Maba 1. A small place in the middle of nowhere Swaziland. A place that holds my entire heart. Maba 1 is the name of the care point me and my team have been doing ministry at these past three months. (if you don’t know what a care-point is, its pretty much a place where kids from the community ca come to hang out with friends and eat a meal!) ministry has looked like being there for the kids, teaching them lessons, washing their clothes, getting firewood to make them food, cooking them food, pumping water for families and for the care point at the well, traveling through the community and spreading the gospel with the locals as well as so many other things. But beyond what ministry looks like on paper, it looks like the faces of all the kids who have become my best friends. It looks like all the laughs from the past three months that will forever echo throughout the tiny little building. It looks like the dirt stains that now cover the floor, left by our muddy feet from running outside all day. It looks like the smiles of some of my favorite people. Maba 1 is filled with so much love. It’s filled with the presence of the holy spirit and the love of Jesus. What an honor and a blessing it was to get to serve the kids at Maba 1. Every day they taught me more of what it looks like to be like Jesus. They showed me how welcoming He is through the way they welcomed me and my team and accepted us as friends from the very start. They showed me how giving He is through the way they would give up everything they had to a friend who was in need. They showed me how creative He is through the way that they could make little toys or gadgets out of absolutely anything and create games to play out of thin air. They showed me how loving He is simply by the way they loved me and my team. Through every hug, every game, every time they would fall asleep in my lap, every time i got to make them food, every time i got to teach them, through everything they always taught me more and more about the character of Jesus. These kids have golden hearts, they are truly angel babies. I’ll never be able to explain what its like when Sibo wins a card game and does the most amazing victory dance I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget what it sound like when Banti is laughing so hard he’s screaming. I’ll never let go of my memories eating lunch with Malwande, both eating with our hands off her little plate. I’ll never be able to describe the sound that will be playing in my head forever of the kids singing worship music as they practiced for their singing competition. All i know is i witnessed heaven on earth. With every day, a new little piece of heaven i didn’t know about before would be revealed. It was the most beautiful thing in the world and i wouldn’t change it for anything. Who knew I’d be leaving such a huge chunk of my heart in Swazi?
