It so funny how fast time flies when you are on the race. It feels months ago that I was in Mozambique, attempting with all my might to learn Portuguese & Senai so that I may communicate with the locals. Now, after quite a short bus ride, we are located at an orphanage called El Shaddi in Swaziland, Africa.
As our whole squad pulled up, I knew the rumors were true: El Shaddi was paradise. Funny, the video I made from Debrief uses the Coldplay song, "Paradise," however, as I am writing this, I am reconsidering changing it to the El Shaddi video. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say this, El Shaddi is the most beautiful place I've ever been. Who knew Swaziland was so gorgeous? Who knew Africa was more than starving children on the side of the road? Who knew we would be placed on the tip top of a mountain, over looking a valley with a mountain range that went beyond the horizon. Why was the Lord blessing us so much? How did we luck out?
We've known for about a week that my small team (N'Pursuit) was going to be placed with my favorite group of girls on another small team called Rooted Waters. I have been beyond excited for our two teams to mesh, for I've already gotten to know all of these girls on a personal basis by staying with them at Launch in D.C.
When we arrived, we learned we had regular toilets (that flushed!!YAY), running water in our showers (YIPPEE), & would be shopping for our own groceries in town (BABAM!). We also learned we would be working with children all day, specifically babies, preschool age, & some middle school age. We also had a couple options to tutor, lead chapel service, scrape paint & do a bit of gardening. This was just getting better & better!
To top it off, we could hike anywhere we wanted all over the mountains that surrounded camp!! So how did we start off our first morning? A little hour & a half hike (pictures coming) to a ridge that overlooked the entire valley. As I found a little nook in the rock, I realized I was literally laying out like I would be at the beach, but with a bird's eye view of paradise.
I can't wait for this month to start! It seems as though there are so many possibilities, my team is getting closer & closer each day, & I am surrounded the Lord's favor. Thank you Jesus for this amazing destination to serve your people!! More to come about ministry later 🙂
