It came: Month 11. You know, you spend the whole year thinking you’ll never get to the end, but when it arrives, it seems so surreal. I mean, we could all feel the end approaching, creeping up like a heavy blanket, but nothing changed. It was still as if we were in the thick of it; yes, we were tired but we still lived each day to the fullest and loved each other well.
Our last month was spent in Swaziland and we were given so many rich blessings that month. God really wanted to end our race with an out pour of blessings and gifts and I was so thankful. All of A-Squad was given one more all-squad month where we lived, worked, and served along aside each other for a month. Many of us were thankful for it helped build our relationships with people on other teams and gave us time together as a squad. How can you say goodbye to 40+ people in less than a week? Its impossible but God gave us a whole month to really invest in each other.
Together we all served at El-Shaddai Orphanage in the mountains of Swaziland. Before the race I had never heard of Swaziland and didn’t think it could be much of a place but I was wrong. It has some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. The orphanage was situated right on top of a mountain looking down into the valley below with a winding river. Jagged rocks and trees filled the landscapes with houses and fields accenting the hills. Every morning we woke up in a cloud, a thick cold mist that would slowly recede off the hills and every night would be a glorious sunset. We often would go outside to eat and just stare at God’s creation. It was beautiful.
At El-Shaddai, there were many things that needed to get done: leveling a field for a new building, replanting banana trees, accounting, making a wire fence, rebuilding a playground, and help teach home school primary and high school students. Originally, I helped with the manual labor but more teachers were needed in the Primary School so I went and spent most of my time there. We did a lot of projects on animals and other countries. I often helped an older female student, Bongiwe. We would often race to see who could get a math problem done first, each of us always claiming the other cheated.
In the afternoons we would go play with our buddies. I had a lovely 9-year old girl named Ayanda. She is quite shy with people she doesn’t know but dearly wants to be loved. Everyday she would start out shy with me but by the end we would have the time of her life. We always started with completing her homework and then we would go out to play often drawing, making paper airplanes, playing cards, jumping rope, or watching movies. She is a great snuggler and is so very sweet.
There was always stuff to do. Every night there’d be a talk, class, or worship. We ended up celebrating our own Halloween there around the bonfire and celebrated Thanksgiving early. Some of us recreated the nativity scene and there were many photo shoots as one of the interns at El-Shaddai was a really good photographer. In the evenings some of the guys started a “Back to ‘Merica” Boot camp for the females. All the kids would try to join in. In the mornings, Katie, another intern, would go running along the mountain roads with her pet donkey beside her so we would run with her as well.
It was a beautiful month to end with and I am so thankful for all the wonderful memories.
