Friends –
Today was another fantastic day in Swaziland! As we move through this week, I’m going to focus on more specific stories since we have settled into a routine here (homestead visits in the morning, Bible study in the afternoon, and revivals in the evening.) Our first home visit this morning made a huge impact. After walking (well, hiking) nearly half a mile, we arrived at a traditional homestead, a single room. We visited three elderly people, one blind man and two women. After singing, reading some Scripture and presenting the BGR bucket of supplies, one of the women began to speak about how thankful she was for our gift. At this point, all of our translators were crying, and I (not speaking Siswati) was very confused when one of our Gogos (the name for grandmother here) stepped over to translate for me. She spoke of their story: after having spent years and years sleeping outside, another group of missionaries came and built their homestead so they would have a place to sleep. After this, the man went blind. Even after this, the family continued to follow God and believed that the Lord loved them and then we came and presented them with these supplies to encourage and strengthen them. After this, we were able to present a Siswati Bible to the family. Everyone was crying at this point. What a special moment of God’s faithfulness and grace. SOMEONE CALL POP AND TELL HIM I PICKED UP MY ROCK. He will know what this means!
The Details:
– The stars here are magical. I’ve never seen so much of the Milky Way in my life! It’s like they are just countless!
– The police officers here are very interested in me. I have been asked for my number twice, and if they can come to the US with me.
– We fit 10 people in our van today, along with 500lbs of food. It’s a 8 passenger van for the record!
Praises:
– The BGR buckets are going so well!! We’re thankful for each of the visits!
– We’ve gotten to give out a couple of dresses and the girls look adorable!!
– I still haven’t crashed the drone! (Couple of close calls, but the LORD IS GOOD!)
Prayer Requests:
– On a personal note, I’m just finally getting exhausted. Most days I’m carrying at least 25 extra lbs of gear on my back, usually more. Pray for sanity, my exhaustion, and my rest!
– Pray for the family we met today! Pray for assurance of salvation, and for continued faith!
– Pray for each of the pastors who had helped us, translated for us, and have been our guides here! We are so thankful for them and we want to bathe them in prayer!
Love you all! Thankful for each of you and your little graces sent to me. I love hearing from all of you!
Maggie
