You know you’re in Swaziland when… You live in a hut. You become addicted to instant coffee. You smash spiders on your face. You name the longdrop the ‘green castle’ and weekly announce the Queen (whoever spent the most time in there) You live out in the middle of nowhere. You see the most beautiful sunsets nightly. You want to go to bed at 5pm when the sun sets… and get up at 5am when it rises. You walk miles and miles to get anywhere. You look out of the hut and see gorgeous mountains. You get used to hopping on a Kumbi and paying 70 cents to get to town...

Last week I fell in love with the kids here. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved being here and holding them and playing with them. However, last week two little girls at different care points remembered me. I have generally stuck with the older girls because I can talk with them, so they remember me fairly well. Last week though, I walked into Manzini care point on Monday and a little girl who I had played with the previous week came running up to me. I sat down, in the dirt, and held her for a while. After a few minutes she began to climb all over me, balance on my legs and hang over my...

The language barrier is quickly becoming my biggest pet peeve.    I want to be able to joke with the street boys that I  have made a relationship with, but my humor often does not translate.   Soccer, however, needs no language. My relationship with a lot of the boys has started because we started kicking the soccer ball around. My love language with them is soccer. They know that I deeply care for them when we play…it is written all over their faces.     Gene and I went to see our neighbor, who has become our really good friend, play in a local game....

Who knew that it would take traveling half way around the world to really realize the power of the tongue? From almost the beginning our tongues were the biggest struggle for the team. Coincidentally, it is also the topic of the book I brought and one of the first things that God revealed to me I needed major work on and needed to do so a.s.a.p. It is so small but has the power to hurt others, unrighteously build oneself up, to ruin lives, and to completely ruin one’s testimony. Fortunately it also has the power to speak truth, bring about healing, edify each other, and boast of God’s...

Once upon a time there was a girl that the Lord gave a passion for the special needs of this world. As a 17 year old girl, the Lord literally made me fall into the gift that he unknowingly had placed upon my life. Ever since, he has given me a “TINY” passion for the children and adults of this world that he LOVES so desperately. For those of you that do not know me, I feel this is important for you to understand my heart in the next portion of this post. For those of you that do know me, this is nothing new! I was having one of those days where I was missing home extremely, and the...

The first month of this journey has been a whirlwind of emotions. I have been joyful, miserable, excited, lonely, and filled with wonder. The Lord is very present here, and he is using this journey to change my heart is so many beautiful ways. My negative emotions, which stem most often from the desires of my flesh, are teaching me more about the selfishness that is hiding within me. I am selfish with my time, my energy, and my resources. The Lord is changing my heart not only for this country, but for the beautiful people I love at home. I am learning to tame my tongue, pray more than I...