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.
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