Well, here it is; my last blog whilst here in Swaziland. I never felt like I would ever be at this point, although I’m glad that I am. It’s been great here but I know that the Lord has a lot in store for me back home.
I will miss many of the people here, most notably our friends Bheki, Lelo, and Musa. I could talk about Bheki’s smile, Musa’s laugh, and Lelo’s smooth style for hours, but I’m trying to wrap things up and I don’t want to be too wordy, if that’s possible. It seemed that Bheki and Musa were over every night for dinner, and of course Lelo was over all the time because we live on his homestead.
I will miss the kids a lot as well; the little kids at the Timbutini care point. I will always remember Girlfriend, Carl Winslow, Thaban, Mean Girl, Michael Redd, Sibusiso, Senkhosi, Crazy Kid, Xelo, and Cheeks, singing “We are family, we are one,” over and over and over again. Well, Thaban can’t talk, so he can’t sing, but I will remember him swallowing a hard candy immediately after putting it in his mouth and the 2 minutes that we thought he was going to die.
And then there is Gogo Shongwe. Words can’t describe this lady. She is 77 years old and works out in the field every day. She doesn’t know a lot of English but that doesn’t stop her from talking and goofing around with us. She always has something to say. I don’t know how many times we had a conversation where she was speaking Siswati and I was speaking English which ended with her laughing and walking away.
I’ll miss a lot more, including church, the Hope House, and assembly at the local high school every Thursday. I don’t think I will be able to experience anything like them back in the States.
“With ten miles behind me, and ten thousand more to go.” – James Taylor
With this trip coming to an end, I only consider my time here in the last 3 years a small taste of what the Lord has in store for me in the future. I know that as I get older, I will only have to lean on the Lord more to do anything in this world. I’ll get a small taste of that this summer as I raise support for working as an intern for Campus Crusade for Christ in the fall.
I’m really excited for the next month after I get home. Things are only speeding up for me. The weekend I get back I will attend an intern training weekend in Boulder, CO. Then, I will make a glorious return to Bloomington, IN to visit friends and see my sister graduate. Then I will head back out west to a wedding in Oklahoma and my girlfriend’s graduation in Lawrence, KS the next weekend. It’s going to be a busy next few weeks; and then I get to start raising support for my internship.
I really believe that God has used this trip to prepare me for the next stage in my life. Although not everything went well or how I wanted it to, I know that my experience here has taught me a lot. Although this is goodbye to my blog, and to AIM in general, I’m happy to say I have been on this trip. Swaziland is such a great country and an amazing place to experience the Lord’s work across the world.
Thank you very much. Peace be the journey. Amen.
