I
made the 45 minute trek down to the clinic, used a little bit of shameless
flirtation to get a test on a Saturday when they usually don’t do tests (oh the
power of being a white girl….one of the times I am thankful!), and prayed for
the Lord to move. Emily and I were in constant prayer while they processed the
results, and we were believing that the Lord would heal him. When they released
him, we waited for his answer…and it was….
NEGATIVE!!!!!
Praise the Lord! We were all so excited, everyone gave each
other hugs and we jumped up and down for a good bit. We were speaking life all
over Punu, encouraging him to follow the Lord and the straight path He has laid
out for him, and letting him know that he is DIFFERENT, SET APART, from the
other guys-the Lord has great plans for this man! We had a celebratory lunch of
Fanta, avocado sandwiches, and some Eet-Sum-Mor cookies (the best thing you
have every put in your mouth!). It was the perfect ending to our time in
Swaziland, and we left knowing that we had shared Jesus and showed His glory
across the land.
God is so good!!!
