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?