Author: Adventures

    This is Thaban. He is five years old. He loves to be held and to play. His eyes sparkle when he smiles, and so many of us on our team have fallen completely in love with him. Thaban can’t speak. We are told that he does not swallow properly. Because of this, Thaban constantly has a tremendous amount of drool dripping out of his mouth and caked all over his clothes. Thaban teaches me how incredibly selfish I can be. It’s often so hard to pick Thaban up when you are hot, soaked with sweat, and the last thing you want to do is have drool all over your clothes,...

  <–Mandesa- she’s hillarious! Another week in Africa.  This week our team took some time listening to the Lord as to where we felt led to minister. We’ve been taking another week to get acclimated to our surroundings and build relationships with others. It takes a while to understand concepts of their culture since it is so different from ours. Some examples- most of the time it isn’t appropriate to call an older woman by her name. It’s similar to the concept of Mr. and Mrs. but rather mage or gogo. Also, when offered food it is always considered...

Wednesday we got the chance to go to the hospital in Manzini. This hospital is run by the government, a government that doesn’t fufill the rights of the people. Patients in the hospital will be delayed care and treatment so that the government doesn’t have to pay to send them elsewhere. Children are insured but don’t receive the privileges. Many of the people in this hospital seem to have been forgotten and lost much of their dignity. Upon first entering the women’s ward with a few girls on my team, there was no presence of joy, something we had to rely on...

  Earlier this week my team and I had the opportunity to visit a hospital near by. We were there to pray for, encourage, and simply love on the patients and their families. We saw physical brokenness and suffering. Most of which seemed to be caused by things that are rarely seen in the states because they are completely preventable. As I was walking into the children’s ward I saw an older woman sitting alone in front of a tiny bundle that was on the table in front of here. I approached her and asked if I could sit down and I saw that the bundle was the frail, tiny body of a...

On Monday we went to a wildlife reserve park.  We spent a couple of hours driving around, fully embracing our American tourist-ness.  We were a little disappointed that a giraffe was not seen, but we have not lost hope…we will see one!  After driving around we ended up at a picnic area.  We chatted for a few minutes then split up to spend time with our Heavenly Father.  I began my time claiming John 10:27 that as a child of God we will hear his voice and know that it is Him.  We had two hours to spend in God’s presence and seek Him regarding His...

  I love what David writes in Psalm 139: “ 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths,  you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” ...