I am...Phile Masuku! :)

Hello, friends.

I am writing to you as a new woman. I have received my Swazi name...and now I am Phile (Pee Luh) Masuku (Muh sue goo). Kim's name is Nomsa. :) We were given these names by our Babe (Bah Bay) and Make (Mah gay) [Father and Mother] here. We have been living on a homestead this week. In the mornings we must wake up and fetch our water and heat it for our bath. Luckily, our sister Kayise (Guy ee say) has been here to help us out - but she will be going to Manzini to work now so we'll have to get up and do things on our own! :) We have a working toilet,much to our suprise. Well, it somewhat works. We have to pour water in it to flush it but its definitely better than a squatty! We don't have electricity but our family does a little...but we mostly cook on a fire or on hot plates.

Tuesday we begin our formal language learning with our teacher Bheki (Beggy). We will have language learning Tuesday-Friday every week while we're on the homestead. The community we're staying in is called Mafucula (Mah foo *click* luh). Our Babe is the leader of a fellowship that actually meets in our home.

This morning we had to wake up extra early to go to the Umphakatsi, which is kind of like the elders of Mafucula...and they basically just welcomed us to the community and it was very nice.

We are learning way more language than we expected...pretty soon we'll probably be completely fluent in SiSwati. ;)

Our supervisors Wayne & Barbara have been so absolutely wonderful to us and we are thankful to them for letting us use their internet and welcoming us into their home. They give us a break from life on the homestead every week. :)

Some things you can talk to the Father about:
*Frustration in not being understood sometimes
*Cultural barriers that can be a source of dismay
*Our relationships that we are building with our family at Mafucula
* For us to find some people there so build even better relationships with
*And our relationships with the schools to get together some places to do TLW presentations!

I love you all <3

"My Face is on the Surface of the Sun" and other musings :)

Hello Dear Friends!

I am glad to be writing to you from my hotel in Mbabane. We are continuing our orientation until tomorrow (Saturday) then Kim and I will be heading over to Tshaneni with Wayne, our m*. We will spend a couple days with a lady who is an American follower, which is where we'll be living for the majority of our time in Swaziland. Then, we will move out into a more remote village with a fellowship leader and his family. Another leader will come up to teach us SiSwati four days a week. We got a crash course in Swati today and we went to the market to try to practice our skills which was...interesting! Surely, we will improve. Today has been the first day that we have actually learned any language so it has been fantastic because we can communicate a little. ;)

We have been doing mostly orientation and some touristy kinds of things the last couple days to ease us into culture before Kim and I move out into the bush and really start living :D

Some ways you can speak to Father on our behalf? Here we go:
*That our partnership would continue to grow and strengthen.
*That He would be putting people in our lives for us to raise up in Truth
*For the summer teams that are already sharing the TLW message and studying the Word
*That we would have a fantastic transition from being in the city to being in the bush...we're excited!
*Language learning & patience as this is a difficult language to learn

I love you all <3

First Post - Let's Get It Started!

Well I am beginning this blog to inform you all of my journeys in life. Mostly the ones that pertain to going half way around the world sharing the Word.

I recently found out that my ICS partner, Kim, and I will be headed to Swaziland, Africa for our semester abroad! This is a dream come true for me because we will be teaching HIV/AIDS education and True Love Waits curriculum. I have been dreaming of doing something like this for yearsssss. Father has been so good to me in allowing me to do this! I am so thankful.

I have been thankful, as well, for my financial stability that has allowed me to give of my own finances for this trip. I have never made as much money as I do now except for the summer when I was working at Hershey...but I had to save most of that money. I give my monthly 10% and I am seeing abundance flowing from that.

Some things you can speak to the Father about on my behalf:
* That Kim and I would grow in friendship and love.
* For the other girls on our team, Sienna and Heather.
* Finances, finances, finances!
* Knowledge and wisdom

Spring break is coming up and I cannot be more stoaked! I need a break for sure. I work all the time and have school stuff too...both of which I love and enjoy...but I rarely have any kind of break. Brandt and I will be traveling home for a few days. I get to go to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace too! Exciting times :)

I am looking forward to connecting with you, blogstalkers. I love each of you dearly. :)