While in my last blog I expressed my overwhelming sense of the emotional joy I have found here in these people of Swaziland, this time I’ve found a different kind of a joy. A tangible joy, this joy…is a person. After a prayer session, my friend aubrey and I set out to find a ministry of our own. There is a neighboring house that we have been dying to meet the people. After several failed attempts to get into the barbwire fence we decided it just wasn’t God’s will. We started to head back to our hut when we saw a house directly across the street from ours we never had really noticed. We walked up the path to find little boys, Sito (See-toe), Lunglo(Long-gare-o), and Ngimphiwe (En-gim-pee-way). They greeted us with hugs and we had recognized them from the carepoint. We then saw our driver who said it was his mothers house and we should go visit her. As we did a beautiful girl walked to greet us. It was not your usual teenage girl greeting. It was the most excited and heartfelt hug and greeting. A greeting by someone who had longed for a visitor, who longed for a friend. Her name is Siphephile, pronounced spep-pee-lay. She translated for us and her grandmother said that she is so happy we were there and that what we’re doing here we should continue and never leave. That afternoon God laid on my heart that this girl…I was here for her. Her obsession with me didn’t take long to notice. Every second ‘im with her she was holding my hand and laughing and saying she was so glad i was there. Since the Swazi people like to give us Swazi names (I was given the name GuGu-meaning precious) Aubrey and I decided to give Siphehphile an american name..Joy. At the same moment we both said the name out loud, it was so funny we had both felt that name fit her so well. She was so pleased with the name and her spirit and what she does to my heart couldn’t be explained any other way than Joy. She comes over every day to visit. Everyday haha. Everyone laughs as they say “kim..joy is here…again.” I love spending time with her. She is a beautiful 13 year old girl who loves school and longs to be a designer of clothes or shoes. Her birthday is December 14. Her favorite thing to do is read, the Bible being one of her favorite books. She loves cheese pie and chicken and fruit picked from her yard. She is in love with beyonce and her music and wants more than anything to hang a picture of me on her wall (which im printing one out for her at the internet cafe!) Yesterday I went to her house to visit her because it was her first day of school and I wanted to see how it went. Aubrey painted her and her sisters nails. As Aubrey painted her sisters nails Joy took my hand as usual and just wanted to walk with me. As we stood under this beautiful tree in her yard I asked her if she had made any new friends at school. She looked at me with the most startled face and said, “What, NO!” I then said why? don’t you want any new friends.? Her answer almost brought me to tears. She said, “I don’t need new friends, I have you now.” In that moment Joy captured my heart. As she walked me home and hugged me goodbye I realized that a deeply rooted friendship had been planted. Joy inspires me. She lives in such a broken, dirty, and desolate town. She owns little and loves lots. She has huge dreams that are far beyond this tiny little town. More than anything I want to see her prosper, to grow, to break free from the chains of this impoverished town and to take life and make it her own. I’m not sure what God has in store for Joy and I. But I know that God gave me to her, and her to me. Even if her big dreams stay in this tiny town, her dreams and her spirit will grow and live in my heart forever. So from Swaziland to America, I send Joy…and lots of it 🙂
**The picture of me in a long sleeve navy shirt and brown sweatpants (and yes those are socks with flip-flops- my sense of fashion is clearly on hold while i’m here) is of me and Joy and her brother Lunglo during one of their many unexpected visits outside my door ha.
**The picture of me in a white and blue stripped shirt is of me and my new best friend joy
**The rest of the pictures on my other blog 
are of me at the care points where we play and love on the kids. One I am serving all the kids sour pourage- such a rewarding moment. Others, well most of the pictures are of me holding one of my favorite little boys Spawn-go-see. I know you shouldn’t have favorites, but this little boy has captured my heart. If you want to see the face of God..just look deep into their eyes.
