The teams are arriving home Friday, August 1 and God has used the teams in great ways. It was great reading the updates and watching God at work in their lives and in the lives of those they ministered too.

If you are picking up your son/daughter by car, you can pick them up on August 2, at the hotel between 8AM and 11AM or at the airport between 8AM and 12PM. Below is the address to the hotel that debrief is conducted. 

Debrief is the night before and parents are welcome to attend, but do realize that this is the last time they will be with their team and good-byes are hard for them. We have seen parents come and yes, your child is excited to see you, but they want to be with their team that they bonded with and will not see again. So don't go into it expecting too much.

Thanks for entrusting your child with our organization. We count it a privilege to have worked with you and your child.

God Bless!

    God has blown me away. I came into this trip planning on pouring out God’s love to others, not expecting anything in return. God, in all His power, has shown me that He is so much more than I can fathom. He has taken anything and everything I expected or didn’t expect and showed me that He has his own plans and ways of doing things. A verse that He has placed on my heart while I’ve been here is Isaiah 55:8-9 – “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”

    One of the biggest ways this verse has rang true while being in Swazi has been the love God has shown me through the people here. I have felt loved and accepted by so many Swazi’s but one girl in particular has been a God-send in showing me how much He truly loves me. Her name is Sphilile. She is only 13 years old, yet she has had more trials and suffering in her life than I want to even think about having in all of mine. She lives with her parents, both who are mentally handicapped, and nine brothers and sisters. During conversations I have found out that she is both physically and emotionally abused by her mother. She has also sold her body in the past. I met Sphilile at Gugu’s school, where we have been helping them learn English and sharing who God really is. At the same time we have been investing and pouring into the children there, Christ has really poured into me through Sphilile. He has spoke directly to me through a letter Sphilile wrote me. I’ll share with you a piece of the first letter that is so simple, yet bold about God’s love for ME.

            “Dear Staci,

                        My name is Sphilile. I want to tell you about love. I love you Staci because you tell me everything in a book. Please you must love God because God created you and me. I love you very much. You are so beautiful Staci. Jesus died for you Staci. God love you very much.” 

      Everything this letter says is what I thought I was coming to share with them, but God used an unexpected note, written by a 13 year old girl who has never really seen love, to grab me and tell me specifically how much He loves ME. God knew what I needed to hear and sent it to me in a way He knew would grab my attention. He disregarded the ‘plans’ I had coming into this trip and reminded me that He is in control and will teach whoever needs to be taught whenever He feels. “For my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord, “And my ways are beyond anything you could imagine” –Isaiah 55:8. God’s personal love for me, Staci Hitch, is only one of the many things He has shown me through the people I was planning on ministering to.

UPDATE ON TANZILI

    In my first blog, I shared about a little 4 year old that was in need of prayers. I just wanted to thank everyone who included Tanzili and her family in your prayers. God is so good!

   We were given an opportunity to take a box of food to Tanzi and see her for the first time since we took her to the doctor last month. I wasn’t sure what condition we were going to find her in, but as we approached her homestead I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Tanzili’s gogo (the one who was beaten and who we thought was on her death bed) was sitting outside along with two magas (Tanzili’s aunts). They had five little children, including Tanzi, out in the tubs giving them baths. When I picked up Tanzi and really looked at her, I noticed her eye was completely healed, no swelling or even redness. She still had the scabies but they did not look as bad and she had even gained weight. Her hair was turning white again from a lack of nutrition and she had developed swelling in her feet, but she was home and had adults with her providing care! She was getting a bath and had on fresh clothes. Her family was getting a box of food and there were people staying at the homestead that were older than eleven years, meaning the food should not be stolen from them.

    Wow! God is good! He is Jehovah-jireh and Jehovah-rapha, the Lord who provides and the Lord who heals. And prayers are powerful! Thank you so much to all who took some of Tanzi’s burden and prayed diligently for her. God is faithful and is answering prayers as I am typing this.

As our team goes into our last week in Swazi, here are some things you can continue to pray for:

   -Tanzi and her family

   -Swaziland in general

   -for our team, that we have boldness to hold nothing back as we minister this last week and give everything we have to telling people about God’s love and hope ; for strength as we have to prepare our hearts to say bye to all the people in Swazi that have become our family and for our upcoming travel

Thanks to all, God Bless and see you soon! 

The following is a journal entry I wrote on June 25^th, 2008.  That day I visited the women’s ward in the hospital for the first time.  The room was filled with sickness ranging from stroke to AIDS.  After I journaled each visit, I concluded the following.  I apologize for any poor English.  It really isn’t my forte.  I decided to type it word for word, as I did that Wednesday evening.

“Overall, I don’t feel overall sadness or depression or anything.  I feel somewhat normal.  At first I didn’t think this was a legit emotion, but I thought about it more.

The people I visited today are people.  They aren’t defined by their diseases.  I honestly didn’t want to talk about why they were there in that hospital.  It just didn’t matter.  All that accomplishes is bringing up more sadness and despair.  I wanted to hear about their lives… their families… their backgrounds.  They are just people.  I felt like I just went out and met some more friendly Swazis.  They don’t deserve to be treated like their disease.  If I were talking from a heart that said, ‘I am healthy.  You are very sick.  I will feel bad about how sick you are’ then I’m not treating them as equals… not treating them with respect.  So, my feelings… so legitimate.  I want to love on these people, no matter what their situation is… in the same way I would with any of my friends… any of my teammates.  Jesus loved everyone is the same was regardless.  Shouldn’t we strive for that?  I say Yes.  Run toward it.”   

  "Be still and know that I am God."  -Psalm 46:10

   One of the biggest differences between the Swazi and American culture is the value of time. In America, if you are supposed to be somewhere at 2:00 then you are expected to be on time, and if you're not it is considered rude. In Swazi culture, however, it is completely acceptable to be several HOURS late; in fact, it is expected. Although it's frustrating to live in this slow paced culture (even when we are walking to town or wherever we go, we walk so much fast than the Swazis. They take their time and are in no rush to get anywhere, which is foreign to our fast paced, busy American life), God has been teaching me a lot through it.

            Psalm 46:10 has been my theme verse this trip. "Be still and know that I am God." But who ever knew being still was so darn difficult? Slowly but surely, I've learned what it means to "be still" and I've grown to love it. I'm such a "doer" so God has taught me not to do but to be-to be with people and ultimately be with God. 

            One of my favorite parts about working at the care points is when one small child curls up in my lap and falls asleep in the security of my embrace. I can sit for hours with a child fast asleep on my lap, and I love it (even though they sometimes pee on us). It's so peaceful and calming, and there's just something special about not doing anything-just being with the child. It's a perfect picture of God's love for us. He longs to be those arms that we go to-that we will rest in His embrace. 

            It's not always easy to do that-to be still before God-but I have the opportunity to do that every morning. We have built in quiet times every morning for an hour and half and go has been teaching me what it means to still my heart and curl up in his lap. We also had an entire day of silence last week where we couldn't speak to any of our teammates the whole day. I was not excited, to say the least, and thought it was going to be a waste of a day, but it was an awesome experience to drown out the rest of the world for a whole day and just spend time with Jesus. Isn't that our whole purpose in life, anyway? To spend time with the one we love most? So why is it so difficult in our American culture to do that?

            I love the culture here because people are valued so much more than time. When we walk places we are greeted by anyone and everyone-they are just all so friendly! One man, Lucky, even stopped what he was doing to spend several hours with our team walking and showing us around town at the beginning of our trip. Just the other day, Hannah and I were in the park and decided to go sit by a group of high schoolers. I was expecting to only say hi, make a little small talk, and then move on; but God had other plans. We ended up hanging out with the two guys and two girls for a couple hours! While Hannah talked with the two guys about Swaziland and the King, I talked with the two girls about life, school, dancing, and their culture. They opened up and we talked about boyfriends, AIDS, saving sex until marriage, and "being faithful" as one girl, Alicia put it. 

            I've learned that the cure for loneliness is BEING not DOING. I love to serve people, and I usually do that by doing something, but when I visited the Hope House it was a different story. The Hope House is like a hospice center, set up by the Catholic church here, and each patient has an individual house/unit. When we first went, I was extremely scared and nervous because I didn't know what to say or how to keep a conversation with a complete stranger who is suffering. But Kate and I made an immediate connection with a Go-Go (grandma) named Sepiwe. She is a bundle of God's joy and passion and she lit up when we stayed to talk with her. We listened to her talk about her family, we read the Bible with her, we sang with her, and we prayed with her. She has such a powerful faith and I love hearing her pray in SiSwati-there is just something so special and moving about her prayers and the way she says, "Jesus" (Jesu) with such love and emotion that it melts my heart. I thought we were going there to bless her, but Kate and I walked away being blessed ourselves. Sepiwe even asked us to bring her some yarn so she can make us slippers...this is all from just BEING with her.

            Last but no least, my ultimate learning experience is being with God and letting him love me. It's so hard for me to think that he loves me and likes me just the way I am. I'm so used to doing things, performing, or trying to get God's attention or approval (the way I try to get human's approval), but I fail to realized I already have his attention and love. I realized that I didn't believe God could love me for me because I didn't love me for me. So the Lord has really been working on my heart in this aspect, but satan has equally tried to keep me down. But we all know he's no match for Jesus' power and love. God has pursued me in amazing ways these last two weeks. I am a lover of written word-that is my love language. After a rough week emotionally and spiritually, God used words to touch my heart that whole next week. One day after another all week I got a letter/note from someone affirming me and my character; little did they know it was the EXACT words I needed to hear each day. I truly felt like God was writing love letters to me all week long! My favorite came from a 13 year old girl Tanele, who is one of the girls I teach at GuGu's school. Though she is 13 she is not very educated and is still learning English. Here is part of one of the letters she wrote me:

"Dear Mary-Kate

Mary-Kate I love you some much my friendly. I am praying for Mary-Kate for LORD Jesus love you Mary-Kate and me Tanele. Mary-Kate you are so special for me my friendly. I love you Mary-Kate. I think Mary-Kate love me. Mary-Kate is beautiful my friendly. You are so special for Jesus. God bless you my friendly Jesus love you some much Mary-Kate. I love you Mary-Kate very beautiful Mary-Kate your heart very nice."

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Today I will share a couple of my recent journal entries with you…

July 11: So I went into today pretty much being terrified. Last night, I found out I was going to the Hope House, a sort of hospice type place, and I imagined it to be an awful place where everyone just goes to wither and die. I mentally prepared myself for a trying day and we were off. We got there and Sister Elsa, a small Indian woman, showed us around the grounds. There are about 20 little houses, each containing one patient and one “minder”. Each house is basically like a studio apartment, complete with little kitchen, bathroom, and living area. We were left off by Elsa at the house of Mandla, a man of almost 40 years who seems to be suffering from some sort of wasting disease, most likely AIDS or a result of it. Though he is very tall, he weighs less than I do. His legs are probably about the size of my arms (just to give you some idea). He’d been there for three months and speaks only a little English. Despite his long stay there, his spirits were high. After talking to him for a while, Jesse (fearless leader #3) asked if he knew how to play Casino (a popular card game here), so Mandla and Titi (our translator) taught us how to play. We spent the rest of our time there playing cards and talking to him. It was great. That afternoon, we went to visit another man that Sister Elsa suggested we visit. His name is Tabo. He’s suffering from TB and meningitis and has been at the Hope House for three weeks now. He also was in pretty good spirits and he also knows how to play a mean game of Casino. So we spent the afternoon playing cards with him as well. Also awesome. It was great to see how God made something that I was so scared of into such a great experience and a day that was filled with him.

July 14: In Mark 14/Luke 22, Jesus is seen surrendering his will to God. Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords is surrendering his life to God his Father. If Jesus should be surrendering his life, shouldn’t we also be willing to do this? But yet I find it so hard to even surrender one or two things or just part of myself to God and His will, let alone my whole self. I was also reading about Rahab and thinking about her life and how it related to this concept of surrender that God is trying to teach me. I was a little blown away by what I found. Rahab a woman who had never been poured into by Christians, who didn’t grow up in a Christian home, who didn’t own a Bible, who had never been to church, who had never even met another believer before, found it so easy to surrender not only her reputation, but her whole life to help the spies out and follow God, a god who she knew nothing about. Yet I, who have had the advantage of all these things, still find it so hard to surrender my will to God’s. Even after all that I have seen God do , I am still reluctant to give myself to Him fully. I’m so trusting of the people who surround me to provide for me, yet the very one who breathed life into me and all that I am doesn’t always get my full trust. There’s something very wrong with that picture. The Bible says to deny myself and take up my cross daily and follow God (Luke 9:23). Why is that so hard?

So this is the last blog that I will write before I get home. Please continue to pray for our team as we only have one week left of ministry and one week of travelling. It’s going fast. I love you all! See ya in two weeks!

Good morning from Africa!

I need you to get out your Bible and read Luke 11: 5-10…no, seriously, at this moment. I’m going to try to explain the vocabulary lesson I received from the Lord earlier this week.

Buckle up. It could change you.

          Luke 11 is discussing a man who is disturbed in the night by another man who is asking for bread to serve a friend who arrived at his house. Jesus says, “I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.”

Impudence? What the heck is that? Luckily my Bible had a footnote—it’s a synonym for persistent. So, the man helped the other out, not out of friendship, but because of his persistent and impudent cry the man got what he asked for.

Another cool thing about the man who disturbed the other man’s rest was that he was not asking anything for himself. He wanted the bread to serve another. Interesting, eh?

Jesus then goes on to famously say ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. Yet,Jesus doesn’t state how many times you have to ask, how long you have to seek or how loudly you have to knock. It takes impudence, persistence. That is something I do not practice. I ask once, seek for a month and only think about knocking and complain about my standings.

          This puts a whole new spin on things for me. If I truly pleaded with God for something—for myself or others—why wouldn’t I be impudent in prayer about it? Yes, God is big enough to hear once and act, but where do I learn to trust in that? Where would I learn to wait and be content in every situation.

So…impudence is the word/task of the day.

It may take a 1,000 times of asking, 12 years of searching and a long reign of knocks…but we are not promised any answers. We are promised a Father who listens and a God who works in ways we may never see, and certainly will never understand. Keep asking. Continue searching. Knock louder than ever before.

          Are you an impudent prayer?

I’m not. But I’m learning to be.

There are some things in the last leg of our journey that need impudent and persistent prayer from you.  We would be honored to be lifted up by you.

-WE have 5 more days of ministry. 5 more days. Pray that the Lord directs us to people who don’t know His name.

-There are 5 or 6 of us who teach at a school during the week. We have about 14 students learning English. They are brilliant and amazing individuals. Pray that they would feel and experience God even when we leave. They don’t have to remember us or our lessons—but if they can continue to feel the Spirit cover them in their dark situations, that’ll be a miracle.

-There is a woman at the Hope House (which serves the same purpose as a Hopsice facility) whose name is Bonsiswe. Her English name is Joyce. Her mother’s name is Astinah and is plain and simply losing her mind a little more each day. Joyce stays with her all day, everyday. Astinah asks for impossible things and imaginary people all day. Joyce needs rest; Spiritually and physically. She told me her favorite verse the other day: Habakkuk 3:17-19. Read and be amazed by this woman’s faith. I know…wow.

-We have a long journey back to the States ahead of us. Please pray for safety. But not only that, pray we can encourage each other with the time we have left. We are not only a team…we are family. Soon we will lose our physical closeness, but we will never lose the Christ we saw in each other.

The comments from my last blog brought me to tears. You all are so wonderful. I can’t explain the way you lift me up. Thank you for impudently praying for my team and I. Continue to pray for a nation overrun by disease. But, be encouraged, there is enough love here to share with the whole globe.

To be home soon—

Hannah, Hannie, Thandeka

            Who am I? I am sick and tired of us judging God. Who the heck am I to tell God what is just and what is unjust? Who am I to ask Him for something (with doubt in my heart) and expect Him to give it to me, and when He doesn’t, I judge Him by saying that He didn’t show up or that He wasn’t faithful? Who am I to judge God’s character, based on the character I see in people that call themselves Christians? Who am I to ask Him to reveal Himself to me, when I am not even willing to seek Him with all my heart, and then get angry with Him when He doesn’t show up (in the way that I thought He should)? Who am I, in all my wavering thoughts and emotions, to pass judgment on One who is all knowing, everlasting, everything that is good, whose thoughts and emotions don’t waver in the least bit? Who am I to tell the One whose will is good and perfect, what I think should or should not happen? I am not worthy to judge my neighbor, much less my God!

It’s time for us to get over ourselves, to get past our precious little ideas of what should and should not happen. It’s time to quit looking at things through our limited vision and to seek to see things through God’s unlimited vision. It’s time to start trusting in God’s sovereignty and not in our own opinions. Who are we anyway?  

How important is your name. I believe my name is pretty important. It not only defines me now, but it will define my life when I pass. Here in Swaziland names are so important. When you remember a child’s name from day to day they brighten at the sound. The Swazi’s give us swazi names so they can remember them better and to make us more a part of their culture. When I tell them my siSwati name many of them laugh and giggle. They love it. One of the lady’s I met in the market goes by the American name of Glory. When I came back the next day after meeting her and said to her Hello Glory. She brightened and said, “You remembered my name.” Though I was blessed countless time that day by the many people in the market, that one phrase stuck out the most, “You remembered my name.”

   Though I try, many times I fail at this. The names here are often hard, very different from American names and they have different clicks in them (very confusing). But one thing I do know, God always remembers. He always knows my name, and the name of every child and adult I meet. What an amazing thing!

   Hello all! I have yet to post a blog, but I am so excited that you are reading it. J Ha! God has been so good to us here in Swaziland. He is teaching me a million new things and I am seeing Jesus in so many faces as we walk through town and continue in our ministries. I wasn’t sure what to write about for this thing, but last night I had quite an awesome experience. We did a worship session with our team outside, and the wind was blowing like craaazy. It reminded us all about how much power God has and how small we are all here on earth. We were praying and singing and the Spirit really seemed to move within me. I felt such a sense of peace and comfort as I took some time to step away and listen to God. I felt like He was really calling me by name and asking me to surrender so many things up to Him- including my future. He told me I no longer have to be a people pleaser, but He is the only one worthy of my time. It was brought with such reassurance as I prayed and waited for Him to speak to me. I felt so strongly like the Lord was physically standing in front of me, mirroring my moves and asking me to get out of my comfort zone and follow Him. I loved it SO much! It was something I really needed at this halfway point in our trip, as an encouragement to continue to do the Lord’s work with all of my heart and know that He is right there with me. My excitement is still overwhelming me the day after- in a great way. Please continue to pray for our team to grow close with one another and close to the Father. We are so appreciative of your support! Thank you so much! We love and miss you, friends back home!