Sawubona (Hello) from beautiful Swaziland!!
After 3 days of travel, we finally made it to our home here in Ezulwini, located 10km outside of the capital of Swaziland, Mbabane. As I write this, we’re embarking on day 3 here. We’re beginning to settle into our home here and are currently making ministry connections. As you pray for us, pray that God will continue to open doors of opportunity for us to love Him and His people here.
The team continues to bond as we discover the joys and challenges of community living. We’re quickly becoming family…one VERY large family of 21! Each evening we gather to talk about the day and share our experiences with each other. We’ve also had some time for people to share their timelines. We’ve all been tremendously blessed by this time that we can grow closer as a team.
We also have an addition to our team. Her name is Khanyisile and she has come to live with us to help with translating. She’s also a great resource when it comes to us navigating our way around town. We are excited to have her with us and are looking forward to learning more about the Swazi culture through her. We have a lot to learn!
Yesterday afternoon, we split into 2 groups for ministry. One group ventured off on foot towards the homestead (neighborhood) located just behind our house. John, Amber, Tawney, Rob, Derek, Bekah, Jennifer, Shannon, and Seth enjoyed an afternoon of getting to know the people in the homestead. They met many people and were able to encourage them and simply share life with them. They also had fun playing with the kids at the school located a few blocks from our house. They returned home yesterday evening bright-eyed and full of stories. We are planning to spend many afternoons in this neighborhood investing into people and we’re all excited for what God is going to do through this time.
The other group made up of Chris, Ian, Peter, Lauren, Rachel, Hannah, Kirstie, Kaitlin, Sarah Laine, Sarah, Whitney, and Kayla spent the afternoon at the Sandra Lee Centre, which is an orphanage for abandoned children. The missionaries that run this ministry are friends of AIM and it was great to connect with them and serve them. We had a full afternoon of loving on the 20 children there. We returned home with new friendships built with these kids and we cannot wait to get back to them.
Thank you for all your prayers. We’ll continue to keep you updated as best as we can. Please specifically pray for:
- Continued good health
- Team unity as we continue to grow together
- For God to open doors for us to take part in what He’s doing here.
- Discernment as we choose ministry locations for the next few weeks
