Living with relatively no electricity, in a tent, in a place where it is the norm to walk everywhere or take a very overcrowded bus to where you are going has definitely rocked my world. The crazy part about it is that I love it. I still get about 38 more weeks of it.
So pretty much every morning at about 6:15 there is some sort of workout going on. Either running, arm day or leg day. Then breakfast is made which always consists of oatmeal and hard boiled eggs. And we have a morning devo for about 30 minutes. After devo we eat breakfast and then head out for our ministry care points.
Those care points range in distance from a ten minute walk to about an hour bus ride. And luckily my team of guys got the ten minute walk. We have about 100 kids that come to our care point a day. It is basically a place where they can come and be safe and just be kids. They also get a meal and water there as well. Usually I end up playing soccer with the older kids. But I also get some time to talk and invest in them as well. Find out things like their favorite soccer player, what they do when they aren’t at the care point, and who their friends are. And then it starts to get real because then they tell you about home. And how their mom or dad or both has died and they have to help take care of their siblings. And that sometimes the only meal a day they get is the one provided for them at the care point. And you realize how helpless to them you actually are in the physical sense. Then they start talking about how when they have been at a low point God has always provided what they needed.
I want to talk about my man Alfred. Alfred is one of the wisest guys I’ve ever meet. I got to meet him on a close to two hour hike to get fire wood. We pretty much talked for the entire time. We also got to have a deep conversation about the lord because he was so knowledgeable about the word. He was also so recourseful about learning and gaining information. I can honestly say that he will change me during my time here and I look up to him wholeheartedly. Alfred is only thirteen….This kid will change my heart forever
During our talk we were able to share with each other our dreams. I was able to tell him about how I want to be a pastor. He was not surprised by that because of our talk about faith and God. Then we got to his turn. Alfred wants to be a pilot. And naturally I asked him why he wanted to be a pilot. I will never forget what he told me next. Alfred wants to be a pilot because he wants to see all of God creation all over the world. He also elaborated on the fact that he wanted to not have to live in Swaziland anymore because he wants more opportunities for his future kids.
It was an incredible experience that I will always want to remember. As we move into the second week of our mission we are beginning prison ministry. It should be an amazing experience for all of the guys as we are the only ones that are able to go to the prison.
