How many people can honestly say they knew that Swaziland
existed as a country in Africa? I know before the race I would have to admit I
did not know. I want to just share a little bit about this secret country for
those that do not know much about it. First thing I want to share is a
statistic. Over 90% of Swaziland has HIV/Aids and the population is around One
Million people. Sex and alcohol
run this country as well as a wicked king. Swaziland is the last remaining full monarchy. The King does whatever he wants and
each year has a ceremony where he picks a new wife. He has many wives and the way he chooses one each year is
that over a hundred young women that range from ages 12 to 30 dance naked in
front of him. They also do many
traditions that are very dark and demonic. One tradition is that many young men are placed in a ring
with a bull and they have to kill the bull with their bare hands. After they do
this, the King then with a new job or position, rewards them. The young man then has to take the
heart of the bull out with his hands and the King takes a bite out of it. How would you like it if good ole Obama
did this tradition every year?
Swaziland is a very dark place, but our team has fallen in
love with Fontotje. We have been
working with an organization called Hope Rises. Our main contact has lived in
Swaziland for two years. Her name is Corine and she was such a blessing to
us. She gave up her life in
Fresno, California where she was a highly paid executive and lives quite simply
as she shares the love of Christ with the community of Fontotje. She has taught
us many things about Swaziland and one in particular is that the traditions are
still very alive here. Even many
of the believers will send their own daughters to dance before the King. It is
like this evil King blinds them all.
Another thing she taught us about Swaziland is that SEX IS A COMMODITIY.
Many of the young girls will use sex as a means of trading. They would have sex
for food, clothes, and even sex for shoes. Please pray for the government of
Swaziland, while the villages are overran by orphans and people are starving,
the King bought all his wives and children the new Mercedes Benz and BMW’s this
past year.
These our our two teams with Corine. She was amazing!
Most of this month we did physical labor where we spent time
building a preschool and a care point for the communities. Just to clarify a
care point is where all the orphans of the community will come and get fed by
the Go-Go’s which were the elderly women of the community. We really enjoyed our time building
because not only did we learn many new things, but we shared life with the
different men we worked with. Most all of them could speak English fairly well
so they would tell us all about the Government and traditions of Swaziland. We truly bonded with many of the men
and the Lord blessed everyday. I will miss Mkolisi, Livi, Revelation, Mdedusi,
Peggi, Punu and all the other men that we grew very close to. On the last day
we had a big bonfire with some dancing, and they each shared with us a way that
we impacted them this month. We were all brought to tears as a team, as each of
them called us family and gave us their blessing.
Some of the men we worked with who became very close to us
I was really bad at plastering in the beginning, but by the end of the month I was throwing the concrete up there like the Swazi’s. They told me I was official by the end.
After we would work for half of the day we would then walk
to the local health clinic where we would pray over the sick and try to share
the Gospel. It was a powerful time
and the Lord taught us many things. As a team we are learning how to pray with
authority and confidence and some of my teammates said that by the end of the
month they had never prayed the way they did when we were at the clinic. It was
so encouraging just to see the growth that the Lord does in each of us
throughout the month.
We had the chance to go to several African Churches this
month and that had to be one of the highlights of the month. I have to say one
thing Africa has that America does not is rhythm. Every church was a big
African dance party it was incredible. I have never danced so much in church it
was very freeing. I hope you enjoy the short video clip of my message that my
teammate made; it was so fun preaching this month. Sometimes I would just have to dance while I was up there
and the church would always join me and shout out AmenJ
Got to preach several times this month. It was so fun preaching in Africa.
Mkalisi is a dear brother that I will really miss.
My Friend Lucky who taught me many things about plastering.
It was so powerful seeing the Lord work in our prayers as a
team. There were many things
shifted in the spiritual realm this past month and we even go to see many
answered prayers. One in particular was one of our dear friends Punu. Early in the month he was having many
nosebleeds, which is a clear sign of HIV.
He was very nervous so we laid hands on him and prayed and the next week
the nosebleeds stopped, but he was still certain he was HIV positive. We prayed
for him many days and one of our teammates Emily had a strong burden for
him. On the last day in Fontotje
Emily, Jon, April and I walked him to the clinic to be tested. We prayed for
him and after many minutes that seemed like an eternity he came out with the
news that he was HIV negative! He told us that when we prayed for him that God
saved him. It was very exciting for all of us, and a great testimony to the
power of prayer through Christ.
This is Punu who became our dear friend, and the Lord saved him from HIV
Thank you all for your support and love. Your prayers really do affect our days I can not tell you how many times the Lord would bring someone in our path to help us with directions when we get lost or give us a ride somewhere. Just to give you an update on my support I am at 11,200 out of the 14,400 I need. The Lord is just using so many people to bless me. I have to have the full amount by July so please continue to pray for support. If the Lord moves you to support me please click on the support tab on the top of the page. Thank you so much for listening to His voice God bless you all until we meet again!
