Keep the Tide

Well everyone, I am amazed that my time here is now more than half
finished! Some days it seems like I’ve only been here for a week –
other days it seems like I’ve been here for a year!
Our children’s Word study has been going pretty well. We have about
thirty kids coming every week. We’re storying the Word chronologically
so we’ve been trying to hit all the big stories and emphasize points
that are relevant to our kiddos.
We have struggled with getting our girls all together for our True
Love Waits study. Funerals and transportation are among the obstacles
that we face. It gets a little frustrating but I know that the Father
will make a way!
Last weekend we had an awesome opportunity to go to Mozambique – so we
took it! Some of our friends, some South African belungu who live in
Swaziland wanted us to see the beach :) It took SO LONG to get there,
although we aren’t terribly far from Mozambique. The reason? The
roads! On the Moz side it was mostly sand roads so we had to drive
very slowly. We camped out by the beach for a few nights. It was
absolutely gorgeous. One of the ways that I experience the power of
our Creator the most is through His creation – especially the ocean. I
had some really great time to commune with Him and sing and just bask
in His glorious sunlight. (Which led to a glorious sunburn! Haha)
I’ve begun going on a walk in the game reserve near our house every
morning for a while just to be alone with my Father. I have been SO
blessed by that time. I didn’t realize how much I absolutely NEED that
time to be able to speak aloud and just be alone. Living with two
other women doesn’t give one very much alone time so I have learned
this need about myself. I like the exercising part of it as well as
the being alone – and I get to see wildebeests and impalas on a daily
basis.
During that time, I kept thinking about this gogo, named Gogo Impapa.
She kept coming to my thoughts, so I decided that I needed to go visit
her. I SMSed our Make and asked her if we could go to visit this lady
together and she said that would be great. We showed up at Mafucula
and greeted everyone. Then as I was thinking (which I happen to do a
lot), I thought that this gogo might need some food or things like
candles, so we bought some things from Make & Babe’s store and went on
our way. We were somewhat unsure of how the gogo’s condition was or
what her illness even is. I now believe she’s just old and
experiencing old age…and maybe dementia. But they say she’s “not okay
in her head”.
While we were sitting out on a grass mat waiting for her daughter to
go into Gogo Impapa’s hut and bring her out to see us, I was asking
Babe how Gogo was.
Here is how I heard his reply: “She’s dead. Yeah…just too dead. She
smells.” I. WAS. MORTIFIED! Were they going to bring out a dead woman?
Why hadn’t they taken her to the morgue?! How am I supposed to react
to this? They don’t bring out dead bodies to greet people in my
culture!
Here is what he really said: “She’s dirty. Yes, too dirty. She
smells.” Thankfully, Kim had understood him correctly and hinted to me
that he was saying “dirty” and not “dead”.
When they brought her out, Babe went to greet her and I would almost
swear that he said, “Uyapapa” which means “You’re Crazy”. I was
like…rude! But her surname is “Impapa” so I assume that I just
misheard. Believe me, I cleaned my ears that night when we got home!
Anyway, we prayed for this woman and sang with her (in true Swazi
fashion) and gave her the things, then went back to the store (which
is kind of the hang-out place in Mafucula) for a little while.
We found out this week that one of Corine’s close Swazi friends,
Florence, passed away from complications of the AIDS virus. It put a
face to a common occurrence here. The life expectancy is now down to
43 in Swaziland. Please lift the pandemic up to our Father. It is a
desperate situation.
This past weekend was Kim’s birthday. Saturday night we decided to
braai (grill out)…so we’re just sitting out on our veranda getting the
grilling done…and we decided to get out iHome out and listen to some
music…and dance. As we’re standing outside dancing, our neighbor girl
Munju came over and joined us. Then another woman who lives just down
the street (who also operates a delicious chicken dust business) named
Busisiwe came to bring us some chicken. Somehow it turned into a dance
party. Busi left and came back with a CD of Swazi house music and a
friend and it was ON! We attracted most of our female neighbors and
their children and had an impromptu dance party. I don’t know if I
have laughed so much since I’ve been here! It will definitely be one
of my favorite memories for a long time :) We ended up inviting
everyone to stay for dinner and then there was some post-dinner
dancing as well.
This week we were blessed to have Mrs. Kym Coe with True Love Waits
here with us. We did some True Love Waits training and did a practice
presentation. We had not done much of the presentation ourselves so it
was nice to get a chance to do that. We had some awesome fellowship
with Kym while she was here in Tshaneni and we are thankful for all
her love and support.
Here are some ways for you all to be lifting us up to our Creator:
•    It has been reported that the SwaziCan Citrus farm is closing down.
We know many people very involved in this situation, including many
from the ch*rch that we attend the most in Vuvulane. A large number of
people will be losing their jobs and homes due to this change of
hands. We are unsure of exactly how the situation will turn out but we
ask for you to lift it up!
•    That the true TLW message would make an impact on these people. We
have been trying to start a study with the girls at Mafucula for a
while now and we keep hitting roadblocks. Ask Dad to make a way!
•    Continue in asking for help with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We do have
ARVs now but sometimes the virus is resistant to the limited types of
ARVs that this country has.
•    Strongholds and falsehoods: many people are dying because they
simply stop taking their ARVs. They believe that the Lord will heal
them rather than them having to take their medicine.
•    Time magazine recently published an article on the Kingdom of
Swaziland. While from a biased source, the article made some very
revealing points on the state of Swaziland. I encourage you to read it
and pray for this place!
•    Transformation. Ultimately the Gospel needs to penetrate the hearts
of the people and cause them to change their lives. Until that
happens, nothing will change.