Today marks our last day in Swaziland. To describe Swaziland in one word would be barren—the land is infertile, the vegetation is harsh, the creatures are dangerous, and the people are full of despair. It has been a challenging month!
Our first week of life in Swaziland was a large adjustment from Mozambique. We were no longer living in our ministry hosts’ home, but at a community center. Not only did this mean that we didn’t have beds to sleep in or couches to sit on, but we didn’t have one person guiding us through what to do each day. My team and I also had to adjust to living with three other teams, totaling 27 people, in a four-room house. Add onto that a full AIM staff that lives on site and hundreds of community children that arrive at 6 AM and leave around 7 PM to play, it was quite a stark contrast to say the least! The Swazi lifestyle is also very slow-paced, meaning that there is a lot of waiting. We tried finding valuable ways to utilize the majority of our time, but we also played a lot of Bananagrams and card games. I am now an excellent speller of 3 and 4 letter words.
My team’s assigned ministry this month was to minister to a care point in the community.
There are many care points throughout Swaziland, places where children come after school to get a meal (sometimes their only for that day) and to fellowship with other kids. Each care point is run by a Shepard who looks after the children and provides a bible lesson each day. My team was blessed to serve at a care point about 1 kilometer from the community center where we lived. We had an amazing God-fearing Shepard, Mzwandile, who we nicknamed Joseph (original, I know). With Joseph, we were able to prepare games, songs, and bible lessons for the kids.
At the beginning of the month, I felt God wanting me to spend the majority of my free time devoted to His word and to use this year to read the bible, cover to cover. As I was reading 1 Samuel in my hammock one day, I came across the story of David and the Goliath. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, a large army (the Philistines) challenged another army (the Israelites) to battle. The Philistines had a gigantic soldier named Goliath that was renowned for being the ultimate warrior. He taunted the Israelites and challenged them to send one man to fight him. Obviously, no one jumped to volunteer. That was until a small guy named David approached Goliath and said, “you come to us with your scary physique and huge sword but I come to you in the name of Jesus, and today is not your lucky day because God will conquer you!” Sure enough, the Lord rescued the Israelites from battle, and David defeated Goliath. (Please have grace for Brittney’s rough synopsis.) My main takeaway from this story is that David wasn’t delivered from his problems but he had to be brave enough to go through them. When you have faith and put your trust in God, you can overcome any obstacle, but it won’t always be easy. While that may be kind of scary, there is power and comfort in that.
That week at our care point, Joseph asked my team to share a bible lesson, and I felt led to share just that. It was incredible to “preach” for the first time! Through this, God showed me that the more I depend on Him, the more He is within me. The more that I listen to Him, the more He will reward me. And now, fears that once held me back such as public speaking no longer have such a stronghold on my life, and I am so grateful! I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).
About two weeks into living in Swaziland, my team and I decided to do a night watch together. My team gathered from 10 PM to 5 AM taking shifts and prayed all throughout the night. For the first hour, my whole team met together and prayed aloud for Swaziland—the lost people, the terrible drought, the spiritual darkness, and the orphans. During that hour, I privately prayed that the Lord would lead me to scripture that He wants me to focus on for the next two hours. My teammate Emily and I took the next shift together from 11 PM to 1 AM. At the beginning of our night watch, I felt the Lord lead me to the book of Joshua. I opened my bible and read the first chapter:
“No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.”—Joshua 1:5-6
“Study this book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”—Joshua 1:8
This scripture talks about fighting for the kingdom and not backing down, being bold, leading others, meditating on God’s word day and night, and knowing that God is with us wherever we go. HOW AMAZING! That is what I feel God called me to specifically pursue this year—being bold, leaning into Him for all things, and knowing that He dwells within me—receiving confirmation from Him is incredible! I found a lot of encouragement from this scripture because not only is it something that I can meditate on throughout the world race, but also throughout my life. Being on the race, we are acknowledged as missionaries every place we go, mainly because we stick out like sore thumbs and are very memorable. But being bold and living a life in pursuit of Christ can and should happen in our everyday lives. By leaning into God and communicating to him through continual prayer and reading his word, He answers prayers! You just need to be bold enough to ask and quiet enough to listen.
During our third week in Swazi, we were told that one of the children at our care point passed away. We had not met her because she’d been sick for some time, but she was just 15 years old. In Swazi culture, communities take care of one another, especially in times of need such as this. Alongside Joseph, we were able to visit the young girl’s homestead and condole her grieving family. The homestead was just a kilometer down the road from our care point. While walking there, my team and I discussed what we should say and what bible verses we should share. Grief is a fickle thing; everyone processes and copes grief in different ways, especially in different cultures. We didn’t speak their language or understand what it was like to lose a daughter, but we did have love to share for them.
Once we arrived at the homestead, we all walked into a one room mud shack and sat on straw mats on the ground. There were six women sitting with us, filling the room with sorrow. After Joseph introduced ourselves and gave our condolences, we shared the following scriptures:
“I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 31 For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.” Lamentations 3:20-22, 31-32
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.’” Matthew 11:28-30
We explained that while grief is real and painful, we can still have hope because the Lord is with us always. He weeps when we weep and comforts us when we are brokenhearted. His love for us is never ending. We can find rest in the fact that when we pass we are united with Jesus. While their daughter was no longer with them physically, she was wrapped in the arms of Jesus. And they will be reunited with her again in Heaven someday.
As a whole, the home visit was quite overwhelming and it has been intense to process. A core struggle that unites my team is grief. We have all individually dealt with it in serious ways, in one form or another. The grief I’ve experienced from my Granny’s passing is one of the most fundamental growing points of my life. As my teammates and I have independently dealt with grief, whether it was 6 months or 14 years ago, we still don’t know why. But God chose to make grief a core topic in each of our lives. And through this homestead experience, God showed me that there was a reason—we were given larger hearts to sympathize with this family in Swaziland. We were able to weep with those who wept because we understood the deep pain they were going through. And I find it absolutely crazy that it was our specific team that had to go and deal with this situation. God had six other teams to choose from! I think that is too much coincidence to be chance. I believe that God is very intentional in all He does. God knew before each of us were conceived that we were going to deal with grief in deep ways and then He put the calling on our hearts to go on the world race and then He put us on the same team out of hundreds of people and then He brought us to a small hut in the middle of the poorest part of Swaziland to help grieving people. GOD IS AMAZING GUYS!
It is unbelievable that my second month on the world race is already over! Swaziland was full of many challenges, but many beautiful moments as well, and I am thankful for my time spent here. I have grown closer in my relationship with the Lord and stronger in my understanding of His word. I know that God blessed me with a lot of down time to draw closer to Him this month and I can’t wait to use that in propelling me forward in Madagascar.
I want to thank all of my financial donors SO MUCH for bringing me here, this has been the trip of a lifetime and I cannot wait to see how much more God has to do in and through me over the next 9 months. It’s crazy that I only have $74 left to raise to be fully funded! I also want to thank everyone for your prayers for my heart, my team, and my entire squad. God has accomplished incredible feats already, and I know He has so much more in store. I truly feel blessed and at peace in my work here and I’m excited to share more with you all in the months to come.
Various facts about Swaziland:
- It’s an absolute monarchy and the King lives a lavish life with his 20 wives
- Highest HIV rate in the world
- There is no middle class—the wealthy and poor have a very large divide. Nsoko (where I lived) is the poorest region in the country and is referred to as the “forgotten land” of Swaziland.
- Swazi people are very joyful and private
- It is very disrespectful to look people in the eye while talking
- The ecology is primarily montane grassland—Nsoko reminded me a lot of the Central Valley of California
- Church is an event in itself—it generally lasts for 2.5 to 4 hours and is full of dancing, clapping, and whistling
- Lightning strikes are the second largest killer in Swaziland, so most people are terrified of thunder and lightning
- The primary language is Siswati but most adults and older children know English
Prayer Requests: Please continue praying for the health and effectiveness of the malaria medication for my entire squad. I have been blessed with good health so far, but some of my squad-mates have dealt with quite a few illnesses and injuries. Madagascar is a high-risk region for malaria so prayers for God’s protection over our health would be greatly appreciated! I also ask for prayers for unity over my whole squad. In Madagascar, all 50 of us will be living under one roof which has the potential to bring many hardships, but I pray that we can live in harmony so that all of our energy may be used to share the love of Jesus with the Malagasy people. Thank you so much for your prayers!
Love and Peace,
Britt
