Sanibonani! I can’t
believe I am finally in Africa, a place I have dreamed of going to since I was
8 years old. What an amazing experience
I have already had this first week here. We have been exposed to so many opportunities for ministry; our contact,
Marius has been so helpful in showing us different ways we can get involved
with what God is already doing here in Swazi. I am personally so thankful for the ways he and his wife have served us
this past week. One place we visited was
Hope House in Manzini. Hope House is a
care facility for a the terminally ill; most are there because they are HIV
positive which then leads to them getting other infections like
tuberculosis. We split up into smaller
groups so we could go pray for each of the 14 patients there. My group went to the house of a lady who had
been paralyzed from a stroke. Most
patients have a relative that lives at Hope House with them so the staff can
train them on how to take care of the patient once they are well enough to
leave Hope House. No one was in the room
with the woman we visited so we were happy to spend some time with her. I will call her Ana for the sake of
simplicity and because Si Swati names are incredibly hard to remember. She was so happy to see us and asked us to
sit down and talk with her for a while. The Swazi people really value relationships, so instead of going into
places and immediately asking to pray for them, we take the time to sit and
talk with them and show them we value building a relationship with them. So, after we had talked a while we asked Ana
if we could pray for her, she smiled and said yes. We laid hands on her arms and legs and prayed
for healing; that Jesus is stronger than any treatment she could be given by
even the best doctors. After we finished
she looked at us and said, “I know God can heal me. Nothing is too big for
God.” All with a smile on her face. What a beautiful picture she was of a faith
that can move mountains. It is easy for
us to say that Jesus can heal when we are perfectly healthy, but for those
words to come out of the mouth of a woman who cannot even walk was incredibly
powerful. I pray that these next 2 ½
months in Swaziland, my faith will become one that can move mountains.
