On the Race, I wanted the world to know about my most favorite person I met while overseas.
While we were on the field and doing constant ministry, I didn’t think I could do this friend justice by writing something kind of haphazard, and something that wouldn’t really express my deep love for her.
Her name is Colile [Co-lee-lay]. And here she is..
Such a warm and friendly and inviting appearance, right? Haha.
After we traveled allllll the way from the Philippines, making a stop at Qatar, passing through South Africa, and finally arriving at the place we would call ‘home’ for one month out in the bush of Swaziland, I met Colile.
Well, I didn’t really ‘meet’ her at first.
We had the initial impression that Colilie wanted nothing to do with us. I knew it because she would pass our hut, constantly walk right by us, and glare. She never spoke. If I tried speaking with her, she wouldn’t make eye contact, and would respond with a grunt or just one word.. still with that hard look in her eyes.
One time late at night, our team was sitting in our hut and hadn’t locked our front door to go to bed yet. I was over at my friend Jody’s bunk, talking with her. All of a sudden Jody was smiling weirdly and motioning me to turn around. I did, and at first I just saw our women in their bunks, chatting and hanging out .. and then I looked down at the floor. There was Colile, sitting cross-legged with that hard look on her face. Not making eye contact with anyone, just sitting, her eyes darting all over the place. We had no idea when she had even come in. I can’t lie and say we weren’t a little weirded out..
Although I had a designated ministry that month which I loved [I was assigned to serve at Hope House three times a week, praying for elderly patients and some who were bed-ridden with HIV and various forms of cancer], I decided that this woman would be my ministry too.
So I would look for opportunities to spend time with her and love the mess out of her, whether she liked it or not. I knew she had issues.. but who can resist someone loving the mess out of them??
So I would sit outside in the morning to do quiet time and have breakfast. As Colile would walk by, I would make sure she didn’t get through the morning without acknowledging me. I would say hi and try to strike up conversation with her [she spoke decent English, praise God]. She didn’t like that I did that. She would say “You are speaking too much!” And when I’d ask her if we were friends, she would say “no no no no!” I would just smile back at her, because I knew, or hoped, it wouldn’t be long.
A few times I’d walk outside and see if I could help her make dinner for her grandmother [whose house she lived in]. She stoked their simple meal in an old black kettle over a small fire. One of the first times I came over to help, she wasn’t going to have it. [probably didn’t want me ‘speaking too much’]. She would shout in Si-Swati, “Suah!” [GO!]. And when I didn’t immediately leave, she blurted out, “You’re stupid and your motha [mother] is stupid!” I didn’t know if I should laugh or be bothered by the statement so I just replied calmy, “well that’s not very nice.” But I didn’t leave.
I persisted with these tactics [my squad mates got some laughs out of these episodes]. I followed Colile around so much at one point that she resorted to escaping to the outhouse throughout the day, and hiding from me in there.
As time went on, one of my friends Sarah, was able to find out more of Colile’s story from another family member [Lelo] who lived on the property. He said Colile used to live in a little white house with her parents and two brothers, not far from our homestead. You could see the white house off in the distance from our front yard. Well, one night Colile’s parents were murdered.. by one of her brothers. And Colile saw the whole thing.
“She hasn’t been the same since,” Lelo said.
We learned that murders in the family aren’t uncommon in Swaziland. Land is very valuable and so family members will commit murder as a means to inherit the land. This is a dark spiritual stronghold in this nation, and one that we began to intercede in prayer for as a team.
Colile’s brother went to jail and that is why Colile now lives with her grandmother. After hearing more of her story, my heart couldn’t help but just have more compassion and love for this woman. I loved her even more. And when she treated me like poop, I loved her more still. Might be weird and socially unacceptable [even to Swazi’s] but that is the heart God gave me.
And you know what? Every now and then, she would crack a smile or a giggle. I don’t know if she thought I was so rediculous that it was funny, but either way, God was working in her heart. Me and Sarah would invite her to play UNO with us at night [she was a natural!] and a few times we painted her nails. She would ask me to re-paint them only a couple days after I painted them the first time. I didn’t get it, but all I saw was another opportunity to hang out with her. “Okay!” I said.
God’s heart for this woman burns. He burns with love for her and I feel it when I think of her because I want to well up with tears each time. God used me to BE love to her for a month. I wondered and hoped that I would get to pray for her sometime in the month. I am happy to say, she allowed Sarah and I to pray for her on the very last day we were there. We spoke tenderly and softly and passionately, words of love and freedom over her. I didn’t witness a dark spirit rise up out of this woman like I was half-expecting.. but what I did see was an entire change in Colile’s countenance by the end of the month.
We showered her with love and affection, gave her a bag of belongings [and nail polish] that we would leave behind, and I won’t forget that last moment, she was grinning in her long sleeve shirt and santa hat [it was cold there okayy] on that day in April.
That month God reminded me, that just one life matters to Him immensely. Colile represents a nation that needs to know the love of Christ. And if all I did was love her by bothering the mess out of her for 4 weeks, I have faith that it is enough. She is one step closer to wholeness and healing and walking intimately with Jesus. This is one woman, but she is one woman who God will continue show His love to and empower so that she will eventually spread that love around in the beautiful country of Swaziland.
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” Luke 15:4
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I want to say THANK YOU to all of my supporters! I can’t thank you enough for all the love I felt while on the field.. through your prayers, encouragement, and your financial support as well. My heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness, as I know I couldn’t have done it alone. I will be getting out personal “thank you’s” in the mail soon. Please continue to follow my blog as I plan to keep blogging and sharing what God is doing in my life.. Stay tuned for one about where God is taking me next! 🙂
