Sawubona – That is hello in siSwati the native language to Swaziland.
Yesterday (Sunday) I was able to attend a native Swazi church! It was a great blessing and encouragement. Chad who is a leader on the January team was preaching at the church and 4 of the June Racers were invited to attend. Church was great (definitely different) yet the same to worship along side by Swazi brothers and sisters in Christ. Church was scheduled to start at 10am but it didn’t start until 10:30 which was to be expected b/c we are on African time now. The worship leader was not able to come to church b/c he was out working at the farm so a few of the June and January team led worship in front of the church. I was one of them and if you have heard me sing it isn’t a beautiful sound but the worship was great nonetheless!
When we arrived at church the pastors wife told us they were having a potluck after church. All that she had were biscuits (cookies in american lingo) and we told her there was going to be a lot of us (30 including the racers and another mission agency). She stated we will trust the Lord to provide like He did with the loaves and fishes. All during church I was thinking there won’t be enough food and I felt guilty b/c there were so many of us! Why do I doubt the Lord? By the end of church and when the food was set out we had a feast! It was a combination of Indian food, African food, salads, desserts, breads, drinks, etc… God is gracious and we had a wonderful time of fellowshipping with the pastor over the meal. We talked to him about the needs of the African people and church. He stated there was a great need for mentors for the teachers and pastors. Also he said that the pastors need to be taught and discipled/mentored. Please join me in prayer for the African church that God will send men and women to mentor the leaders in the schools and churches.
We are heading out to the bush on Tuesday AM. Right now all we know is that we will be staying across the street from the orphanage with no electricity, water from a pump and camping out. I think the camping will be a nice change from living with 80 other people. The market is about 2K from where we are staying so we can walk to get food as needed. Thank you for your continued prayers and I will post again as soon as I can get back to civilization. Blessings, CLP
PS… Here is a picture of our home where we have been staying the last 10 days in Swazi
This is our home where all the girls are staying This is the front yard where all the guys are staying!
