"What's Her Name?..."Uhmlungu"

Hello my dear friends.

Last week we spent some time at Buhleni/Fondotje with Corine helping
finish up her preschool. The guys were finishing the floor so they
were mixing a lot of concrete. They kept yelling, “More water!” So we
had to carry 20 & 25 liter containers of water on our heads most of
the day. I can’t lie, I kind of enjoyed it. On the way home that
night, though, we got a tire puncture. We went to jack up the car and
realized that Corine had lent her jack to someone and they had not
returned all the parts to it. We called Hillary & Courtney, our
friends/neighbors, to come and rescue us. When they got there, they
brought out their brand new unopened jack and noticed that it also was
missing parts! Somehow they used the parts from both jacks to make it
work and we changed the tire.

We went back to the preschool to help a couple days later and a guy
who they just call by his surname, Gama, was there. He doesn’t have a
fully functioning mental capacity. He loves it when people come from
America, though, and he was so happy to see us. But he really became
very in love with Kim when he saw her carrying the water on her head.
He kept following her around and confessing his love to her. Futi was
there and making it worse, I do believe. At some point Gama thought
that Kim had accepted his marriage proposal so he was asking her if
tomorrow she could go and meet his mother at his homestead and all
these things. He kept coming over to me and saying, “Indvoza sisi
wakho” which means…
“Your sister’s husband”! haha I wasn’t making it any better because I
was announcing her “teka” which is similar to an engagement. We had so
much fun giving her a hard time. When we dropped Futi off at her
house, she said, “Nomsa (Kim), please invite me to your wedding.”  It
was just such a funny day.

We have been going to a few schools to try to get in to do the TLW
presentation but it has been somewhat unfruitful. We left letters with
them and they are supposed to call us. We’re hoping to get at least a
few since we haven’t been able to do any in the schools yet!

Last Friday, Kim was sick so I just got to go out with Corine with
just the two of us and spend a lot of time with her. I was thankful
for that time because I had never had it. Monday, she returned to the
United States until February so now we’re living in her house with her
car and her dog…bug she’s gone. It’s nice to have the car so we know
we have reliable transport every day but we do miss her!

Our Word study with the kids is trucking right along. This last time
we were learning about Noah. The game that we played was SO HILARIOUS.
We've done this at an ICS Retreat before and we enjoyed it even more
with the kids. Each of them had a type of animal and they couldn't
talk, they just had to find the other people who had the same animal
by making the animal noise. It was so funny for us to watch the kids
running around making all kinds of noises. I'm sure people around
Mafucula found it pretty interesting. :)

We have a new interesting thing that we’re doing. There are some
ladies from Section 19 (the very poor area we have worked in just a
couple times) who are involved with the CHIPS program who are learning
how to sew from some of our friends in Mafucula. Every Tuesday and
Thursday we take them out to Mafucula from 9 in the morning til about
4 in the afternoon. It makes for long days because we just stay out
there but I eat it up! I love being there more than anywhere else in
Swaziland even on uneventful days. Being out there all day gives us
some awesome opportunities for relationship building and language
practice.
The other day I was playing with Bongiswa, our nephew, and we were
throwing my purity ring around this concrete pavilion and racing to
see who could get it first. Swa threw it above his head and it got
stuck in the thatch! We had to make a plan! We got some concrete
blocks that were lying around and I held him up on my shoulders and he
hit it down with a stick. It was a sight!

My friend Fikile is the owner of the hair salon next to our parent’s
shop. I like to just hang out in the salon with her and watch her do
people’s hair and chat it up. Yesterday when we were out there, there
were some kids from our Word study and some just from town who were
following me around. They were holding my hands and just constantly
touching me. Fikile was saying in SiSwati to the kids, “You love her
so much…what’s her name?” and Winile, who doesn’t really know me that
well, said, “Uhmlungu” (which means white person)! I got such a kick
out of that!! I said to her that my name is Mavi Ekuphila not
Uhmlungu! We just laughed and laughed out it. I got my hair cornrow-ed
again yesterday as well. It is a great time of just sitting with
Fikile and Kayise just talking. They were trying to teach me names for
body parts in SiSwati or they would quiz me on random items. I enjoyed
that time so much. I thank the Father so much for the relationships
that He has allowed me. Those are the things that would bring me back.

The next few weeks are so packed with stuff…we’re very excited for all
the things that we’re going to be doing. The next blog should be so
exciting you will hardly be able to stand it! :)

Here are some ways you can be talking to our Creator for us:
•      That we would be able to get into the schools in our area to do the
TLW presentation. The youth here need this message because there is
nothing in place for them to educate them. Exams are beginning soon
and it will be difficult to get in so we’re hoping that we can get in
before that!
•      We were beginning a TLW study with some girls from Mafucula but we
still haven’t met with them because we haven’t been able to get a hold
of them.
•      Our teammate Heather, who is living in Mbabane, is having some
concerning health issues so please lift her up!
•      Continue to lift up the darkness in this country. We are beginning a
very spiritually dark time of the year leading up to the Incwala
festival, which takes place at the beginning of the year.