Sanibonani, Ngiyanibingelela, egmani la Jesu Khristu
(Hello to you all, I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ.)
So where do I begin? Honestly we have only been here for two days but I feel like theres so much that has happened.
So we arrived in Jo'burg on the 31, spent the night at a guest house and got up early the next morning to leave for Swaziland. Thanks to jet lag, getting up at 5:30am has been a regular occurrence. We were told to eat at his little cafe place in the airport called News Cafe, which had the most amazing Banana Peanut Butter smoothie I've ever had in my life. After eating, we boarded our plane and were bound for Swaziland!!!
Upon arriving in Swaziland, we were greeted by some of the missionaries taking care of us while we're over here.It was comforting to finally meet Todd(His wife, Deborah is also a missionary), Wayne, Hunter, Katie and Monica(her husband, Steve is also a missionary here). Their smiling faces and warm welcome helped ease some of the nerves that I had accumulated over the combination of the flights.They are amazing people and I couldnt think of better hands to be in while in Swaziland. Day 1 of Orientation officially began back at the missionaries' house in Mbanane, which is the capital city of Swaziland. That night we split up and the girls stayed at the mission house while the guys went with Todd to his flat in Manzini. Interesting little tid bit, Todd lives above where the Adventures in Missions office is, which is the organization that one of the girls that I graduated with, Catherine Jackson, is going through to either come to Swaziland or South Africa to do missions work. How amazing is it that two kids who graduated from a class of 32 would end up in the same city doing missions with two different organizations, living only a floor away from each other. God is simply awesome, no other way to describe that.
Anyways, I do believe the spiritual warfare became evident last night as when I was dreaming, I found myself praying(not sure if I slept talk or just dreamt it) to God that he would keep me away from Satan and the demons. Once we woke up today at 5:30, we were able to do a bible study with one of Todd's Swazi friends named Lucky. During the middle of it, I found myself becoming very worried and scared about going into the field on Monday because none of the missionaries will be going with us. I quickly opened my Bible and it flipped to Mark 11: 22-25, which states:
We also began learning the language today. Its incredibly hard but we are slowly catching hold. The spoken language of most of the Swazis is called SiSwati. Its full of unusual sounds and clicks. The title of this post is an example of SiSwati. Im not really worried about it that much because I know God will break through language barriers when it comes to doing His work.
All in all, its been relatively easy adjusting to Swaziland for the moment . While staying with the missionaries, we've had "normal" food and comfortable beds. We don't go out into the field until Monday. I pray that God continues to reveal His will for us while we're here. I've only been here two days, but I already feel that Swaziland is a part of me. Theres so much opportunity here to spread the amazing love and grace of Jesus. Everyone here is willing to talk for hours it seems. Swazis are in no hurry like Americans. They are yearning to hear truth, as many here have only heard bits and pieces. Im going to post some pictures that I have taken so far. Enjoy! Please continue to pray, pray, and pray some more.
Peace, Love, and Swazi.
So where do I begin? Honestly we have only been here for two days but I feel like theres so much that has happened.
So we arrived in Jo'burg on the 31, spent the night at a guest house and got up early the next morning to leave for Swaziland. Thanks to jet lag, getting up at 5:30am has been a regular occurrence. We were told to eat at his little cafe place in the airport called News Cafe, which had the most amazing Banana Peanut Butter smoothie I've ever had in my life. After eating, we boarded our plane and were bound for Swaziland!!!
Upon arriving in Swaziland, we were greeted by some of the missionaries taking care of us while we're over here.It was comforting to finally meet Todd(His wife, Deborah is also a missionary), Wayne, Hunter, Katie and Monica(her husband, Steve is also a missionary here). Their smiling faces and warm welcome helped ease some of the nerves that I had accumulated over the combination of the flights.They are amazing people and I couldnt think of better hands to be in while in Swaziland. Day 1 of Orientation officially began back at the missionaries' house in Mbanane, which is the capital city of Swaziland. That night we split up and the girls stayed at the mission house while the guys went with Todd to his flat in Manzini. Interesting little tid bit, Todd lives above where the Adventures in Missions office is, which is the organization that one of the girls that I graduated with, Catherine Jackson, is going through to either come to Swaziland or South Africa to do missions work. How amazing is it that two kids who graduated from a class of 32 would end up in the same city doing missions with two different organizations, living only a floor away from each other. God is simply awesome, no other way to describe that.
Anyways, I do believe the spiritual warfare became evident last night as when I was dreaming, I found myself praying(not sure if I slept talk or just dreamt it) to God that he would keep me away from Satan and the demons. Once we woke up today at 5:30, we were able to do a bible study with one of Todd's Swazi friends named Lucky. During the middle of it, I found myself becoming very worried and scared about going into the field on Monday because none of the missionaries will be going with us. I quickly opened my Bible and it flipped to Mark 11: 22-25, which states:
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly[a] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”Immediately after reading this passage, my worries and fears went away. I know that my confidence during this trip is in God alone, it is Him that will be doing the work. God has shown Himself, time and time again already on this trip and I can't wait to see the amazing work He will be doing on the field. We also talked today in orientation about demonic possessions and how we might see someone possessed. Let me tell you, when youre about to go out into a missionary field, in the middle of Swaziland, living in a cement house with only 2 other guys, the last thing you want to hear is you may encounter demonic activity. Once again, I know that He that is in me is greater than he that is in this world. So I will face the demonic activity, if encountered with any, with the armor of God.
We also began learning the language today. Its incredibly hard but we are slowly catching hold. The spoken language of most of the Swazis is called SiSwati. Its full of unusual sounds and clicks. The title of this post is an example of SiSwati. Im not really worried about it that much because I know God will break through language barriers when it comes to doing His work.
All in all, its been relatively easy adjusting to Swaziland for the moment . While staying with the missionaries, we've had "normal" food and comfortable beds. We don't go out into the field until Monday. I pray that God continues to reveal His will for us while we're here. I've only been here two days, but I already feel that Swaziland is a part of me. Theres so much opportunity here to spread the amazing love and grace of Jesus. Everyone here is willing to talk for hours it seems. Swazis are in no hurry like Americans. They are yearning to hear truth, as many here have only heard bits and pieces. Im going to post some pictures that I have taken so far. Enjoy! Please continue to pray, pray, and pray some more.
Peace, Love, and Swazi.
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| The team at one of the outdoor markets |
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| View from Missons Home |
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| The Missons House where we have orientation |
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| So apparently its illegal to take pictures of government buildings in Swaziland, including airports. Thankfully,they didn't catch me like they did Tori. They made her delete her picture. |
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| Swaziland Flag |
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| Pancakes and Ice cream for breakfast? Sounds good to me. Unfortunately, they were out of pancakes. |
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| Our first glimpse of a "Squatty Potty". This one is much nicer than what we will be using. |
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