While in Swaziland, I have met two of the coolest guys that I have ever met. I had the chance to work on a farm with one and I had the chance to hang out, work with and go fishing with the other one.
This past week, my team and I had the chance to go to a farm for the week. We did a ton of weeding, watering plants, shoveling minure. And digging up new crop beds. The people who are taking care of the farm are so amazing. Jesse and his wife Micara are two of the sweetest people that I have ever met. They met in high school and got married two years ago. They are both 23 and work the farm as missionaries. They came from Ohio(the big “OH” -“IO”!!!). Jesse is such a good guy. I had many conversations with him about life and how he came to know the lord. He is on fire for the lord and it is easy to see the love of Christ in him. We had a conversation about how he knew what he was supposed to do in life. He told me, “I never really knew what I was doing. I just followed the lord and he opened up the paths and lead me down the paths that he wanted me to follow.”.
I want to be like Jesse in this aspect. I want to go to the lord with open arms and chase after him in life. In Proverbs 20:24 it says, “How can we understand the road we travel? It is the lord who directs our steps”. I’ve always thought that I made my own steps and paths. But I realized that God has done that the whole time. I want to simply follow him and let him choose the paths that I go down throughout the rest of my life. In Proverbs 16:33 it says, “We may throw the dice, but the lord determines how they fall”. That is so stinking true! I may decide to go to college or work after the race or pursue something else, but only God will put that certain path in front of me. So again, I simply walk the open arms and an open mind. That is one of the many things that Jesse has taught me this past week.
I have had the privilege to do a bunch of things these past 3 months with one of the hardest working, genuine, and loving guys that I have ever met. Nelson came to Swaziland from Pennsylvania. He worked a lot in Aquaponics, construction, maintenance and many many many other jobs. He works here in Swaziland for AIM. He has spent the past 6 months building and designing the the new AIM base that we are staying at. He brought his whole family with him. The two of us immediately became good friends. We both like a lot of the same stuff and I like doing the work that he does here in Swaziland. He is in his early 40’s I believe.
He invited my team and I and a couple girls to hang out with his family at his house. We played Madden 2016, Halo 4 and Battlefield 1 with his 2 sons. I made one of the guys rage due to my insanely good “Gorrila Warfare” fighting tactics in Halo 4. Haha. The girls played with his daughter. That was one of the best days that I have had in Swaziland. Plus, Nelson made us some insanely good coffee from coffee beans that he bought in South Africa. Definitely beats the instant coffee that we drink. Nelson and I had a long conversation about the work that he has done throughout his life. In that simple conversation, God gave me a better idea of what I’m ment to do in life. The next day, Nelson took 3 of us guys and one of his sons fishing. We caught Bass, and Talapia. I absolutely loved fishing with him. It was a ton of fun and I couldn’t have asked for a cooler way to spend an off day. He loves his family so much and he is such a good Dad to his kids. I want to be a father like him when I have kids.
Nelson not only taught me a bunch of things about life, but he reminded me of someone. He is very similar to my grandpa “Poppie”. Spending time with Nelson felt like I was hanging out with my grandpa. He made me realize how much I love my grandpa. I love my grandpa with my whole heart and I can’t wait until I get home to tell him all of the amazing things that God has done and will do in my life throughout the rest of the race. I also can’t wait to go hunting with him and have a big cup of amazing American coffee over bacon and eggs with him. I love you Poppie!!!
Well, I have many adventures ahead of me! I know that it was a long one, but we are going to be on our way to Nepal in a week or two. See y’all in the next blog post. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post.
-Trev
