Something interesting

This Friday, April 24, 2009, is another serve day for the Children’s cup staff and missionaries, it is the last day of school for 3 weeks. Our role in this day is to help the teachers and cooks do their everyday job at the CarePoints we oversee. Ours is called Moneni. This will be a good day for us to see exactly what goes into one day’s work at the CarePoint. I will try to post pictures and write another blog after we go.
Over the next few weeks we will be very busy. I have mentioned before that we will be hosting a large group of pastors the last week of May into the first week of June. Pastor Ben has put me in charge of the financial side. I never realized how much it took to schedule and bring in groups of people. I have to make sure that the meals, rooms, transport, game park visits are paid for and missionaries have enough money for extra items that may come up. This will be a really busy time for all, but am looking forward to it. Ben has left for the US this week for an ARC conference being held at a church in Clayton so I have sent a CD containing a power point presentation for our church. He should deliver it to Amanda this Saturday night when the original mission trip group gets together in Dunn for a reunion. Wish we could be there to see the old gang..(ha ha).. but Amanda is going as our stand in and will be able to be with them for us and to meet Ben for the first time.
Speaking of the old gang..we will have “ company” here at our house this coming July 4th. Brett Asher, one of the men who went with us on the original mission trip in 2007 is coming back to Swaziland for a visit and will be staying with us..We went yesterday and purchased a bed so he will have something soft to lay on instead of the hard cold tile floor. I asked him to bring a set of sheets because the sheets you buy here are like sandpaper, I told him that I did not think his wife, Pam, would appreciate him coming back home to her with no skin. He agreed!!
It is getting colder here. Last night I had a shirt, sweater, flannel pants and 2 pair of socks and was wrapped up on the couch with a heavy blanket and that was just right. And they tell us it is not as cold as it is going to be in mid June and July…(not looking forward to that). So Brett, if you are reading this blog, you better bring some “long johns”. We found what is the equivalent of an electric blanket, it is the opposite, instead of it being like a blanket it is like a fitted sheet that goes over the mattress and under the sheet and has duel controls for each side. That is really good because you can cut it on before you get into the bed and the bed is warm for you, the nights before we found this the sheets were like ice and it was hard to get warm. Thank you Lord!!
Just a short note: I found a vegetable that we call yellow squash, it is named yellow pity pats here and it looks like a small yellow ball. I quickly bought almost all they had and came home cut it up and cooked it with onion…yep, taste like our yellow squash…but the sad news is that I went back to the market the next day and “no pity pats.. So much for the almost home taste. Last night I ate Lamb for the first time. Donald put it on the grill like steak and it was rather good. Most meats (with the exception of Chicken) have a funny flavor and are very hard for me to eat. Maybe it was because I did not know what to expect for the taste of the Lamb, but it was good. Bread here is different also, it is baked daily at the grocery store and you cannot keep it (even in the refrigerator) for over a day or two because it starts to grow green mold, they do not put preservatives in most everything they make so it doesn’t last as long but it is better for you. It is the same with cheeses. The eggs sold here are brown and are not cleaned up when you get them, it is like they just take them from under the chicken and put them in the container for the store, they are date stamped though…(I would rather them be cleaned). Sorry to ramble on but just wanted to give you some insite on the life here in Swaziland.
We received several cards from our friends at church this week and they are such a blessing and encouragement to us. Thank you all…for your prayers and your support. ( and thank you for taking care of our family) We could not be here if it were not for all of you…God Bless and will blog again soon..

Easter Week in review

Today is Easter Sunday, How precious what this day stands for. We have had a long week here in Swaziland, The church started 7 days of serveolution. Each day we did something different for the community to show God’s love in action. The Second day two groups of church members went to a “homestead” to rebuild the mud and rock walls of a house for a poor woman. Homesteads are outside of the communities and are usually built of rocks dropped in-between sticks and packed with mud. They also mixed bags of concrete and concreted the floor which was once red mud. The third day is Sunday, We will not have a church service instead we will be going out as a group to clean up the local “kombie” rink. A group painted the concrete walls orange and the remainder of us walked and picked up trash from the ground. We received “thank you” from a lot of the locals. Third day was to cook and feed around 250 people. We all gathered at Pastor Ben’s home and cooked rice, beef stew, butternut squash and carrots for carrot slaw.( both of which had to be peeled by hand) We served it into containers and carried it out to a service station and offered it with “Love from Jesus” to the people, some of which were afraid to take it because food is not so freely given here in Swaziland. Day 4 began with low clouds and rain and looked like our plans for the day would be called off, but no, it gave a better reason to have your windshield or windscreen as they call it here, to be washed. Groups went to two different petrol stations and washed windshields for anyone stopping to get fuel for their car..in the Love of Jesus. Then “hot dogs” were cooked and served to all the employees and others who worked at the stations. Day 5 was taking packets that consisted of a wash cloth, tooth brush, soap, and toothpaste to patients in the local government hospital. I was head of the Make group of ladies; Make is pronounced Mog-gay which means Mother. So us older women –Makes- were in one group. They were the most wonderful women, they started singing the moment we got into the kombi( small minivan) and did not stop the whole way there and even the whole way back. Please pray for the people in the Government hospital, most of them are sent there to die, But, us Makes helped to lead 2 women to the Lord. So there will be two more souls in heaven. Day 6 consisted of cooking meat and rice and delivering it to the local bank branch and to the police station to also let them know that Jesus loves them. This brings us to Good Friday night. This night we showed the movie “the PASSION OF THE CHRIST” Can you remember how it was the first time you saw it?? Having to read sub-titles in English and trying to see the movie?? well, it was the same movie…so the Swazi’s had to read the English subtitles also, but like the Bible says, my word will not return void, we had 20 to accept the Lord Jesus as savior.. He speaks in all languages. Today is Easter Sunday. Our service was a little different than past Easters for us but good none the less. Pastor Ben really got everyone’s attention with the real coffin he had brought on stage. This one was an actual one used for burial here it reminds me of the old Dracula movies just a oblong box with only a small draping of material inside the box and a small pillow. There are bolts with fancy wing nuts which are used to screw down the flat lid over the body no fancy wheels or draping, no vaults in the ground.. just a plain white box. It made a good representation of how if we are saved there is nothing to be afraid of because only our flesh will be there and our souls will be with Christ.
I hope each one who reads this blog will realize how much we can be a witness even without a sermon.
Bless you all and hoping you have a blessed Sunday and remember what EASTER really means. We are really thankful to be a part of God’s family..Thank you all for your prayers and support. Love you ALL!!