Swazi Love

      Here’s what happened on our first full day in Swaziland: our team was having a team meeting ( I think we were discussing our schedule or something) when one of the YWAM Swaziland base staff pops his head in the room and nonchalantly says, “the hill is on fire can you guys follow me and help put it out?” Umm sure?!? We proceed to follow him out the gate of the property and make our way down the hillside; we each grab a leafy tree branch and start beating a raging as grass fire.  It was hot, smoky, and actually quite a bit of fun. We definitely felt a sense of accomplishment when  the fire was finally out. 

                                                 

      The way we jumped into fighting a fire is the same way we approach each day here in Swaziland-not knowing exactly what we’re heading into, but heading into it all the same with the attitude that we are going to fight any fire with the fire that is inside of us; and we can all agree that our fires are stoked just by being on this base surrounded by the beauty of God. Picture this: you wake up in the morning, pour yourself a cup of coffee and walk outside to have devotionals…okay forget picturing it in your mind we’ll just show you:

How can you not see the Lord in this—it’s effortless! As much as we all loved Refilwe there is something so special about being back on a YWAM base. I’m sure it’s a combination of our surroundings and knowing that everyone here on base worships the same God. We are so blessed!

      Here’s what we have been up to thus far: manual labor around the YWAM Swaziland base (digging holes, repairing fences, fighting fires) manual labor at an orphanage in Mbabane, preaching/dramas/testimonies/bible studies at a local church, interceding for Swaziland, other teams, the Oxford base etc. and worshiping our sweet Lord among other things. We’ve been stretching ourselves in the way of flexibility—for example we planned to do the Everything drama, give one testimony, and preach a message at a church service; we roll up to find out they want us to do two dramas, give six testimonies, and not do a sermon—FLEXIBILITY at its finest!

      We spent five days in the bush of Swaziland and loved every minute of it! We worked closely with Grace International Ministries, mostly working with the local kids, but we did have the opportunity to walk in the mountains to some remote villages and do some door to door evangelism. It was a special/odd feeling to be the first white people seen by some of the children we visited! We had such a great time hanging out together as a team-reading the new testamant, playing cards, climbing avocado trees, avoiding bats and wild dogs, and enjoying the awesome sunsets! God is doing some amazing things in us and we feel so blessed to be here in Africa!

Keep checking back for more posts!

Are We in Africa??

      This is a question we have asked ourselves almost daily.  We’ve set up shop here near Lanseria, SA in a place called Refilwe. It is SO NICE here! The “compound” if you will, is set on a large plot of land that is complete with multiple gardens, a school/gym, a worm farm, a fish farm project, and houses where the Godparents live with their families. We know what you’re thinking because we thought the same, but the Godparents are not mobsters. In reality the Godparents are couples/families who are fostering the orphans that have been placed here at Refilwe. We are spoiled within the gates of this place—beautiful compound, great food, such nice people to work with! Justin prayed for hot showers…God answered! The reality is this place is amazing because the hearts of the people that have poured love and time into it are amazing! We feel like family with the staff already! God is so good! What’s life like outside the gates...less than a kilometer away from where we eat like kings every meal, people are going without anything to eat; most are sick and living in overcrowded huts. Reality check. You know what though? Jesus is here with us and there with them and we have a sweet opportunity to bridge a gap between our two very different lives.

      Here is what we’ve been up to: The kids that live here in Refilwe love to ride bikes so what better way to bless them than to build a bike jump course—each morning a few of us shovel and haul dirt to an open area to construct the course. Most of the surrounding “communities” or squatter camps are filled with people infected with HIV or TB or both…each morning a couple different people travel to these communities with different volunteers to check up on people (make sure they are taking their medications, pray with them, encourage them etc.) The other two members of our team travel with some mamas to a squatter camp to work with preschool kids—playing games, helping out the teacher and basically just loving sweet South African kids! On Tuesday nights we head into the slums of Johannesburg to hand out bread and worship with the people who live there. African worship is second to none—beautiful music made with just voices, no formal instruments. We all agree that we feel so close to the Lord when we worship with the people of South Africa!

We’ve had the opportunity to spend time with the two ladies who began Refilwe, sister Jean (a nurse) and sister Yvonne (a retired pastor); these two bear the image of Christ so gracefully! It is amazing to watch them bounce around the countryside in their little Land Rover visiting different families, alcoholics, single mothers, preschoolers etc. Each person they encounter is treated with the same amount of love and respect; it’s easy to say that we’re all the same regardless of our financial situation or our skin color but these two live out that equality mindset everyday. It is such an understatement to say that we have learned a lot from them!  

First out of the gates

      Our journey started with a few goodbye tears as we were the first to leave the base in Oxford. Anticipation quickly trumped our tears though as we headed to the airport.  A quick three hour flight and we were in Sydney, Australia gearing up for a 23 hour layover. Not being the type of team who likes to sit around for long periods of time, Steven, Heidi, Magdalena, Melissa, and Becky decided to take a walk to the Sydney Harbor/Opera House--possibly a bit ambitious because the distance from the airport to the Harbor is 9+km! Justin stayed back to guard our bags and Grace went to spend time with a cousin who lives in Sydney.

A few things we learned on our walk:

1. Hitching doesn’t work so well in a business district on Saturdays

2. Australian birds make the weirdest noises

3. Trust that the Lord is orchestrating events to bless his children—just ask him what you desire: we wanted a cheap transportation option to and from the Sydney Opera House because after 45 minutes of walking we were spent and Mark at a train station hooked us up with 5 round trip tickets for $22-and it just so happened that our dear Aussie friend Jane had given us $35  to use before we left New Zealand!

The harbor was beautiful and buzzing with people; we enjoyed the fresh air and scenery so much!  (see pictures below) We had been talking about how sweet it would be to enjoy a juicy hamburger when we got back from our sightseeing and lo and behold one of the first restaurants we walked into had a special on burgers! Yes Lord!

Full bellies?..check, tired?…check, showered?....check, comfortable place to sleep in the airport?….not so much. However, being innovative YWAMers we quickly found a solution to make a cozy sleep nest. (see pictures) The airport security guards woke us up at 5:30am (aren’t they sweet…) and once we were showered we feasted on some peanut butter and jellies and turned our attention to the Lord! We had some awesome devo and worship time in the middle of the airport—we figured what better way to start a journey than to worship the Lord and invite him along with us! We boarded our 747 and were off on a 14 hour flight to South Africa!

Highlights from the flight:

1. Justin scarfs his food and then hides his meal tray to make it look like he didn’t get one in order to get a second—genius!

2. Hot seat with Justin and Grace in the middle of the flight

3. Compression socks rocked by Becky and Magdalena

                                        Sydney Harbor Bridge

                                       Opera House

Getting ready for bed!