As we drove from South Africa to Swaziland on Wednesday the sights were breathtaking and it was all I imagined it to be plus so much more. The rolling hills turned into mountains as we entered Swaziland. We passed some monkeys (still waiting to see zebras and giraffes), many huge boulders, and were greeted by an amazing sunset as we were in awe of all of Gods creation and splendor.
Day one in Swaziland was exhaustingly amazing. I was tired after not having much sleep for about 24 hours. I would have rather stayed in bed, but we had a scavenger hunt to get to know the city. As we started we passed 4 kids who gave us high fives and one of the boys stayed with us. A few minutes later two of the other kids came back. The little two year old girl came running over to me and just held my hand and walked beside me with a huge smile. It was the moment that I knew I was where I needed to be and I had to hold onto that moment many times throughout the day.
We got to learn more about the AIM (Adventures in Missions, World Race’s parent organization) base we are partnered with here in Swaziland. They have 33 care points which disciple and feed 1-2 meals per day to about 6,000 children. Many times this is the only meal the kids receive. Most don’t know who their father is and many are orphans. I’m so excited to love on these kids. They also have agriculture, sports, administrative, and education ministries. We get to pick the ministry we want to be a part of…I’m not sure which I’m going to choose, buy hopefully it will be with that little girl 🙂
The song ‘trading my sorrows’ has been in my spirit and I feel like the list of things I’ve traded since leaving the USA on Monday is endless. I’ve traded a my curling iron for a bucket shower, a car I can drive around for walking and really cheap public transportation on vans, restaurants for homemade veggie stir fry, a private toilet for one outside without a door (pics to come), a room to myself for a hut with bunk beds with 6 other lovely ladies, and the list could keep going on. I feel like this will be a month in which the Lord will ask me to do a lot of trading and I know some things will be easier to let go of than others. But all I keep reminding myself is what the Lord gives me in place of what I give to Him is much better than what I was holding onto.
So, on day one Swaziland won a place in my heart! The beauty of the Creator of the universe is on display each night as the sun sets over the mountains and these kids are incredible. I’ve already done a lot of trading and I know there is more coming. Here’s to trading my sorrows for Swaziland.
