Okay,
update on team ministry here in Nsoko: God has really been doing a lot of work
in each of us as individuals to change our outlook on what we are doing and
what we can be doing. And having that
mentality shift has changed our attitudes as we minister which increases our effectiveness. This looks different for each one of us, but
I’m just going to write about how it’s been different for me.
Since
the last time I wrote, God has been bringing things down to a focus for
me. He’s given me a focus on just loving
on people and investing in relationships to the greatest extent possible. This has resulted in me spending the time
that would otherwise be free time just hanging out with whoever’s around. And it was been so much fun! I really cannot express how good it has
been. I have fully fallen in love with
my Swazi friends here in Nsoko, and it is going to be hard to leave them. The children here decided that I am their
mother so I call them “bantfwabami” (my children) and am thoroughly enjoying
playing with them during my down time.
These kids are so much fun – I wish you all could see their creative
Swazi games we play. Almost all of them
involve either singing or dancing!
One of
the coolest things that has come from this, is the time I have spent just hanging
out with the young women (meaning anywhere from 12 to 27 years old, but most of
them are 14 to 16 years old). Even
though there is a serious language barrier because these girls are very shy
about speaking the English they know, there is communication and relationship
building that goes beyond words. I just
make full use of the minimal siSwati I’ve learned and we joke around a lot together. Laughing is one of the best channels to
friendship. It transcends all barriers,
both cultural and lingual.
So God
has just been flooding my mind with ideas for young women’s ministry. It’s so crazy to me that after writing in my
last blog to we needed to become visionaries, God has given me so much vision
with these girls. To just give you an
idea of what’s going on (though this will sound like little more than a busy
schedule) I’ll just tell you some of things we’re doing. The girls and I go jogging every evening when
it starts to cool off. The first time we
went, my little track star, Gcebile, led the way, and I feared that I had just
committed to a daily ministry of torture.
I wish you could see the way some of these African girls can race down
the dirt road in skirts and flip-flops, or just barefoot. The next day Gcebile almost cut her pace in
half after I had been telling her how fast she ran – over-compensating. But yesterday was so much fun…some of the
young guys came with us, too, and initially I thought I might be forced to run
even faster than the first day with the girls, but these speedy girls were
actually keeping the guys in tow. One of
the guys, Mdeni (I LOVE him so much, he reminds me of my “little brothers” back
home!) was actually keeping my pace perfectly alongside me, which was so nice
to have a pace partner! Then on the way
back I always pick one of the kids who ran in the back on the way there to lead
on the way back. This time I was more
specific about how the leader has freedom to do any creative stuff they
want. And it was crazy fun! Our leader Tobi led us running backwards and
a couple different unique Swazi exercises.
My favorite part was one kid after another losing a slip-on shoes, going
back for it, and then running backwards on turbo-drive to catch up! And then another one of my favorite parts:
cool down. The girls and I just walk
down the path a ways, holding hands and swinging them high into the air.
A few
other things we’re doing are the original young women’s group on Friday
afternoons, a group just for the older young women on Thursday afternoons (just
the older girls wanted to read “Captivating” by Stasi Eldredge), prayer walks
on Wednesday afternoons, and I’m planning a sleepover for this upcoming Sunday
before the girls go back to school. The
girls are all really excited for the sleepover…Philile, Pastor Gift’s wife, and
I are going to make the girls dinner, then we’re going to make our men (Jon and
Bryan) lead us in a time of worship, and then leave so we can fill the air with
estrogen telling stories, having girl talk, and playing games. Then I’m going to show the girls an American
movie complete with popcorn! I just hope
that I can come through with a theme for the girls to take away with them
represented by our girl-talk and the movie…you can pray that God will show me
His plan for this.
God has
really led me to have a focus on sexuality for the young women’s group. Philile gave me this book called “Sexy Girls”
by Hayley DiMarco (author of the “Revolve” Biblezine) that the girls had been
reading earlier, and it was really quality material broken down into straight,
relevant language, and the whole group is so excited about the book. I’m giving the girls passages of Scripture
every week to read and memorize for candy (I didn’t want to treat them like
kids, but the girls were just way too excited about candy rewards to
resist!) And we continue to have the
girls write down their questions and prayer requests. The girls are going to write down questions
they have for godly guys over the next couple weeks, and Bryan and Jon will
prepare to talk with them and answer their questions. I am so eager for these girls to hear a
perspective from men who really love God, seek to be pure, and love their future
wives by the way they live their lives even now.
I was
unclear as to what direction I should take the older women’s group on Tuesday
afternoons, but after talking to Philile, I found out that she was taking her
holiday time right now, but normally she is in charge of that group and has
many ideas for the direction it should go.
This was such a relief! I felt so
unqualified to really meet the needs of women undergoing issues and struggles I
had never gone through the like of. But
after hearing Philile’s many ideas, I am so excited about the vision for this
group, and how it will benefit these women.
So it’s
happened: I am officially falling in love with the people of Swaziland! It’s so true what we were told about the
people here, how loving and joyful they are.
I have very rarely seen a Swazi in a bad mood, and even when my friend
Mapile was kind of angry one morning, I talked to him about it, and then he was
instantly in an upbeat mood again. And
they are so relational and social! But one
problem that can come from this is that I could spend every day all day with
them just hanging out without getting anything else done! Maybe it’s just as well that we don’t have
too much concrete ministry we’re doing.
To sum
up this really long blog (sorry!), thanks so much for all your prayers, because
God has been answering my prayers and life has been good. I’m just so blessed by the way God has turned
this around. He took what seemed to be
ministry limitations, and made ministry opportunities. Wethembekile – God is faithful!
