We just spoke with the team leaders and wanted to pass along a quick update on the team.  Internet in Swaziland has been very difficult lately.  It’s either down altogether or it’s so slow that it becomes impossible to post a blog.  But the leaders will continue to try to post blogs.  For now they wanted you guys to know that things are going great there.  The team is doing really well together and they’re loving ministry.  Yesterday they were at a local hospital praying for patients and during this time they met some American missionaries who...

Hi friends!  We are all doing well.  The ministry is exhausting, but our God is greater, stronger, and higher! 🙂 I wanted to put up some pictures of our homestead to show you all what daily life has become for us.We haven’t showered in over a week, we’ve gotten good at washing each other’s hair out of a bucket, and we’ve learned to cook enough for 21 people in a half-sized oven.  hahaIt has been a learning experience to be sure. 🙂 Hey everyone…so we’ve been here a week. WOW it feels like so much longer than that.  I got a...

Well, everyone…Swazi landed!  We got into the Johannesburg airport on the 5th and stayed at a missions hostel that night.  The following morning our team drove from South Africa to Manzini, Swaziland.  It was wonderful to sleep, talk, and take in our first views of the country.  It is a completely different world.  After settling in at our homestead that first night in Swazi, we had a cultural briefing and then made dinner.  Food has been an adventure.  Our team is huge and we don’t have very many resources, but the team has been great and...

As I was preparing to leave in the weeks leading up to Africa I felt discouraged.  I didn’t feel the excitement I wanted to feel or felt I should I have.  And I had been excited to go for several months.  So I wanted to figure out what had changed.  Was it me?  Was it nerves about leaving the country?  Was I scared to be in contact with people who had AIDS?  I knew I had been discouraged with my job search and that was putting a damper on things, but it should not have had the effect it did.  I actually felt the trip was coming at a good...

The biggest thing that stood out to me on this trip:   I was talking to a girl my age in the clinic. She, her two sisters, and five brothers were orphans. Being 15, she was the oldest and took care of her family. She was a Christian and her favorite passage was Psalm 23. This really shocked me and opened my eyes to see what kind of life she was living on the other side of the world from me.  

When preparing for and arriving in Swaziland, I was ready to share my gifts as a nurse to care for the Swazi people. I was ready with my medical tools and suitcases full of medication.    On our first day of ministry, I was excited as we entered the homestead of a woman who was 41 and had a stroke disabling the whole right side of her body–as well as TB. I felt that with all my medical knowledge, I could help ease her pain. However, God had other plans, for when she told us that she had great sorry in her heart–and that she lost her joy–I had nothing modern...