There are so many stories I could tell from our experiences in Swaziland this month, especially from our ministry time with the hospital, school, and community in Buhleni (boosh-LAY-knee). However, there are two specific experiences from our last week there that I’d love to share instead. These God encounters absolutely blew my mind.
SHE HAD A DREAM ABOUT ME:
Home visits were regular ministry activities during the last two months. In small groups, we would tag along with local pastors to visit neighborhoods and talk to people. During this time we got to know them, and most were eager to receive prayer for anything when we offered.
Last Friday, I went on a home visit with the four girls on my team (Angela, Amy, Ashli, and Liz). We spent the afternoon with Pastor Florence, strolling through a rural neighborhood full of mud huts and small gardens, far away from any cities or tourists. One of the first houses we visited belonged to a woman who was in pain and sitting uncomfortably on an old couch.
Not long after we entered, she pointed right at me and stared deeply: “I had a dream about that man last night.”
What? I didn’t know how to respond, so we had Pastor Florence ask more questions in SiSwati to translate her thoughts.
With eagerness and hope, the woman told us about her debilitating headaches and her dream of being visited by a very tall white man who looked just like me. In her dream, I put my hands over her face and healed her in the name of Jesus.
I couldn’t believe my ears, but she repeated herself and motioned where I placed my hands in the dream. By over her face, I mean right pressed right into it, my entire hands over her face and forehead.
What the heck, Jesus? I love crazy stuff like this, but I hesitated at first. My teammates encouraged me to get closer to her and just go for it.
Once I pressed my hands on her face and started praying, I knew God was in control. In times like this, it’s hard to know what to pray for, but with a language barrier the other person doesn’t know what you’re saying. They just feel the spirit move. As I was praying she clenched my hands and drew them tighter into her face. She began crying and calling out words I didn’t understand.
After I finished, my group asked her how she felt. With a deep breath, a faint smile covered her face. She felt better. But how did I feel?
Aside from the adrenaline high, the idea of healing is something I’m still getting used to. We’d seen things like this happen at other home visits, but never anything where they knew we were coming. God not only wanted to make her feel better, He wanted to show His awesome power and planning to call people like me. He’s continuing to blow my mind.
GOD SHOWED ME A TOWN
Another regular part of the World Race is ATLing, like I mentioned in my Lessons Learned Through Bicycles blog. ATLing is “Asking the Lord” what to do and waiting for thoughts or direction to respond.
We learned hot to ATL during our launch training in Chicago, and ever since then crazy things have been happening. (The first time, I thought of a manhole and one of my partners thought of construction workers. Later, we stumbled upon a construction site where a manhole was being built in the middle of the street. The workers wanted to talk about their families and know someone cared.)
During our first month in South Africa at Pop Up, Russell asked our teams to ATL and see if we saw anything for our time in Africa. What came to mind, I wrote down in my journal along with the rest of my team’s thoughts. As I was writing “high school, youth community,” God gave me a random word. I didn’t even know what it meant, but I wrote down the only way I could think to pronounce it: “dokowako.”
Back in September, I figured the lesson God was trying to teach me was to not be afraid of what other people think. Even if that meant saying I felt a random word from Him, I was learning trust to not be afraid of what others thought. Russell was intrigued by the word and said he would ask around to see if anyone knew what it meant, but I didn’t hear anything back.
Fast forward to the beginning of this month. As we were driving into Swaziland, I was trying to stay awake in the front of the van. But I read a sign that completely caught me off guard: Dvokowalko High School. That was the name of a town, too small to even see on a map of Swaziland. And all we saw of the town was a large high school and lots of youth walking around the community. This gave me chills.
Last week, my team was finally able to go there and spend an afternoon. We didn’t know what we were doing, but caught a bus south and waited for more ATL instructions. They soon came and we had many great interactions with a lot of people, including:
–A paralyzed woman with a skin infection, who was ignored in society.
–A group of druggies who wanted to understand more about Christianity and what grace meant for them.
–Lots of local school children hanging around a dirt field, looking for something to do. (They were all wearing Toms, so that’s where the other pairs go when you buy them.)
But most importantly, we learned about a town that really needs Jesus. We wished we had more time to give than just a few hours, but we felt the need to keep praying for more people to go there and water the seeds like we did. God has a great plan for Dvokowalko and more people will be called to spread hope and encouragement to the washed out mining town.
And while I pray for that town other kingdom harvesters, I’ll also keep praying for God to continue blowing my mind. I know He has more crazy things like these two experiences in store, and as we move onto a new continent we will learn more about His mind-blowing nature.
