"The same just different" that is what you hear most of the missionaries say alot here, Diane and I are also beginning to pick up on that saying. The weather here is the same as in NC just different it is hotter more dry, the meat here is the same just different pork? and beef? just does not taste the same, but we are getting accustom to it. I could go on and on about the differences here but I think you all get the point but there is one thing here that is the same people are hurting they have needs, wants,desires they want to be loved just like people all over the world wants love. And yes there is something else here that is the same all over the world and universe for that matter and that is GOD, He is the same as He was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow. God wants the same for His precious people in Swaziland as He does in any other place in the world, for them to Know Him through knowing His son The Lord Jesus, and by the grace of God we are going to make sure they do just that to know the love of God and what He has done for them through His son Jesus.
We are still setteling in, we are in "our home" now but will take some time to get everything together we just have to keep reminding ourselfes we are now on Swazi time and that is a lot slower than US time, just takes longer for things to come together.Diane is in South Africa for the next few days with Sandra another cup missionary (Sandra for some R&R Diane for shopping for more things for the house) so please pray for their safety.Next week we both hope to be able to focus more on the medical program and just loving on the kids showing them Jesus. As always Thank You to all our supporters and surely Piney Grove for helping us be here to do the work God has called us to do. We will try and up date as often as we can (internet VERY slow). Until next post God Bless you all and know we miss you all.
Donald/Diane
Monday, February 16, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Learning the differences
Yes, some things are done the same but most are different. We went shopping at the SPAR for groceries parking cost 2 rand and you even have to pay for a shopping cart. There is lettuce here but no head lettuce just leaf lettuce. Cucumbers are very large and look a lot like zucchini which looks like small skinny green cucumbers.
Driving here is interesting. Driving on the left side of the road is not too bad but the right turns are something else ( you have to remember to end up on the left side) Stoplights are called robots here, they are very hard to see and are basically hidden. Also, some roads have no stop signs but it is faintly written on the road itself. We do not have our own car yet, but it is in the works, hopefully in the next few weeks. We have been driving the spare vehicle that Children’s cup has.
We have met several great friends and the missionaries here have a good support network.
Donald held his first clinic with the Swazi nurse kosilathati on Friday Feb 6th . There was a 7 month old which Donald diagnosed as toxic epidermal necrolysis ( infection so bad it is blistering the skin and turning the lips blue) she was marked for urgent to go to the “government hospital” but could not be taken until Monday. Donald prayed with the babies Gogo (care giver/grandmother) that God would take care of her baby HE did the baby died Saturday morning. So now she is with the Lord and not in any more pain. This is a frequent occurrence this is “normal” for Swaziland.
There was a little boy age 4 named MUSU who was a child of a member of the church here who just died from TB. The funerals here are a lot different than at home, they must bury the body before the sun rises, so the funeral starts and goes all night then burial before sun up.
While Donald was doing the clinics I went with Sandra to one of her Carepoints Called Fontane, there were about 150 children divided into 2 groups they were taught the Bible Story about Sampson and Delilah they seemed to be able to answer questions about a serving heart for Christ. Afterward we gave out wedge sandals to only the girls that were sent over in a container from some company in the US> you should have seen their faces light up..Even the teachers and cooks received a pair, one of them danced around and sang “thanks my Jesus” Such a blessing to be a part of this..
We are trying to get into what will be “home” here. Very slow finding things to buy and getting them delivered. We are hoping to be in the house in the next week or so. Will post pictures when we can.
Internet here is very sporratic so blogging will be “when ever we can” Thanks to all of you who are PRAYING for us and thank you for all your support. Keep reading .
God Bless, till we blog again..
Driving here is interesting. Driving on the left side of the road is not too bad but the right turns are something else ( you have to remember to end up on the left side) Stoplights are called robots here, they are very hard to see and are basically hidden. Also, some roads have no stop signs but it is faintly written on the road itself. We do not have our own car yet, but it is in the works, hopefully in the next few weeks. We have been driving the spare vehicle that Children’s cup has.
We have met several great friends and the missionaries here have a good support network.
Donald held his first clinic with the Swazi nurse kosilathati on Friday Feb 6th . There was a 7 month old which Donald diagnosed as toxic epidermal necrolysis ( infection so bad it is blistering the skin and turning the lips blue) she was marked for urgent to go to the “government hospital” but could not be taken until Monday. Donald prayed with the babies Gogo (care giver/grandmother) that God would take care of her baby HE did the baby died Saturday morning. So now she is with the Lord and not in any more pain. This is a frequent occurrence this is “normal” for Swaziland.
There was a little boy age 4 named MUSU who was a child of a member of the church here who just died from TB. The funerals here are a lot different than at home, they must bury the body before the sun rises, so the funeral starts and goes all night then burial before sun up.
While Donald was doing the clinics I went with Sandra to one of her Carepoints Called Fontane, there were about 150 children divided into 2 groups they were taught the Bible Story about Sampson and Delilah they seemed to be able to answer questions about a serving heart for Christ. Afterward we gave out wedge sandals to only the girls that were sent over in a container from some company in the US> you should have seen their faces light up..Even the teachers and cooks received a pair, one of them danced around and sang “thanks my Jesus” Such a blessing to be a part of this..
We are trying to get into what will be “home” here. Very slow finding things to buy and getting them delivered. We are hoping to be in the house in the next week or so. Will post pictures when we can.
Internet here is very sporratic so blogging will be “when ever we can” Thanks to all of you who are PRAYING for us and thank you for all your support. Keep reading .
God Bless, till we blog again..
Thursday, February 5, 2009
WE’RE HERE !!
This is the real beginning of our journey, we are now where GOD has called us to be and the joyful work of the Lord will be administered.
Sunday February 1st. Our day began with worshiping at our home church. Lunch with our family and a long drawn out packing fest which consisted of one visit to the one and only…… Wal-Mart for more luggage. Watching our grandson try to pack himself in one of the suitcases closing the lid and saying “Hep me” We stayed up all night packing so we will sleep on the long flight after we leave Atlanta??
Monday, February 2nd, since we did not sleep we continued our Good bye with our Grandson for which Amanda & Travis took him to daycare. Then pack the Church Van (very appreciative for the use) My sister came with us to the airport, Our Pastor Timmy Blair and Youth Pastor Tim Lynch met us there for support.. and we really needed it. It was very hard saying good bye. The last thing my daughter whispered in my ear was “ Go tell them about Jesus, Mom.” How blessed to have a daughter that even though it breaks her heart for her parents to be moving over 8 thousand miles away that she understands the call of God and how important it is. Thank you Jesus!! So 11:30am we are off..The flight was a smooth one and so was our connection to Atlanta..In Atlanta we had enough time to eat lunch, Mexican..my favorite, not so much Donald’s but it was the closest food to the departure gate. 4:30 pm board Delta for a very long flight approximately 9 hours over the ocean to Senegal (a short stop for refuel). Off again for another 9 hours to Johannesburg (Joberg for short). The flights have been great, no turbulence but also no sleep for me (much) .
Tuesday, February 3rd, 5:30 pm arrived in Joberg. After receiving the good news that our luggage (all 8 pieces) arrived with us but were checked straight through to a holding bldg. till Wed. morning when our final flight will leave for Manzini. We crossed the street and took a shuttle bus over to a nice hotel called the Southern Sun. ( Appropriately since we are southern and we are to be a bright and shining light in the darkness for Jesus..) After a nice meal (for which I not thinking ordered TEA, Tea here is served warm, which I enjoyed) in the hotel restaurant we went up to our room and…. Oh please, let me ship the bed to our new home in Mbabane, it was wonderful, reminded me of dreams of jumping into a big pile of feathers…Needless to say I slept like a baby till 4 AM Wednesday morning .
Wednesday, February 4th, 4am Joberg time, 9:00 pm Tuesday night U.S time. The internet was not free so we bought a few minutes and tried to connect with our daughter who was out and about with our Pastor’s wife, Wendy, God bless her, she took Amanda for the day to try to keep her mind off missing us.(.Love you Wendy.. and Timmy) and back to their home to eat dinner for which our Pastor prepared. Run, Run, Run through the airport, the passport area took longer than we expected but we did make the flight..This flight was a lot different, this was a 29 passenger prop propeller tiny plane but they served a very good breakfast. It was cloudy so I could not see much of the country side as Donald did when he flew in April of 2008 but as we were landing you could see the large mountains and rock..it was beautiful and since it is summer here in Swaziland everything is green, but also very wet. They have a cyclone off the coast and it has brought a lot of rain. 8:00 AM We step off the tiny plane and the Airport is painted very colorful and it is very small, quaint. We were picked up at the airport by one of our fellow missionaries, Sandra Chesterman. She and house-mate Jessie will be our neighbors. We could not believe that ALL 8 pieces of luggage arrived with us. This is very rare; usually it can be as long as weeks before you receive your entire luggage since the plane is so small there is not much room on the flight. Sandra informed us that the plans had changed for a couple of days due to her and Jessie were having to drive to Joberg to pick up a child who had surgery several weeks ago and they were finally letting her come back home. So for the next few days we will be kind of on our own. The Rogers have a house keeper named ma-gay Joice who will be fixing us meals. So we start unpacking some of the suit cases, don’t want to unpack a lot since we do not know how long we will be here in the Guest house before we move to our house. It has rained solid since we hit the ground this morning. We received our first visitors today, 2 missionaries Greg and Kristen since ma-gay Joice prepared lunch (a lot of food) We invited them to join us then they were so kind as to drive us over to where our house is located, we could not go up the hill to the house since we did not have access to the gate. Our house is having some light repairs done since the house was previously rented by a few bachelors. Lunch consisted of a type of vegetable beef stew to go over some spiral noodles and homemade rolls, yes rolls, better than the ones they serve at Golden Corral. I will have to get her to teach me how to make them. Things are cooked different here due to the altitude we are at. So with a full stomach and a sightseeing tour we came back to the guest house and with it being cool and damp and raining outside we both decided to take a nap. The nap for me consisted of about 4 hours, did not realize how tired we were.
Wednesday night 9 pm : As I sit here at the counter typing this blog and drinking hot tea, I am thanking our most gracious heavenly father , our family, church family and friends who have made this possible though donations and prayers. Please continue to pray for us, we have a lot of work ahead of us here. Thank you and God’s Blessings to you all.
Sunday February 1st. Our day began with worshiping at our home church. Lunch with our family and a long drawn out packing fest which consisted of one visit to the one and only…… Wal-Mart for more luggage. Watching our grandson try to pack himself in one of the suitcases closing the lid and saying “Hep me” We stayed up all night packing so we will sleep on the long flight after we leave Atlanta??
Monday, February 2nd, since we did not sleep we continued our Good bye with our Grandson for which Amanda & Travis took him to daycare. Then pack the Church Van (very appreciative for the use) My sister came with us to the airport, Our Pastor Timmy Blair and Youth Pastor Tim Lynch met us there for support.. and we really needed it. It was very hard saying good bye. The last thing my daughter whispered in my ear was “ Go tell them about Jesus, Mom.” How blessed to have a daughter that even though it breaks her heart for her parents to be moving over 8 thousand miles away that she understands the call of God and how important it is. Thank you Jesus!! So 11:30am we are off..The flight was a smooth one and so was our connection to Atlanta..In Atlanta we had enough time to eat lunch, Mexican..my favorite, not so much Donald’s but it was the closest food to the departure gate. 4:30 pm board Delta for a very long flight approximately 9 hours over the ocean to Senegal (a short stop for refuel). Off again for another 9 hours to Johannesburg (Joberg for short). The flights have been great, no turbulence but also no sleep for me (much) .
Tuesday, February 3rd, 5:30 pm arrived in Joberg. After receiving the good news that our luggage (all 8 pieces) arrived with us but were checked straight through to a holding bldg. till Wed. morning when our final flight will leave for Manzini. We crossed the street and took a shuttle bus over to a nice hotel called the Southern Sun. ( Appropriately since we are southern and we are to be a bright and shining light in the darkness for Jesus..) After a nice meal (for which I not thinking ordered TEA, Tea here is served warm, which I enjoyed) in the hotel restaurant we went up to our room and…. Oh please, let me ship the bed to our new home in Mbabane, it was wonderful, reminded me of dreams of jumping into a big pile of feathers…Needless to say I slept like a baby till 4 AM Wednesday morning .
Wednesday, February 4th, 4am Joberg time, 9:00 pm Tuesday night U.S time. The internet was not free so we bought a few minutes and tried to connect with our daughter who was out and about with our Pastor’s wife, Wendy, God bless her, she took Amanda for the day to try to keep her mind off missing us.(.Love you Wendy.. and Timmy) and back to their home to eat dinner for which our Pastor prepared. Run, Run, Run through the airport, the passport area took longer than we expected but we did make the flight..This flight was a lot different, this was a 29 passenger prop propeller tiny plane but they served a very good breakfast. It was cloudy so I could not see much of the country side as Donald did when he flew in April of 2008 but as we were landing you could see the large mountains and rock..it was beautiful and since it is summer here in Swaziland everything is green, but also very wet. They have a cyclone off the coast and it has brought a lot of rain. 8:00 AM We step off the tiny plane and the Airport is painted very colorful and it is very small, quaint. We were picked up at the airport by one of our fellow missionaries, Sandra Chesterman. She and house-mate Jessie will be our neighbors. We could not believe that ALL 8 pieces of luggage arrived with us. This is very rare; usually it can be as long as weeks before you receive your entire luggage since the plane is so small there is not much room on the flight. Sandra informed us that the plans had changed for a couple of days due to her and Jessie were having to drive to Joberg to pick up a child who had surgery several weeks ago and they were finally letting her come back home. So for the next few days we will be kind of on our own. The Rogers have a house keeper named ma-gay Joice who will be fixing us meals. So we start unpacking some of the suit cases, don’t want to unpack a lot since we do not know how long we will be here in the Guest house before we move to our house. It has rained solid since we hit the ground this morning. We received our first visitors today, 2 missionaries Greg and Kristen since ma-gay Joice prepared lunch (a lot of food) We invited them to join us then they were so kind as to drive us over to where our house is located, we could not go up the hill to the house since we did not have access to the gate. Our house is having some light repairs done since the house was previously rented by a few bachelors. Lunch consisted of a type of vegetable beef stew to go over some spiral noodles and homemade rolls, yes rolls, better than the ones they serve at Golden Corral. I will have to get her to teach me how to make them. Things are cooked different here due to the altitude we are at. So with a full stomach and a sightseeing tour we came back to the guest house and with it being cool and damp and raining outside we both decided to take a nap. The nap for me consisted of about 4 hours, did not realize how tired we were.
Wednesday night 9 pm : As I sit here at the counter typing this blog and drinking hot tea, I am thanking our most gracious heavenly father , our family, church family and friends who have made this possible though donations and prayers. Please continue to pray for us, we have a lot of work ahead of us here. Thank you and God’s Blessings to you all.
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