We have been here for a month now and we have one month to go. I don’t know where the time has gone. We have been blessed to be a part of several ministries. Let me briefly tell you about them:
There are two carepoints that we go to, where we play with the children and do VBS with them. The children who are at the carepoints all day do not go to school because they cannot afford it. They go to the carepoints to be fed, as do others from the community. Most of the children just want to be held and usually fall asleep to a comfort and warmth they have never felt before.
We also do ministry in the town of Manzini. The town ministry is all about establishing and building relationships with the locals. Through this ministry, I have seen God’s faithfulness. He always brings someone who is dry and thirsty into our path. He has answered our prayers for divine appointments and given us the words to say in those situations. Part of what we do in town is encourage people who already know the Lord. They are starving for encouragement and different perspective. I have been extremely encouraged and lifted up through the relationships I have built and the friendships I have made.
There is not much I want to write about the hospital. I would rather tell you about my experiences there in person. I will say this: at the hospital, hope and love are buried far underneath the pain and suffering!
The other ministry that we are involved with full time is a school called GuGu’s. A woman name GuGu started this school when she discovered that children (9+ years old) were prostituting themselves in order to get money to pay for school. YOUR HEART BROKEN YET? MINE IS! These children are so precious and full of joy, despite their innocence being robbed from them at such a tender age. It is a blessing to work with them because they are very eager to learn! This has been such a humbling, eye-opening, and heartbreaking experience. Reality is rough!
There are a few other things we have been doing along the way, but these are our main ministries for the time being. Through these experiences, God has completely broken my heart in a gentle and sweet way. I have tasted and seen how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. I have been able to find fullness and joy amidst difficult circumstances and rest in the fact that we are fighting from a place of VICTORY! My God is El Roi, The God Who Sees…He sees the needs of His children….this is what I have to cling to!
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses all knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Eph 3:14-19
ps- God sent me a gift yesterday….his name is Robby Riggs!
