photo journal no. 2

Muddy Waters

For our last adventure day in Swazi, my team went back to our care point to hang out. We took the long way, maybe an extra hour of walking, to pick up all of our kids to go swim at the river!! If I’m being honest, I was less than thrilled that my team wanted to go swim in this stagnant, muddy, poop water for our last day here, but I didn’t want to miss out on seeing my girls one last time. 

With about forty kids in tow, we finally got to the river! The kids all started stripping and jumping in, so we followed suit! (minus the stripping) We swam for an hour or so, and it was just so much fun! Most of the kids didn’t know how to swim, so we just held them and splashed water at each other. It was just such a sweet last afternoon with them, completely from the Lord. It was absolutely perfect on this 112 degree day(:

Fun Day @ Mahangeni

Instead of the normal walk to our care point in the morning, we decided to go early for a fun day! We took the bus at 8:00 and were met with all of our kids when we arrived. We spent the morning painting their nails, going to the well, and helping our gogos cook. We peeled potatoes and beets for hours, shredded carrots and made huge bowls of potato salad. When all the kids were there in the afternoon, we sang and prayed together before our picnic lunch, and then we ran around and played touch (tag) the rest of the day. 

I couldn’t really tell you why it was one of my favorite days, but I can tell you that there was so much joy at the care point that day. There weren’t any fights, and we walked our kids almost all the way home. It was an unexpected, and such a sweet surprise.  

Mornings with Ouma

One morning on our walk to ministry, we decided that it would be fun to see how many things we could climb on to spice things up a little bit. We climbed on anything from abandoned buildings to trees to trash pits. 

While we were climbing on this trash pit, an old woman with a huge smile on her face walks out. She introduces herself as Joana and makes sure we know that she isn’t mad. She immediately tells us that all the little kids used to climb on her tree and that she loves it when young people come and visit her. She must have liked us from the beginning because she invited us to stop at her home every day. 

It quickly turned into the highlight of my morning. We would always talk for a little bit under her huge purple tree before we prayed together about anything. Sometimes she would have us pray for healing over her arthritis, for rain, and she loved having us pray for our families back home. 

Sometime during month three, she asked us to start calling her “Ouma.” If you can imagine a best friend and a grandma in one, that’s Ouma. Her hospitality is amazing. She hardly knows us but can always tell when one of us isn’t having the best day, and she has the biggest heart. 

Not only did we get to see her every day we had ministry, but she eventually invited us to go to her church!! If you’re wondering who was my hardest goodbye, it was Ouma. 

Climbing to Another Country!

One of the shepherds offered to take everyone who was interested in climbing the mountain you can see from our base one Saturday. So, we boarded a Kumbi early in the morning and drove to the military base. Since we were going to be hiking into South Africa, we had to get permission. We were told to bring our passports and skirts to wear as a sign of respect. 

We walk up to the base and sit down as we’re instructed to do. A man with no shirt, bright red sweatpants, and a trench coat touching the floor walks out and starts asking what we want to do. After telling him we want to climb the mountain, he lets us leave, hitting on us as we go! It was such a crazy experience from what we were expecting it to be and from what it was!! 

We start up the mountain, and for my Czech friends, it’s a lot like Lysá Hora. After sweating more than I ever have in my entire life, we finally make it to the top! We are in South Africa!! We get to walk around a little bit and see some market stands before we took a different way down. 

Side note: I have now climbed a mountain in 5/11 countries I’ve been to!!

Fooled by Mbogeni 

Mbogeni, one of the boys at our care point that my whole team loves, had told us that he was having a birthday party on Sunday afternoon and he wanted us to come! He gave us some ripped cardboard invitations that included all the normal invitation things and a dress code(?). He had asked us all to wear blue jeans and a white shirt. 

We asked our squad leader if we could go, because it wasn’t during typical free or ministry hours, and she said yes! We would have to miss church because we were leaving about halfway through when it was usually going on, but it was too sweet of an opportunity to pass up. The only condition was that we had to do the entire squads cleaning before we left. 

Sunday morning we wake up and it is a whopping 104 degrees. We get the team house looking beautiful as we clean every inch of this place before it’s time to leave. We got all dressed up in our jeans and white shirts, lather on the sunscreen, grab a bunch of water, and we head off to Mbogeni’s house. 

If you remember, our care point is an hour’s walk from where we live, and Mbogeni’s home is a little past that. Maybe halfway through the walk we finally find some shade. Most of us are on the verge of throwing up, probably from heat exhaustion or something, so we take a little break and keep going. 

Right before we reach the care point we see Mbogeni and his friends! We walk up to him and they are laughing way too hard at us. None of them are in the dress code either. So, we start talking to him about his party. 

Well, turns out that his birthday is in July! No party. No dress code. No cake that he thought we were bringing for his non existent birthday party. So, we give him the card and started walking to our friend Ouma’s house so we can relax in the shade with her. She just happened to be wearing a white shirt and a blue skirt, making it so clear to us that we were just supposed to hang out with Ouma all along. AND THEN! she told us that it was her 76th birthday the day before!! We sat with her for maybe an hour before heading back, and it just turned into a super sweet afternoon with our Swazi grandma. 

Meadow Dancing with My Girls

One Sunday after church, my team and I decided to visit some of our care point kids at their homes. As we walked, kids started running after us and wanting to walk us the whole way back home. They even told us of a shortcut that we had never heard about before that included hopping a fence.

When we got to the area of the fence that we were told was easiest to hop, we looked a little bit over and there was a huge party going on. Slight problem: hopping the fence is illegal! We kind of just stood there for a while, not knowing what to do, and before we knew it someone had asked us to join the celebration. 

We walked over, and before we knew it we were singing “Joy to the World” with a bunch of drunk parents and joining in on their celebration. It was a whirlwind of handshakes and pictures, but somehow we got permission to hop the fence! None of us even knew that’s why they had invited us to the party! 

We finally hopped the fence with some of our kids and started our walk home. My girls, Bayanda and Neliswa, walked me almost the entire way! They were dancing and begging me to twirl them the whole way(: They even grabbed some flowers to tuck behind my ear! It was the sweetest little walk with them as we danced and skipped through the meadow. 

Swazi Skies

There was one morning that I was just writing down my dreams and passions and promises that the Lord had given me. I wanted a special way to remember them and look back on them! When I was done, there was some extra space on the page and I drew an olive branch. I’ve always loved olive branches and how they symbolize the Lord’s promise to us. 

When I was done, the Lord asked me to read the story of Noah and the Ark. So, I read about Him flooding the earth, the olive branch, and the rainbow that appeared as a promise that He would never flood the earth again. It was a sweet quiet time with the Lord, and I didn’t really think much of it the rest of the day.

Well, the Lord had different plans. That night, there was a lightning storm, a double rainbow, and sunset happening all at once! It was just super sweet because I had read that story that morning, and I just got to see the goodness of the Lord all over again!(:

 

Update!!

After about six days of traveling, my squad and I are still in Thailand, waiting to go to Myanmar. We’ve had some trouble with cancellations and we aren’t quite sure when we will actually get to Myanmar, let alone begin ministry. 

It has been really fun to explore cities, markets, and find the best coffee shops where we are! I’ve had a lot of fun finding the coolest and most unique coffee shops I can, and I have had some sweet time with the Lord and my squad-mates since we’ve been here. 

If you could just join me in lifting up the next few days as we figure out transportation and hostel locations, it would be greatly appreciated!

As always, let me know how I can be praying for you!!

all my love, Kate