Swaziland

Mahlabaneni CarePoint….

A place that became more of a home filled with laughter and love instead of a far off

volunteer opportunity that felt like it might never come.

The Lord blessed our team GILI with one of the BEST CarePoints (definitely not biased at all 😜). The children here were so sweet and our shepherd became a part of our family. While we had our difficult times God still blessed us with days full of his grace, genuine connections, and spontaneous joy!

Laughter…. Let’s start with that! Our CarePoint was ALWAYS filled with an overwhelming sense of joy and what else really expresses that than constant laughter. Whether from the youngest baby to the oldest gogo, from just sitting around in the morning to playing with the kids in the afternoon there was somehow someway a joyous laughter in the air.

I think this fit perfectly because if you can remember our team name literally means spontaneous joy and I knew that we were able to bring and even be filled up with this joy. God was so good through this joy because we got to laugh through the pain + suffering, we got to be joyous through the not so easy days, we got to be a light for those who were stuck in the darkness!

Now to keep going we got to do so much at our carepoint, helping the Gogos and Happiness out with small tasks. I want to give you guys a little peak into our days at the carepoint so I have been writing down our days to remember so here’s a few of the more special days from our time in Nsoko.

10/8

First day of ministry!

We went to our carepoint for the first time and it was awesome!! The name is Mahlabeneni. Today was so fun we got to just be around everyone and meet them. Our shepherds name is Happiness and she had us do some yard work and then we got to meet the school kids later that day!!!! They are all so fun and most of them stem from one main primary school. Also they come and play games, eat, and sing songs before we leave for the day. We had our first team time after ministry and it was pretty good.

Thank you Lord for this opportunity and another day!

10/21

Today we got up had breakfast and went out to carepoints but before we got in our vans we took some cute photos 📸 as a team that will probably stay with me forever because they are so sweet and pretty. We then went to ministry where we got to do a house visit and today no one was home except for one of the older boys who lives in the home and so we got to talk to him. It was really cool because we just got to encourage him in his prayer life and just walking more with Jesus which was fun. They also had more older guys show up who brought us out juice and sparkling water and the juice was actually really good and we all got to share out of 2 chalice type wine glasses. Pretty fun. Then went back to the carepoint, ate lunch, and waited for the kids. It was really sad but today we also learned that one of our friends’ father figure in the homestead had passed away that morning and yet she would have no word of it till she got home which was really sad and we said we would love to visit they’re homestead one of the days. Played with the kids and then went home and had dinner. After dinner we had team time and today we started soul surfer🏄🏼‍♀️(one of the best movies of all time) and it was a lot of fun because it is Abby’s all time favorite and she was literally just quoting the whole thing – which she already does on the daily.

Thank you Lord for funny teammates and another day!

11/11

Today was so much fun I can’t believe we just started our last week!😭 The Christmas party was today and it was awesome. We got up and all dressed up in our fun Christmas outfits (just as much red and green as we could get with our skirts and shirts and I wore mercy’s striped skirt and Naomi’s green tank top). So ready for the day!!!! 🎄🤶🏼✨We got to the care point and EVERYONE was there. All the Gogos, AIM Nsoko staff, and so many parents and kids. We did our devotions with Christmas songs (Mary did you Know + O Holy Night) and the story in Luke. Went outside and started helping everyone cook, had conversations, and took lots of pictures. We did this for the first part of the day then had lunch like usual and waited for the kids to get there. After lunch even more people came with a lot of babies and there was even on 2 month old baby that was SOOO tiny which is kinda crazy because blanket baby was 2 months old when we first started and now she is 3 and a half months now. Once all of the kids got to the carepoint we went inside and did our Christmas party. With this came a lot of dancing because pretty much everyone had a dance. At the end we got to do the stuff we had prepared which was a skit of the Christmas story, Away in a Manger as a fun song to sing with the skit, and Joy to the World as a dance. We had so much fun and I am pretty sure my face hurt so bad from smiling so much. After this we went outside to eat what everyone had prepared which was rice, chicken, veggies, cabbage, and potato salad. At first our team helped the younger kids get food and feed them if they needed help. I got this little girl who was so tiny and I helped her eat and drink and it was the cutest thing ever. I was in my happy place feeding her because it felt like babysitting and watching my favorite kids from back home. Also I think it’s just so fun to get to help the little ones eat. Then our bus got there a little early so he stayed for a while so we could finish and we got food. I was helping the little one eat so Karen was so kind and got me some food. We ended the day with savemore, dinner, and for team time we made notes for everyone and bracelets for Happiness.

Thank you Lord for the ability to celebrate the birth of your son and another day!

11/14

Last day of ministry at the carepoints!!! I can’t believe we’re here cause six weeks of ministry has never felt so fast but also so full of laughter and connection. Today was definitely a rough one 😭 we had to say goodbye to some of the easiest and best friendships we may make overseas. We had to say goodbye to the shepherds who had taken us in like their own and who we helped by taking off some of the stresses that come with this job. We had to say goodbye to the gogos who we had watched become more confident in their English and who put everything aside to feed these children who may not get food without their help. We had to say goodbye to the little kids that we had grown to know and understand who we had began big connections with who we got to hold and love which they may never get at home. We had to say goodbye to the young adults who we got to know and have fun with because they were our age and we could understand each other on a deeper level. We had to say goodbye to the moms who we got to meet and who had played games with us almost every day after lunch.

We said goodbye to Mahlabeneni carepoint where we had spent more than 6 hours each day.

We said goodbye to Swazi for more than likely forever.

We got to carepoint and did our last devos with Happiness. At the end we gave her a gift which was her favorite Doritos (the blue bag) and a Stoney along with a GILI bracelet and one with her favorite color (red) and her name. It was hard because she started crying and it really got some of us because we truly realized this was our last time with her and it was so hard because we got to know her so well.

Then we did yard work and then went to go sit down and as we started playing our fun circle game for the last time the kids began to show up. BEFORE LUNCH!!!! They were having a 7th grade farewell party at school so the rest of them got to come at 11 and what a blessing it was because it meant so much more time with them for the last day.

We just played around with them then later Guguletu and her little sister left and we said our goodbyes.

Then around 4 ish our van pulled in and we had to say our forever goodbyes. I got to hold Sengwenele while she sat there and sobbed and got to give Sihleloue a big hug as she cried as well. Then I walked over to get my things and the kids had already gotten it which was so sweet. Then Songako came over and I just held onto her until I said goodbye to Happiness for the last time and then held her a little more before saying goodbye right before getting in the van. As I got on the van I saw her start crying which was crazy because I had never seen much emotion come from her at all so it was so sweet yet also REALLY sad to see her cry because it meant that the connection I had made with her meant something😢

We got in the van and on the drive home Naomi and I got to sit together and I just got to hold her as she sobbed because this was her country and I knew if it was hard for me then it must be at least 10 times harder for her.

It was such a sweet day and even Ethan got to go with us for this last day. It was awesome and while it was sad it was such a blessing from God.

Thank you Lord for this opportunity, the promised eternity, and another day!

As I sat and wrote down each day I made sure to look back and see what I was grateful for throughout the day so then at the end I could include one thing as well as  also being focused on being grateful for the day that the Lord has given me. This has helped me become so much more present in what God is doing in this season.

At the end of each post I would love to include a few prayer requests along with a few fun words I have been learning so here we go:

Prayer requests

• God would continue to put a hedge of protection over Mahlabaneni and all of the people in their community
• Safety over travel
• Open hearts for the people we meet and the kids that we’ll be teaching in Malaysia

Siswati

• Sikepa – shirt
• Siketa – skirt
• tinuele – hair
• Jesu ana capenda – Jesus loves you
• Oobahknee ligahmahlakoo – what is your name
• Cow-ingomoo
• Chicken-ingocoo
• Goat- inbotee   
• Niabonga – thank you
• Emuhle – beautiful

Thank you all for going along on this journey with me! The Lord has been so good and I can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Until next time…