Monday, September 26th.
My squad didn’t have work, but we were still to be doing ministry. We all went into the multi-purpose building to do ATL, which stands for “Ask The Lord”. It is exactly what it sounds like, simply asking God what He has in store for you that day! But as you look deeper into this, you realize just how intricate it can be. I was almost nervous, I have never gone about my day solely walking by faith with no agenda. I first asked God what He had for my squad, I kept on thinking of one word, good. I knew God had good things in store for my squad, but I hadn’t believed it until He reassured me. Again, so simple yet so intricate. Another question I asked was what does He, The Lord, want to see in us as a whole. I saw the word GIVE, all caps. I wrote it down and immediately knew that we needed to become completely selfless in our ministry and service, so much so that our minds would never stray from Jesus or those we are helping. That we we glorify Him in our giving. Lastly, I asked what He had for me that day. My mind wandered to my team’s care point, the place we spend Tuesday-Friday at. I wanted to walk over there because I had a strong feeling that someone was waiting and in need of prayer, specifically healing. Three words- Good. Give. Heal.
GOOD:
About an hour later I talked with two of my teammates, Makennah and Christy. Makennah shared that she wanted to go over to GoGo Agnes’ homestead (a Grandmother of a sweet 15 year old at our care point, Paulet, we had the honor of visiting a few days earlier) to see if she needed our help with anything. Good.
GIVE:
Christy told me and Makennah that she was feeling led to worship publicly, whether that be at a kombi (bus) stop or at the local market, Savemor. She also said that she wanted to give someone we meet a necklace that was very significant to her, a cross with a charm on it that says “beautiful”. Give.
HEAL:
During ATL I flipped to a random passage in The Bible, it was about healing through Jesus. Christy then told me she felt very strongly about me praying over others that day. Heal.
Here’s how the day went- Makennah, Christy and I walked to our care point, about half a mile away. As we approached around 8 little kiddos came running towards us, we scooped them up in our arms as we always do. There were two Gogo’s in cooking, one that I recognized and one I hadn’t seen before. I asked the unfamiliar Gogo if she needed any prayer, she said her hands were stiff and in pain. I prayed over her hands and afterwards she gained I little bit of mobility and was able to bend her fingers more than before. She was overjoyed, so was I! We then did a prayer walk around the building, hand in hand with the little ones. After that we headed towards Gogo Agnes and Paulet’s home. Nobody was there so we made the decision to go to the Savemor, buy her water and tea and drop it off anonymously later. On our was towards the kombi stop we walked by a large group of young mothers and their children. They spotted Christy’s guitar and asked if we would perform for them! We sang a few worship songs, one being in their language. A few kids danced and the mothers laughed as we entertained them through song, it wasn’t on our radar for the day but it was definitely a highlight. From there we went straight to the stop where an older woman was standing. She introduced herself as Julie Rejoice, we all said her name was beautiful and she lit up! When I asked if she needed any prayer she said she would like us to pray over her HIV. This was surprising because those diseases are shameful in this country and are never mentioned, its usually the elephant in any room. Swaziland has the highest HIV and AIDS rate in the world, it was an honor getting to pray for and with Rejoice. Christy decided to giver her the necklace, our new friend was thrilled, she couldn’t stop saying thank you and that Jesus loved us. I will never forget that sweet woman. Our kombi arrived and we went to the Market, set up a place to worship and began singing. I don’t sing, I mostly listen, a man noticed and approached me to talk. He told me he absolutely loved what we were doing that “Jesus is coming soon, and you ladies give me hope for the white people”, by far one of my favorite quotes in Swazi! I couldn’t help but laugh with him. After a few people stopped to watch, we went inside to buy the goods for Gogo Agnes. While in there Christy got asked to play her guitar, in the middle of the grocery store, with a lot of people around. It was awesome. Back to Gogo Agnes’ we went, where her grandson happened to be waiting on the porch. We dropped off the water, tea and bread, telling her grandson, Carl, not to say a word. He did. Two hours later Paulet came to our home with a note from her Gogo, it said-
“hallow babies
how are you
thank you very much for what you have done for my family
God Bless you
me: I am fine
Bye Bye
Psalms 103V 1:6
From Gogo Agnes.”
All glory to God. I am so grateful for my first ATL experience, and the many other experiences that I have had here in Nsoko, Swaziland. It’s Tuesday, October 3rd, yesterday I left the beautiful country of Swaziland and took a bus to Nelspruit, South Africa. We will be staying here until October 8th just relaxing and reminiscing on our first month of ministry! I miss Swazi so much already, leaving was sad but also exciting! Swaziland, thank you for the best first overseas missions trip. Thank you for being home these past 3 weeks. Thank you for loving me well and accepting me into your culture, I will never, ever, forget you. Now time to chill in South Africa for debrief and then Lesotho for my second month of the race! Sala Kahle (goodbye), Swaziland.
