Nsoko, Swaziland
It took me close to 4 full days to get to South Africa, but here I am! My days of travel began Monday, September 11th. We woke up at 4:00am and then left Georgia at 5:00am on a charter bus to Washington, D.C. where we stayed the night. On Tuesday, September 12th we flew out of D.C. to Doha, Qatar for a 10 hour layover before flying to Africa. My squad got lucky, we were blessed with the opportunity to explore Doha on Wednesday, September 13th, which was so exciting considering Ive always wanted to see the Middle East! We went to a marketplace for dinner, I heard the calls throughout the city as we walked around from stand to stand trying traditional food. It was incredible experiencing part of their culture! We then went to a lookout point on the bay with a great view of the city. Observing the giant and modern buildings, taking pictures with my friends, I loved every horribly hot and humid second! After that we went back to a hotel (it was super boujee… well, the whole city was) and relaxed before going back to the airport for our next flight!
On Thursday, September 14th, we touched down in Johannesburg, South Africa! The whole squad got on some buses to head to Swaziland. We stopped for lunch at a place that had a small game preserve and got to watch zebras, antelope and water buffalo as we ate! About 3 hours later we got to the border of South Africa and Swazi, we had to get out to show our passports and a few of us linked arms and skipped across the border! It was a pretty cool moment. With the sunsetting on the African horizon, I felt SO at peace, knowing this is exactly where I needed to be.
As I write this, it is Monday, September 18th. I have been in Nsoko for about 5 days now and already so much has happened. Living here is slow and simple, almost every morning we wake up to the sound of kids walking to school, we typically eat breakfast and then go play with them. They are precious and filled with immense joy, despite living in poverty. It is both heart-breaking and beautiful. During launch, I prayed for humility, and boy is God humbling me here. The first few days were days of rest, but with that came a lot of spiritual warfare. The devil attacks in different ways here in Africa. There are no distractions like there are in America, nothing to take our focus off of Jesus. With this have come nightmares, some paralyzing for a few of my squad mates, along with restlessness, questionings of why we are here and a lot more. The only way to describe this is by saying we are having a spiritual fight. I experienced anxiety, something that I haven’t struggled with in months. I got incredibly homesick, I doubted myself, compared myself to others and felt constantly restless. I knew this wasn’t of God, I knew this wasn’t me, it could be nobody but the enemy trying to obscure my vision, trying to distract me so that I wouldn’t fulfill my mission.
Last night, we had an all squad night of worship and prayer. We wrote encouragements to each other, sang our hearts out, prayed and invited Jesus in. We all felt surrounded by angels. We truly felt loved and safe. All the battles we had been experiencing vanished. Praise. Him. My mind, body and soul are back on the right path. I am now able to focus on why I am here and truly cherish it. The people here are amazing, beautiful and incredibly kind. Swaziland is very special and I am more than happy to be here.
Tomorrow we begin our ministry! My team and I will be at Mbutfu Carepoint, playing with, singing/ performing for and teaching lesson to primary school kids every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and being with Highschool kids on fridays. Am I dreaming? Is the thing I have been looking forward to for months now finally happening? YES.
As always, thank you so much for reading! Please subscribe for more updates and checkout my Youtube for a launch and travel video I put together! I appreciate all the donations and support, I still have around $2,000 to raise but more importantly, please keep me and my squad in your prayers!
-Elisabeth (Lissie) Butler
