We all walk out of the grocery store with a week’s amount of groceries for sixteen people.  Cross the parking lot with all the bags in hand, and load in the van.  Sounds fairly normal and make sense…  But while in Swaziland, that’s not fairly normal and doesn’t make sense. All eyes in that crowded parking lot are on us.   Kombi bus drivers holler and want to take us in their vehicles to our destination.  Children stare, and men tell us we are beautiful.  Young girls try to sell us icy drinks in plastic bags. In that moment, who am...

     Yesterday, one of our ministry partners joked that he was happy to see that we were finally starting to lose our white skin and get the African skin. He was of course referring to the fact that many of us have some serious sunburns that are peeling. Perhaps it has something to do with the lack of sunscreen that we applied on our beach day Monday.       One of us joked that “The old has gone and the new has come.” As I laughed I realized a serious truth in that statement. We have only been here for a month, but we have all changed and grown...

‘Our Father’ – this term can stir up a multitude of emotion all around the world. Good, bad, happy or sad. Too often our idea of God as our Father is predetermined by our view of our earthly father, but in reality no matter how great our daddys may be, he doesn’t even compare to the perfect King. One of my favorite parts about going to care points and seeing the kids is hearing them each time pray The Lord’s Prayer. The more I hear them say it, English or Siswati, the meaning and power of it comes more and more to life. “Give us this day our daily...

“Death is just the beginning of what I’m living for.” These are the words of one of my incredible teammates, Tanner. When I first heard him say this, I didn’t think much of it as we typically do in conversations in this fast paced world. But when I actually sat down and thought about these wise words, I was caught off guard by how convicted I was. As a Christian, I have already died once. Once, to myself. Everyday I strive to become less of my selfish, worldly self and more like my perfect Father. For some reason we are afraid of physical death whether we admit it or...

I thought it would break, but wait… what? It’s only gotten bigger.  I thought God would do one thing, instead he did the opposite.    “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).   And you know, I love it.    Before this trip, one of my prayers was that God would give me such a love for the Swazi people and this experience that my heart...

     I’m not a morning person, but one month ago today I woke up at about 7AM even though I had no reason to be up that early. I couldn’t possibly sleep any longer because I knew that my adventure was beginning on that day. A few hours later I found myself driving up to Gainesville, Georgia with my mom. It was about an hour-long drive to the Adventures in Missions headquarters, and I spent most of that time wondering what training camp had in store for me. Soon I would meet my teammates, who I would be spending three months with in Africa….gosh, I hope we...