Police, a Gogo, and Public Transport

Well yesterday started out nice and sweet. The Encounters Team, Matt and Laura, and us interns packed up and had breakfast together. We also were able to spend a little bit more time on the internet before we sent the Encounters Team off on their way to Joburg and then to their respected homes. Some pictures, laughs and goodbyes were exchanged and they loaded up on the sprinter.

The plan was then for us interns, the Brennflecks, and Matt and Laura to come back to Nsoko together. But for various reasons, the Brennflecks and the interns were taken to public transport to get to Nsoko, while Matt and Laura drove back with all of the luggage. So Matt dropped us off and I am sure he was laughing as we got out and he drove off because he did not prepare us for this adventure at all. So let me set the stage for you, Matt dropped us at an intersection without even parking the car so we all frantically get out and on the sidewalk so we don’t impede traffic. There are people everywhere since we are at an area where all the buses come and go. No words can really describe how overwhelming it was. So we are at the corner and we go to cross the street. We all get across only then to be stopped by a police officer because apparently we jaywalked. Apparently we need to go across the other way but we were unaware. But this police officer wanted us to go to the police station and she was very insistent about it. We all kind of exchanged looks with one another and took a deep breathe knowing that today was definitely going to be an adventure, its ok though because we all peed before ;P (Shout out to the Encounters Team). So she lead us across the street toward the station and then she stopped and kind of chuckled and walked off after another warning. No ticket, no fine, no jail time. Thank you Jesus for answered prayers. Now it was then time to find the right bus to take us to Matata. There are people everywhere and buses everywhere and it was just chaos. So many people yelling trying to get us to get on their bus. We all huddled up to try to make a game plan of how we were going to find the right bus. But as we were doing so, one bus started backing up right near us without much awareness because a gogo was definitely hit. She walked away unharmed but her parting words were, “That bus drive is so rude!” We all may have had minor heart attacks as we saw all of this unfold. Burger then found our bus as we all stayed put. We then all headed in that direction to find more screaming people who were very aggressive about us getting on the bus. There happened to be two buses headed to Matata but only one was ready to go and it was definitely full. We tried to get on the other one but with everything being so chaotic and all the screaming we got on the one that was ready to go. We all climbed in to find out that there was just enough room for us to be smashed together in the aisle. Holding on for dear life we started going. There was a slight sigh of relief knowing that we were on the right bus and on our way. But the stress returned as people kept having to push their way through the aisle to collect the bus fare money from everyone or to get off at the various bus stops. I don’t think any of us have ever experienced so much awkward touching from so many people. Eventually, the bus emptied out some so that we all were sitting. Unfortunately though it was too late for me to avoid motion sickness. (The Dramamine I had was in my luggage that was in the car with Matt). We eventually got to Matata and had lunch at a café and then got to our house in Nsoko. It was quite an adventure and Matt is lucky that he is still alive. Only in Africa would stories like this occur frequently. We are fortunate that their were no livestock on our ride though.

Needless to say, we are safe and glad to be back in Nsoko. We got to go to church at Eskhaleni which was such a blessing.

Sarah, Amy, and I on the bus

Nothando and the Gogos

Being given the name Nothando and being involved in the ministries here in Swaziland, I cannot help but think about the concept of love. It is a small word but it means the world. Without love, there is not much. The God that we serve is the very definition of love as 1 John explains. The two most important commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor according to Jesus in the gospels. Love is an emotion, but it is so much more. Love is an action. Love does things and it may not make sense to people or this world. Many didn’t understand why Christ would die on a cross, many still don’t. Peter did not understand why Christ washed the disciples feet. Love, it is a powerful thing, one that changes the world.

Home visits have grown to be one of my favorite ministries here in Swaziland. For those that don’t know, a home visit consists of going to a homestead in the community and just building relationships with those on the homestead. Sometimes that means sharing scripture and praying. Sometimes that means listening to the stories of those that live on the homestead. Sometimes that means singing songs. Sometimes that means fetching water. Sometimes that means sitting silently as there are no words. But no matter what happens at these home visits there is something that seems to be conveyed and showed every single time. And that is love. For those that go to the homestead we are showing the gogo and the family that they are important and worthy of love. For those on the homestead, they show a love of gratitude for the visit and for the encouraging words that are shared. For the scriptures and songs and prayers there is a message of love, as God loves us more than we can ever imagine.

There was a gogo that I visited with some of the Encounters Team in Manzini. Her name was Ethel. Like many other home visits I have been on, this gogo was so grateful to be visited and even more grateful to see that we brought the Word of God and we desired to pray and share together. As we started introducing ourselves, we shared the Siswati names that we were given. As it came to be my turn, the gogo heard my name and she started speaking in Siswati about how I received that name because I have come to show her love and that that is what God desires me to do. I had just met this woman maybe 5 minutes earlier. As we continued to be with her, we shared several scriptures, many about how God is faithful and always present. “Siyabonga” and “Hallelujah” and “Amen” were the words resounding from her mouth repeatedly. This gogo is incredible though and it is hard to even explain how much love this woman has. To start out with, she was so hungry for us to share with her and be with her. As we talked with her we could hear many children laughing outside. And these were the children that she took care of day in and day out. She said that she takes care of many and we believe it to be at least 10, including 2 orphans. We asked her how she provided for them, as we knew she didn’t work. Her response (through translation), “From the crops, but mostly from God who provides all.” From looking at the homestead and the garden, there really wasn’t much food to provide for the homestead. But her faith was something spectacular as I am sure the food would not last much longer especially since there has not been much rain lately, even though it is their winter. Alongside her faith, she had this incredible love for the kids that she took care of. I can’t imagine taking care of that many children all the time at my age, let alone her age. But yet, she does and she loves them. At the end of our visit we asked if we could take a picture of her and the kids so that we could remember them and pray for them. And she was just so overwhelmingly grateful that we would even want to take a picture and remember to pray for them.

Love, it’s a powerful thing. The next day, my team was able to return to the homestead and was able to give them some food. Unfortunately I was not able to be there but I can only imagine how she smiled and how she would say “Siyabonga” repeatedly.

As I reflect on this experience, I am just reminded at how much God truly loves us. How on a daily basis He comes to our homestead and wants to just be, to share words of encouragement, to listen, to bring provisions, to remember. And yet I am also reminded at how many times I am not very grateful or I don’t repeatedly say thank you to Him.

Love is not just an emotion; it is an action and an action that can change the world. How are you changing the world?

More Adventures

June 13
Oh today has been an adventure to say the least filled with a driver, currency, airports, water, and machines.

So the three of us that are in Manzini right now (Sarah, Burger, and I) made our trek to Joburg, SA to pick up the Encounters Team but it was not without a few hiccups. Don't worry we made it safe. If not I wouldn't be having internet currently. But so the driver, Hanson, came to pick us up but not in the sprinter like it should have been. We loaded up in his VW van to go into town to get the sprinter. And then it didn't have a trailer like it was supposed to. But we made it work. We then start our trek which can be anywhere from 4-6 hours drive depending on all the circumstances. And we are doing great and making great time. Until.....

So we got to the border of Swaziland where we become bumbling Americans who have are not quite sure exactly what to do...even though we do. But we were all so anxious about everything. So thanks to Hanson we get through the border just fine with no problems and we continue on our trek.

Then we stop at Alzu which is like a gas station, restaurant, store, and a place where animals hang out all in one. And we go in to buy snacks for us and water for the team until we realize that the money we had was not rand, which is the currency for SA. We had emalagane which is the Swaziland currency. Also to note, rand and emalagane both work in Swaziland and they are equal when exchanging in Swaziland. So we scrounged up enough rand to buy our snacks and figured we would exchange the emalagane for rand when we got to the airport. The other issue with that is we need enough money to pay for the lodging for tonight. So we call Matt to figure out what to do and we continue on our trek.

Sometime down the road, Hanson pulls over. And by the way we are basically in the middle of nowhere after getting off the main road and essentially going down a road with corn on either side. But he pulls over to find out that a hose got unhooked from the radiator. Thankfully, Burger learned enough stuff from his dad who is a mechanic to figure out how to make it connect again so we could continue.

We got to the lodging to get the keys since we knew it would be late before we all returned and the office would be closed. Thankfully we got that with no problem.

Then we went to the airport to pick everyone up. We find out that one flight got delayed by almost 2 hours which later turned into more like 4. One person missed there flight so we will pick them up tomorrow. The airport wouldn't exchange emalagane for rand so we had to make shift that by using a credit card to pull out enough cash. Thankfully that got taken care of because I was getting hungry by that point. We got 3 of the people and we took them upstairs in the airport for Nandos :D Yum! And I talked with them for quite a while as Sarah and Jesse waited for 2 more to come. They eventually joined us and had Nandos themselves. And so we all hung out and talked to wait for the next 3 until we found out that their flight was also delayed. So we, everyone except Sarah and Jesse, came back to the lodging. But before we could do that, I had to pay for parking. So we got everyone out of the airport and into the sprinter with all their bags and I went to go pay for parking. But the machine wouldn't take my money and I kept trying and trying. Then Hanson came over and he couldn't get it to work either. So about 15 minutes later after asking for help and then going back into the airport we finally paid for parking and were able to leave.

Everyone is now in their rooms and probably passed out after a long day of travel.

Pray for us as we head back to Manzini tomorrow. Pray for safe and smooth travels.

Just a lil update

Tuesday, June 11, 9:30 pm

It’s a new week filled with new things. Sarah, Burger, and I are now in Manzini preparing to lead an Encounters Team for 10 days. We will pick them up from Joburg on Thursday. The rest of the interns are still in Nsoko plugging away at the ministry there as well as preparing for a group to come in on Thursday. It’s crazy to see the big differences between Manzini and Nsoko. There are so many more things happening in Manzini. It is so much more developed. There are about 32 care points in Manzini I believe compared to 10 in Nsoko. And the care points here feed so much more children and maybe that is because Manzini is more populated. I don’t know. But its crazy to see the differences and see how much Nsoko is still lacking and needing.

My heart is so glad to be back in Swaziland and returning to see familiar faces and having them remember you. I am trying to hard to learn more Siswati everyday but it is challenging as the language has so many different sounds and clicks that to my ears sound the same. Thankfully the Swazis are very patient with me. I think they enjoy laughing at us as we try to pronounce the words/phrases. I think I finally figured out how to say, “What is your name?”… “Ungnabi ligama lako?” and “My name is…”…”Ligama lami…” I also got “sorry”…”ncesi” (there is a click in that one).

I am both excited and anxious to help lead this Encounters Team. It is made up of 11 people anywhere from the ages of 15 to 53 who have never met.  There are 2 married couples and one of the married couples also has their daughter with them. The dynamics of this group are going to be interesting and I am anxious to see how everything plays out especially since I am not very familiar with Manzini. Please pray for all of us that we can all work together, that we will be able to be patient with one another, that we will be able to communicate effectively, and that our focus would be on Christ and following Him in everything that we do here at the care points, at home visits, as we walk around town, that God would be present and seen by us and through us.

Pray for rest and peace. Things have been so crazy with jumping into the different ministries, and now with some of us in Manzini. I don’t feel like I have found much of a rhythm yet and it has been quite exhausting bouncing around it feels like. I’m not sure if there will ever be much of a rhythm though because of the schedule of teams coming in and out while we are here. So pray that there is space to be and rest and be filled as we continually try to pour out and serve.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

Here is are some pictures of the sunset from tonight just outside the Manzini Team House.

Wednesday June 12, 2013

Today was filled with planning and trying to figure out things for when the Encounters team will be here. There is a lot that goes into leading a team in another country.

And then we also visited the care point that we will be at for next week with the team. Bhalakeni (pronounced Balageni) is a care point about 15 minutes or so out of Manzini. Supposedly they have around 200 kids but today I would guess there was about 100 or so. Futhi is the woman that is doing the discipleship there and she is wonderful. I got to talk with her for a good while as the kids played on the playground. It’s interesting to me to see how they look up to Americans so much. I told her that I was studying to be a teacher and that she did a great job with the kids as she taught them but she kept saying that she wants to learn more and she wants me to teach her. I told her that she should teach me but she didn’t believe that she would have much to teach. It’s just so interesting how it seems like they automatically give us more authority when I think they probably have more wisdom/authority in so many things. There were also a few kids that I started getting to know, Lesthe and Thandiwet. Lesthe is probably like 8 or 9 and Thandiwet is in High School, Form 1 to be precise. Thandiwet wants to be a teacher for younger kids. And Lesthe was so cute as she kept trying to get me to pick her up and hold her. She had so much energy and kept bouncing around which reminded me of myself a little. Hopefully soon I will have pictures of them to share with all of you.

As I think about leading a team and just the idea of missions, I keep coming back to a few things. The first is that we should come with the intentions of being learners rather than teachers. Even though from my experiences here in Swaziland, the Swazis place Americans in a place of more authority, I think we should be learning from them and their culture and walking alongside them rather than coming on top and telling them what to do. We don’t have all the answers and we should pretend like we do. And especially with teams that are coming for such a short time I think that we should especially come in as learners.

And the second thing comes from some scripture that I have been meditating on from 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 1:5 says, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” This idea of doing ministry and teaching with love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith has been laid on my heart as kind of my mission to live out as a Christian and as someone who wants to be a teacher.

On a lighter note, KFC seems to be very popular over here. And it is pretty good but be aware of the mayonnaise use. We were pretty sure we were drowning in it when we were eating our chicken burgers. Also, if you ever have the opportunity to go to a Nandos, do it! I was reminded the other day of how good it is and how glad I have returned so I can bring home Nandos sauce both the Lemon & Herb flavor and the Mild. Mmm so good! I really wish I had some right now as I type this. Oh and I don’t quite understand America. We have so many things at our finger tips and yet, as far as I know, the Carribean & Balsalmic Onion Lays Chips, Mint Chip Magnum Bars, and Cadberry Mint Crisp Chocolate are not sold or available and that is just a shame, but maybe a good thing for my waistline. :P Oh and how could I forget the Coke here. Its the little things in life :P

            I hope you all are well. Keep praying for us as we step into these different things.

Safe Arrival!!!

Well we have arrived! I arrived in Nsoko on June 6^th after roughly two 10-hour flights, an overnight stay, and a 9-hour drive. Here in Swaziland it is a 9-hour time difference from Portland so it is always an adjustment to get back on Swazi time. It is winter here in Swaziland but winter is very relevant, being as winter here still means that it is like 70 degrees is the average temperature.

I must say it is great returning. I have gotten to see a few familiar faces so far but I eagerly wait when I can see more of the children, gogos, and the rest of the ministry partners. So far as of June 7, I have seen Sanele, Smanga, Phindile, Mxolisi, and Nelly (ministry partners), Pastor Bheki and some of his family including Praise, and Bosewei, Colile (kids at the anchor center), and of course Erica (full time missionary). So much has changed since last year especially at the anchor center with the new playground equipment, the community center building is up (which replaced the use of the tent for church), and so is the earth bag house, and the community garden looks great.

So far mostly what we have done has been traveling and eating. Airplanes especially when they are international flights seem to feed you all the time, or at least that is how I felt this time. Unfortunately though they didn’t give us chocolate bars like last time L but maybe its because I didn’t fly with Luftansa and/or to Germany this time. But today (June 7) we did some cleaning around the Intern House/shopping, and split up to go to care points and home visits.

For those that don’t know…Care points are places that are set up where the gogos (grandmas) come and cook a meal Monday through Friday and the kids are welcome to come and get a meal. And then the ministry partners and teams that are around go to each of the care points and teach a lesson. In Nsoko, there are 10 care points around. And home visits are where we go to a homestead and just connect with those on the homestead and share life whether that is sharing stories about each others life, sharing scripture and thoughts, praying and sometimes even singing and then sometimes the ministry partners/team might bring supplies to the homesteads that AIM knows. So for most teams that come they will spend part of the day at care points helping with the lesson and playing with the kids and then going to home visits to get to know the community.

Today (June 7), Sarah and I also went to a few stores to get supplies, which is always an interesting adventure. On this adventure, Sarah and I had to try and find all the food we wanted for a couple days as well as cleaning supplies and some miscellaneous things. Something that is different from the states is when you get a loaf of bread, its not sliced until after you pay for it and then one of the store employees slices all the bread for you. Also on this trip, we were headed out of the store after paying and one of the security ladies stopped Sarah and I and asked for our names and then she just gave me a siswati name, Nothando, which according to Mxolisi means “Lovely One”.  I’m really sure why this lady just decided to give me a siswati name, it seems that most Swazis’ wait until they know you a little more before giving you one but hey I got a Swazi name now.

I found out that on Tuesday a few of us, (Sarah, Jesse Baumburger AKA Burger and I) will be going to Manzini for a few days to lead a team there and the rest of the interns (Ameena, Andy, and Jessy Prado) will stay in Nsoko will be leading a team here.

Sorry this if this post is kind of jumbled and not very organized. Internet is slow and we only get 15 minutes of free wifi before we have to buy a voucher for air time so I am writing this out what will be the night before this blog is posted and I’m quite exhausted from all the traveling and what not.

For those that are praying or would like to know what to pray for please continue to pray for safety and guidance. Pray that everyone continues to be renewed each day with strength and energy. Pray for the relationships that have and will be made that Christ is shown through those relationships. Pray for the ministry partners that they will be able to lead well amongst the community, pray for them to have strength and energy as well as it is there job to bring alongside all the teams to the different ministries and getting them involved. Pray for Erica as she has a lot to do with all the ministries as well as with the teams coming this summer. Pray for the gogos that they will remain healthy or get healthy if they are sick, pray for strength and guidance as they raise the children in the community. Pray for the children that they will be provided for, that they will know Christ and that they will grow up to help change Swaziland and help stop HIV/AIDs from spreading further. Pray for Pastor Bheki and all the other pastors and ministers here. Pray for patience for all of us. Pray that God continues to work in this place and continue to bring joy amongst all the situations. Pray for the teams that will be coming that God would prepare their hearts to be broken, for protection and safety, for guidance and understanding. Pray for us interns that we might also have our hearts broken for His people here in Swaziland, for protection and safety, for guidance and understanding. Pray for the families that we left that they will have peace and safety as we are away. Pray for Sarah (one of the interns) who is trying to figure out if she is going to move here for long term missions. Pray for Matt and Laura (Matt is essentially the on the ground coordinator for Nsoko with AIM and Laura is his wife) that they will also be able to lead well.

Thank you so much for all the support and prayer. I miss you all and wish that we were together but I know that this is where I need to be right now. It feels like home here to me and its always good to be home.

Hopefully soon I will be able to upload some photos but again, the internet is slow so I will do it when I get a chance.