We really switched gears when we went to Swazi, but in such good ways!
I came into Manzini with an expectation that it was going to look a lot like what we had just experienced in J-Bay. But, oh boy that came crumbling down quickly. We didn’t have the same support system that we were extremely blessed with in J-Bay and that was a hard thing to get used to. We had each other though and I genuinely believe God did this for a reason. There was so much growth in our relationships between each other and our love for each other was deepened in Manzini. Being able to look back on this month, it was a sweet time with the team and with the children we were serving!
Our whole team worked at this carepoint called Mafutseni where we fed about 450 kids after school each day (Tues-Fri). The kids ranged from 2-18 years old. It was about an acre of open field and there was one small building (for the food and cooking materials), an outhouse, and 1 tree for shade, so there were some hot days! Plus, we cooked the food over an open fire, so that added to the heat! Anyways, creating those relationships with the kids filled me with so much love, joy, excitement, humility, & and so much more that is indescribable. Many of the younger kids had holes in their shirts and their shoes were falling a part (if they even had shoes!), but they had the biggest smiles. Something that will always warm my heart is seeing one of my friends each day and him running across the field to hug me. It was an absolute joy to serve here and the kids will always hold a special place in my heart. At the end, we built a canopy for them! So they’d have some extra shade as they enter their summer season.
On Mondays, we would go into the city of Manzini and do what was called an ask-the-Lord (ATL) day. We would split down to groups of 2-3 and ask the Lord to lead. This led into some of the coolest stories and experiences that I had on the entire trip. I’ll share one here, but please ask me about some others! I was going out with Lily, and Grace M. and we felt called to go into the market. So we walked around for a bit & talked to quite a few people who outwardly just wanted our money. And yes, I get it, we were in a market, but our hope was to create some relationships and I think we all had it on our hearts that this was the area to be in. So, we start to leave the market and we meet these three lovely ladies—Noni, Mary, and Porsha. They were from Cape Town and they were visiting their family for the week. It was so sweet to meet them and they welcomed us in like we were their children. They invited us back into the market and they walked around with us showing us all the good things to buy. It was so nice getting to know them and sharing the Gospel with them! When we were walking around the second time, we met John. He had a booth at the market and became a close friend of ours. That day he poured scripture into us and reminded us of the hope that we have in Jesus! We prayed with him multiple times throughout our trip and I will forever thank God that we met John that day. It was so encouraging and truly a gift from God!
We were able to go on two safaris on our off days! On the first safari, we saw lots of zebras, kudu, impalas, wildebeest, warthogs, and much more! And we got to ride bikes throughout the reserve! The second safari is where we saw the lions, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, elephants! God answered some prayers on this safari! Every animal we wanted to see, we saw which was so cool! It was so fun seeing God’s beauty in all these amazing animals.
Swazi is such a beautiful place & will always hold a special place in my heart. It reminded me of MT in so many ways! Once again, this is such a small portion of the whole experience we had, so please ask questions and I’m excited to share more with you all when I see you next.
Scripture throughout my time in Manzini!
Matthew 11:28-30
Numbers 6:24-26
Like all of Proverbs haha… Proverbs 3!!
Isaiah 40:30-31
No pressure at all! But, the carepoint we were working at is fairly new & many of the kids are not sponsored yet. So, if you would like to give and change some lives, I’ve put a link below where you can bless this place!
https://sponsorship.adventures.org/carepoint/mafutseni
Thanks for following along on this journey! I love you all so much!
Lilly
