During training camp, we did this thing called listening prayer. Pretty much all you do is ask God a question, quiet your mind, and listen to what God has to say. Quieting my mind is the hard part. I’m always thinking about something – rather, stressing about something. Even at school, I walk through the halls staring at my feet, worrying about something or someone. Philippians 4:6 pops in my head often. It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with...

With every child there is bound to be laughter, and with every laugh there is bound to be love. This has pretty much been the center of my time so far in Swaziland. There is nothing like hearing a little child laugh hysterically. It is so joyful, so uplifting, and so hopeful. I think the thing I love most about laughter is the child like silliness. In Swaziland, we are building relationships with kids who have been forced to be responsible and take care of themselves because of poor home lives and situations–circumstances out of their control. These kids rarely have the chance to...

This Monday the team went to a ministry debrief at the AIM offices in Manzini. We learned about the work that is being done in Swaziland. First, some statistics, the population of Swaziland is 1.3 million and 45% of that is under 18. Life expectancy is only 51 years, 69% under poverty line and unemployment is over 40%. In a lot of cases one person’s working salary supports 13 people. AIM has created Care points to help aid in this area as to come along side the community and help them as they support their families. Care points provide 2 meals a day,  it also has a formal...

Well yall. It’s been two weeks today, and we’ve got two more to go. God’s love has already immeasurably surrounded us. We have met many incredible people and have made outstanding relationships. The laughter of the team has filled the hallways of our team house and with all these experiences, the enemy is still bound to throw hardships and doubts our way.               Coming onto this trip many of us were expecting big things. And the Lord has shown us huge things, but in different way than we could have...

I’ve been on a few mission trips before, but never anything as long or as far away as this one. We are halfway through our stay here in Swaziland and the thought of only being here for two more weeks is slowly breaking my heart. I’ve started to fall for this beautiful country and everything that comes along with it. It is crazy how different Swazi is from back home, but all the differences make my heart swell with joy. The differences aren’t just the basic things like the language, food, or landscape. It’s everything. It’s the strangers that yell greetings...

Here are some pictures from the past week:   Always finding a beautiful view. Caroline and Katelin spent some time in the preschool room teaching songs and playing games. We filled up so many wheel barrels full of dirt to fill holes around the care point.  Grace learned how to make popcorn over the stove this week– she did great!  Annie and Dani patiently waiting for the popcorn. The popcorn did not disappoint! All the smiles and thumbs up for popcorn!  We painted the bathroom at the care point a beautiful lime green. Most of the girls came home looking like...