Swazi!!!

Hi everyone!!

It has been so, so long since I last wrote a blog, and I have so many updates. I’m in Swaziland! We’re actually in Nsoko, which is a rural area. My squad split up into boys and girls. The girls are all here in Nsoko doing CarePoint ministry, and the boys are in Manzini doing CarePoint ministry as well, along with working with a local college to teach English.

What CarePoint ministry looks like for us: all the girls are split into teams of about five, plus our leader. These teams were prayed over and thought about before we even came to training camp, and once we’re placed in them, we’re usually with those same girls for the entire nine months. They truly become your family. We do ministry together, live together, and spend most of our time together. Each team goes to a different CarePoint from Tuesday through Friday. My team goes to one called Joyella every day.

We work alongside our shepherd, Londiway (we call her Londy). We start each morning with a devotional, then usually go on a home visit in the community. After that, we come back for lunch and sometimes help the cook who prepares the manna packs. We spend the rest of the afternoon pouring into the kids and loving on them. Around 3:00, our team and Londy put together a lesson and teach it to the kids, followed by songs and worship. At 4:00 we leave to go back to base, eat dinner with the full squad at 6:00, and then have team time. Team time is when we debrief the day, pray together, and check in on each other. The days are long, but so rewarding.

Saturdays are adventure days, where we do something fun in the community, like hiking or going to a restaurant. The first Saturday here we went out to eat as a whole team. We didn’t do anything this last Saturday, but a couple of days ago we got to go on a safari in Manzini, which was so fun! We also did an outreach in Manzini on Friday, teaming up with Swazi staff to walk the streets, evangelize, and pray for people.

On a deeper level, being here in Nsoko has been so sweet and so growing, but also very hard. We live in the bush, so there are lots of bugs, frogs, lizards, and snakes. You have to be alert to all the dangers, which was super stressful at first. And then… I stepped on a snake. A black mamba. I was outside on the phone with my mom when it happened. I ran inside, burst through the doors, and yelled, “I stepped on a snake!” That night I wanted to go home. I was scared and anxious and honestly struggling to connect with the ministry. I wanted a one-way ticket home. But my parents encouraged me and reminded me of our sovereign God. I am so thankful for them and how they always point me back to Him. Through all of this, I’m learning to depend on God more deeply, to rely on Him as my protector and savior, and to cast all my worries and anxieties on Him.

My team has also been facing a lot of spiritual warfare. Everything feels so dark and heavy at our CarePoint. One day we went on a home visit and met a schizophrenic man. He looked completely lost and told us he did not want prayer because he worships the sun. We had been having a great time talking with his grandmother, but as soon as he walked up, the whole atmosphere shifted. His grandmother became frightened. She told us later that he can be very aggressive toward the children, and that every time he enters the house, she has to follow to make sure no one gets hurt. He repeated “I would rather die” over and over again. He spoke perfect English with almost no accent, which was unusual for the area, and the whole family just seemed broken and exhausted. It was heavy.

That same day at the CarePoint, a 20-year-old mentally challenged man who comes every day pulled out a knife and waved it around toward one of my teammates. Londy spoke to him and told him to take it home, but we were all on edge. That night we prayed as a team, because we all felt uneasy, and several of us were having frightening dreams.

The next day, while we were weeding a homestead near the CarePoint, the same schizophrenic man showed up again. He walked straight toward us, even though from where he came you couldn’t have seen us. He sat down and watched us work, saying things like, “I am not doing well.” It was very unsettling. We had worship music playing and prayed quietly as we worked. Eventually, he walked away. Later, two of my teammates went on another home visit with Londy, and a pig started following them. Londy threw rocks at it to scare it off, but it kept following. Then they looked back and saw the same man walking behind the pig, upset that they had thrown rocks. Eventually, Londy told him to take a different path, and thankfully he did. But he still passes by our CarePoint every day. His niece and nephew come daily for lunch, and it breaks my heart knowing they live in fear of him. We make sure to give them extra love. Despite everything, those kids are so joyful…it’s incredible.

There are countless heartbreaking stories like that. Many of these children face unthinkable circumstances, yet they radiate joy. For many of them, the meal they receive at the CarePoint is their only food for the day. Our shepherd gives some of them their only bath for the week. Some wouldn’t have clothes if the CarePoint didn’t provide them. The darkness here is real, and spiritual warfare is constant, but the Lord is also here. He’s bringing joy, hope, and strength that can only come from Him. My team is learning to lean into that, to trust Him fully, and to not depend on our own understanding.

Please be praying for a few specific things. There’s a sweet little girl at our CarePoint who is the most joyful young girl you could ever meet. She’s neglected at home and doesn’t attend school. The meal she gets at the CarePoint is her only one, and she walks a long way to get there. She often comes very dirty, and the other kids make fun of her, but our shepherd always washes her legs and makes sure she has clean clothes. We recently learned she was brutally abused as a toddler, and we don’t know if she’s completely out of that situation. Please be praying for her safety and healing.

Another little girl, just two years old, showed up at the CarePoint a few days ago and stood silently at the gate. When I went to hug her, I saw that she had a deep gash under her nose that was starting to get infected, and the right side of her face was bloody. We cleaned her up as best we could, but she seemed so disoriented. She said it didn’t hurt and that her sister did it. When her mother called for her from the gate about fifteen minutes later, she ran home without even grabbing her lunch. We haven’t seen her since, and there’s nothing even our shepherd can do in that situation. Please pray for her safety too.

Also pray for the mentally disabled young man I mentioned earlier. He recently brought an even larger, machete like-knife to the CarePoint, and despite being told not to, he keeps bringing new ones. Last time, a little boy grabbed it and started swinging it around, not understanding what it was. Please pray for protection over all the children, and for wisdom for our leadership on how to handle these difficult and dangerous situations. There is a very real and heavy spiritual battle happening here, and we are praying that we can counter it with the power and presence of Jesus.

On a lighter note, I have a praise! I’ve been asking God each night to wake me up at a specific time in the morning without an alarm, and He has done it every single day for the past week. It’s the craziest thing! He wakes me up right on time so I can have quiet abide time with Him before the day starts. Those mornings have become my favorite part of the day. My relationship with the Lord has never felt more like a friendship. I’ve learned to depend on Him for everything, my comfort, my protection, my strength, and my encouragement. He is so good.

I could keep talking about all the ways God is working here in Swaziland, but that’s all for now. Please keep praying for me and my squad. God is moving and answering prayers here in such powerful ways.

Love you all!