Sorry it has been so long since my last post. This past month we were in the Kingdom of Swaziland, which doesn’t really have Internet outside of the bigger cities. We stayed the month at Nisela Safari’s in our tents about 100 yards from a caged lion named Lucky and about 25 yards from the safari restaurant. When I went on walks I often saw wart hogs, ostriches, donkeys, and impalas. And later throughout our time we were privileged to take a drive on a four-wheeler with the herpetologist to find giraffes, kudos and many other exotic animals. Every night we fell asleep to the roar of our friend Lucky, honestly who gets to do that? It was great fun staying on a safari for the month.
In the mornings we headed out to a care-point for a few hours. We frequented 6 of the care-points in the Nsoko area. Each care-point has around 30 children who come daily to be fed and taught. Most of the children are lacking in daily essentials and the only meals they have all day are from the care-point. Many of the children have lost parents and other relatives to the HIV/AIDS pandemic occurring here in Swaziland. Many of them must start providing for themselves when they are very young. Unfortunately many of the young girls are selling their bodies to men to provide food and water for their brothers and sisters.
G-42 (Generation 42) is the organization we were working with. Part of their vision is to provide for each of these children. This past month we were able to help start the process of identifying and photographing each child. Eventually G-42 would like to have each child sponsored financially monthly to provide for food, schooling and medical bills. My teammates Andi and Rachel were able to create identification cards and databases for each child at each care-point. Currently they are working on getting that connected with G-42 so that these children can begin to be supported and attending school.
While they were working on identification materials the rest of our team was able to spend time loving on children. Over and over when I ask the Lord what he wants of me He tells me to LOVE His people. So I held, prayed and prophesied over as many children as possible. It was so much fun loving on God’s children, they are so beautiful!
A large portion of our time was spent back at the safari. I have come to learn that ministry is not just when you are out “doing”! We ended up ministering to the people around us at the safari more than anything else. The restaurant we were sleeping so close to had about 15 waiters and waitresses who worked almost everyday. We got to know a few of them pretty well, and that was fun to share life with them. The safari also has a snake and reptile park, which is currently run by a guy our age named Chip who is a herpetologist (basically a special name for someone who loves snakes and reptiles). He taught us a lot about snakes and reptiles and even took some of us along on some of his journeys to catch and release some of the snakes and reptiles. I HATE snakes and lizards so this was a big stretch for me, but I did go with him to release a Mozambique Spitting Cobra and a Nile Monitor, EEISH (that is how the Swazi people say YIKES)!!! It was a great month in Swaziland, definitely very eye opening to see the needs of the people. Please pray for our continued journeys as we head out tomorrow for Mozambique. Right now we are planning on being in Muturara, which is in central Mozambique. The September World Race Squad began building an orphanage there and we hope to help out with that in some way. We are really going to try to follow the Lord’s lead this month, so we may end up in Muturara and we may not. Please pray that we will focus on the will of the Lord and that we will obey His words.
I doubt we will have great Internet this month, so blogs may be few this month. Know that I love you all and I appreciate all of your prayers!
