Hello from Swaziland! Today is our third day here in Swaziland and
already we have been learning and experiencing so much! Yesterday was
our first day of ministry and we went to the village carepoint at the
church down the room from our homestead we are staying at. the carepoint
is a place for kids to come for a meal and a safe place to play for a
couple hours before they go back to their homes. I made a little buddy
their Matahwe who followed me around the whole time i was there.
Everyone in Swazi is so friendly and constantly have smiles on their
faces and wave every time we walk by. We also went on our first house
visits yesterday. we went to two of the Gogo’s ( Swazi word for grandma)
houses and they invited us right on in to read them Bible passages and
pray for them while our translators translated what we were saying to
each other. The culture here is different in so many ways and its
incredible to see the joy and stress free lives the people have even
when they have so little and and have lost so many family members to
aids and other diseases. Two of the girls that translate for us are
becoming my friends and are teaching me a few Suswati phrases. Ungubani
ligama lakho – what is your name? sahyubona unjahne – Hello! what is
your name?! Seyubuhya! – see you later! thats all i have down right now
haha.
also, we are like royalty or celebrities here! everywhere we go, people
just stop and stare… and dont quit staring! when we walked into the
mall here in town, people got out their cameras and phones to take
pictures of us and everyone is so proud to be our “friends”. Actually,
ironically as I’m writing this at the cafe I’m at, a woman named Penelope
just walked up to us and asked to be our friends and when we said yes of
course she jumped up and down and got so excited and hugged us all!
haha point proven! My team is amazing and God definitely blessed me with
a group of amazing, Godly girls to spend the next 7 weeks with.
Much love,
Melody
