Disclaimer: Currently, I’ve actually been in Swaziland longer than one month. That said, I wanted to send out an update on what we’ve been doing out here. And let me just start by saying the first month felt much, much longer than that.
Arriving in Swazi (after a 76 hour travel day), we had a few days to acclimate to the environment. Our home is on land donated to AIM by a farming company nearby. Our house consists of large dorm style rooms, and a large common room for eating and playing games. The days here are slow while we’re not at ministry, and are spent reading, talking, and playing guitars (which I’m currently learning how to do). About 15 minutes away is a gas station/grocery story called SaveMor that we frequent to buy snacks, and because there’s not much else to do outside of our home. The men and I have taken up playing many games to pass away the evenings.
Here in Nsoko, AIM has set up multiple care points in and around the area. These care points provide meals for children, a safe place to play, and lessons on the Bible. This is where a majority of the squad’s ministry hours are spent, mainly playing with these kids. However, this is not what my team usually is doing. On Tuesdays we go with another missionary named Leo to the local prison. While there we preach, lead worship, and pray over the inmates who ask. The other days look like whatever our base mentor David decides. Sometimes it’s manual labor. Sometimes it’s evangelism. And sometimes it is getting to go to one of the care points. On our days off, we’ve spent a lot of time at David’s house playing with his sons, while simultaneously giving him some time to breath.
We also had an opportunity to go to an Awakening just before our Month 1 Debrief. An Awakening is a World Race event in which multiple squads come together to worship, learn, and encourage one another. We got to spend time with Gap A, who had spent their first month in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. After this we travelled to Nelspruit, South Africa for our Month 1 Debrief. Here we got to spend time processing our first month on the field as a squad, as well as relax and have some fun. We even got to spend a day in Kruger National Park!
Getting to lead a team here has been so much different than I was expecting. And if I’m honest I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t to be having as much fun as I have been. My co-leaders have joked with me saying, “You got the exact guys you needed right now.” I couldn’t agree more. This time in Swazi so far has been a lot of processing my Race, which I don’t think would’ve been very much fun on my own. In the midst of it all, however, I’ve had this team to walk beside and point toward Jesus. It’s been a privilege so far, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my time here will hold.
