week in my life

For the past week and half, my squad has been staying in South Africa!!! We participated in an awakening with squad A, and then we had debrief for a week. If you don’t know what either of these things are, don’t worry! I didn’t until I got here(:

An awakening only happens when two squads are living semi close to one another. Squad A is currently serving in Johannesburg and Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. So! our two squads met up in Pretoria for two and half days. Everyone on both of the squads chose from a different group of evangelism, intercession, worship, hospitality, or storytelling that they would participate in and/or lead others in. I personally chose intercession, which was a huge focus on prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit. Our squads spent the couple days teaching each other in these areas, worshipping, and evangelizing together. There were also speakers brought in from different ministries in South Africa that we got to hear from!! 

Once the awakening was over, my squad headed over to Nelspruit, South Africa for debrief! I didn’t really know what debrief entailed until I got here, but it is just a huge time of rest, processing with the Lord, teachings from our mentors and coaches, updating supporters, and worshipping!!

A few hours after I post this blog, I’ll be heading back to Swaziland for two more months, and I just wanted to give you a little insight into what my days look like there. Also, I probably won’t have wifi for those two months, which is why I’ve been going crazy with the blogs this week. 

Ministry days!! (Tuesday – Friday)

Most mornings I wake up around 5:30 for quiet time with the Lord. I make myself breakfast with my 2 eggs for the day and 2/4 of my pieces of bread allowed for the day for toast. Some mornings our ministry host teaches writing or song writing classes that I go to sometimes, but otherwise the mornings are my main time to get what I need to get done! This can look like washing my laundry, spending more time with the Lord, working on things for our shepherd, or taking a nap if I’m being honest. We then pack our lunches, pb & j with our other two pieces of bread and 1/2 of our pieces of fruit (apple or orange). I usually snack on my other piece of fruit during the day.  

My team heads to our care point around 10:30 to begin our hour long walk. On our way there, we stop to say hi to our friend Joanna. We were messing around one morning on our walk, and she came outside her home laughing and struck up a conversation! She asked if we could visit her when we could, and now it’s a super sweet opportunity to work toward discipling her!! Joanna is a believer, although we don’t know what her faith looks like because believing in Jesus means many things to many people. She always makes my morning with her sweet smile and the way she treats us like her friends and her grandchildren  all on one(:

Once we get there, we’re greeted with the BIGGEST smiles and the BEST hugs around from our little kiddos(: We have preschool kids in the morning and first through twelfth grade in the afternoon. We usually play with the kids for 1-2.5 hours before it’s time for them to leave or eat their meal. Our shepherd keeps us busy while waiting for the older kids by going on home visits, correcting sponsor letters for school fees, going on prayer walks, or taking us to her favorite places in the village. Once the older kids get there, we just get to hang out with them! Most of them are learning english, so we can actually have conversations with them. On wednesdays and fridays there is choir practice after they eat!! usually practice is over around 4:30 or so, which is around the time my team and I begin walking home, or if it’s really hot we get picked up. 

Once we get home it’s time for showers!! The kids at our care point tend to be super dirty, in turn making us super dirty as we play with and hold them. Usually dinner is ready 5-10

minutes after showers are done, and depending on the night we have dishes after. 

After dinner we have team time. My team has switched to calling this fellowship time because we didn’t like that it sounded so forced. This time looks different every night. Fellowship time can look like going through our curriculum, feedback, debrief questions, or worship. Sunday there isn’t a required team time, but usually my team just ends up hanging out because we just enjoy being together. 

After fellowship time, it’s free until bed! That’s what a normal day of ministry looks like(:

Adventure day!! (Saturday)

Since we’ve been in South Africa, adventure days have looked a lot different. We went on a safari, climbed a mountain, and went swimming all in one day! However, Swaziland is nothing like that. On adventure days we can go to Save More, a gas station, to buy snacks or toiletries. We can go to a restaurant nearby called Nesela, or we can go to Matada, a bigger shopping center with a grocery store and a huge market place. My team sometimes goes back to our care point to go to the river or for other fun things. A few weeks ago, we threw a surprise party for one of the girls who was moving to South Africa for school!!

Half Sabbath Days!! (Sunday and Monday)

Sundays we have church around 11 and we begin walking at 10:30 to make it on time. Some Sundays, I get to go early because a woman I sat next to our first week here invited me to help with the children’s choir! Sometimes that looks like being put on the spot to teach a lesson (AH!), and sometimes that looks like singing with the kids! You never know which it’s going to be. Siswati church can last anywhere from 2-4 hours, so it is considered part of our ministry. Going to church in language you cannot understand for that long can be so draining, but the worship is where it’s at. You can always find our squad dancing along with the Swazi kids to all the songs(: 

After church we get our half sabbath. This looks like whatever you make it. I’ve been trying to learn what sabbath looks like for me, and I think I’ve finally figured out that I’m not going to figure it out because it always looks different. The best way for me to describe it is to intentionally be and talk with the Lord in whatever way He wants you to. I have water colored for hours, done my laundry, or taken a nap- whatever resting with the Lord looks like that day. 

Monday’s we get to involve ourselves with the missionaries who live in Swaziland. We do devotions and worship together on the Adventures in Missions base for a couple hours together in the morning! The rest of the morning is spent cleaning. A place gets unbelievable dirty within a week when 50 people are living in community together. We cycle through different chores each week and then in the afternoons we get our other half sabbath so that we get an entire day of sabbath with the Lord. 

 

Every day looks completely different, regardless of how hard I try to put it on a schedule, but that’s ok!! I’ve learned to love it like that. Waking up and not knowing what the day holds until you get there isn’t something that everyone gets to live in for more than one day at a time. 

I hope you all found a little glimpse of what my days look like interesting!! I’d be happy to expand on anything else if you’d like. 

 

Prayer Requests!!

• smooth transitions after debrief 
• against sickness!
• open hearts and ears to hear what the Lord has to say

 

As always, please let me know if there’s any way I can specifically be praying for you!! 

all my love, kate