Swaziland :)

Oh where on earth do I begin...

I am here safe and sound!  Currently at the Manzini internet store, where you buy a certain amount of hours.  It's so good to finally have contact with the rest of the world and to finally notify my parents that yes... I am ALIVE! :)  When we arrived in London we went to some tourist sites.  We saw the changing of the gaurds at Buckingham Palace where the royal family lives, and saw some other pretty old monuments.  Sadly I was out of it most of the time.  I discovered that I get extremely motion sickness...so from the flight I ended up puking my guts out in London Central Park.  Yes it was AWFUL at the time...but how many people can say they have puked in London Central Park right next to where the queen lives?!  I hate to admit this, but it was really hard to not just call my parents and be like... Hey im sick, can you pick me up?  But no, I ended up just hopping on another plane!  But it turned out be so worth it.  I just had to continue thinking about the destination!  The plane from London took us to Johannesburg, South Africa.  And from there a large van picked us up and drove us to Manzini, Swaziland.  Everyone in the van was totally passed out because none of us recieved very much sleep.  But I was absolutely FASCINATED by the terrain, the people, and all the sites that there was NO way I could have brought myself to fall asleep.  First of all, They drive on the opposite side of the road, and the wheel is on the opposite side as well.  I saw slums, mud houses, cows walking around in the middle of the road, women balancing giant boxes of various things on their heads... incredible.  So when we finally arrived at our home it wasnt until later at night, but our house is very quaint :)  It definitely passes as a very very low class American home, but it suits us just fine.  We all share beds, and I share a bed with the wonderful Mary Kate.  I absolutely LOVE my team.  The next day we went to a Care Point called "Mangonani."  This is when all the pictures, and statistics became a disgusting reality for me... We started walking toward the Care Point and kids from all around just started flocking towards us and grabbing our hands.  Just because we were white they were totally trusting us to take them somewhere safe.  When we finally arrived at the care point kids just started literally... and when I say literally...I REALLY mean literally, started running straight at us in such joy.  We all had kids hanging on our hips, backs, and some were getting in arguments on who could hold my hand the longest.  This is all in seconds of when we met these children.  Behind the fence of the care point is just...poverty.  Kids that looked around the age of 3 or 4 had scarves tied around their bodies to hold a baby on their back.  Its amazing how such a little toddler has the instinct to help the other children out.  At this time they were all getting ready for lunch.  Getting ready for lunch starts off with a big bucket of water.  The water was brown, but its their only way to "clean" the dishes.  As soon as they would wash up their bowls they would race into line crammed together as if the closer they stood to one another the faster they would receive their rice.  Each one of the kids has clothes with holes in them, and they were filthy from head to toe.  But STILL past all the outward uncleanliness...they were absolutely beautiful.  To embrace one of these children and to witness their beautiful joy...is so stunning.  Its amazing how we can all complain about various things...when we have a car in the garage, clean water, and plenty of food in the cupboards.  These kids have nothing but their faith to get them by, and they are solely living on simplicity, and their joy for life was STILL so evident.  There were children so young I was just appauled by the fact they could even walk yet.  Some even had bloated stomachs :(  One of the girls i grew closer with later asked me, "When you be back next week, will you bring me something nice?" My response, "No, but I would be glad to give the greatest gift of all, which is my love."  She just looked at me and began to hug me tighter.  Then she asked, "Do you love God?"  Wow. My response was, "Oh absolutely.  I love God very very much."  Again she just smiled and said, "Oh yes I love God very much too."  ahhhhh. even rewriting this conversation just fills my heart with joy.  Again, these children have NOTHING, and she still has faith in God!  Another girl named Ningwani that I was with hanging by my side most of the time, was so so so so sweet.  We could barely understand eachother, but she still remained content with just my company.  She took off my sunglasses and was wearing them around everywhere, when the other kids saw them, they became a wonderful new toy and the next thing I knew, they were covered with rice saliva.  Yum!  haha, which reminds me I still need to wash them off!  When it was time I had to depart from Ningwani she gave me one of the warmest hugs I have ever received in my life.. Even though we met only hours early, (by the way she was the one that found me on the street walking to the care point that just came up and grabbed my hand) her embrace was filled with so much love.  I am SO excited to go back next week and see them all again!  So far, God has been absolutely BLOWING me away on this trip, and I havent been here long.  Its amazing to see that God's love is working all over the world.  I am so blessed incredibly blessed.  It gets dark at around 5:30 and its 2 in the afternoon right now, so its been so cool to have the opportunity to hang out with the team and share testamonies, and build each other up through Christ.  OH! I almost forgot.  Last night we went to the Rec because MK has alot of connections with the people here and they begged her to play basketball with her on Friday night.  So we show up and they end of playing the womens team of Zimbabwe!  So insane.  Zimbabwe has some hardcore skills.  They dominated Team Swazi by 40 points... hahaha... crazy!  Anyways, my time her has been amazing.  And its been SO humbling.  Wearing no makeup, having 2 minute cold showers, and eating simple food only at meals has been GREAT and such an awesome growing experience for me. 
Family~ I MISS YOU GUYS! and I love you very much :)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!!! Prayers are still needed for the country of Swaziland!!!  God has already been doing some amazing things. 

In Christ,

Lindsay :)