Another beautiful week in Swazi :)

Hello all!! Its so nice to be blogging again and updating you all on my past week's endeavors!  Cant believe an entire week has gone by and im once again sitting in the internet cafe figuring out how I can go about explaining my experiences.  Ill go through day by day and relay ONLY the significant things that happened! :) I wish I could give you all the info I did last time, but I dont have as much time today. 

Sunday  July 8th

We left the house at 8:45 and headed to the Squadder camp to search for Tenele, Ayanda, and Johannes.  We tried to get Sedrick (Tenele's boyfriend) to with us to church, but he LITERALLY ran away from us. The Squadder camp was severely depressing and eye opening.  There were little dogs chained up and all that was left of them was skin and bones.  It was extremely difficult not to pick one up and take it home with me.  It took awhile to round the crew all up.  Swazi's honestly have no concept of time management.  Id have to say it may be rubbing off on me a bit, but im late for everything anyways, so I fit right in! :)  Its so incredibly chill here.  In the camp there were drunk people walking around at 9 AM on a Sunday morning.  After the crew was ready we made our way to the kumbi station.  When we arrived and were headed our to the bottom, men were literally screaming at us in Siswati and trying to lure us towards them.  I tried to avoid as much eye contact as possible.  They were trying to marry one of us.  All this time Ayanda was holding my hand and I asked her, "Do they normally act like this?"  And she just said, "not really, they just go crazy over you white girls." haha!  She was finding all of this to be quite amusing.  Honestly I felt disgusted and really degraded.  The men were only viewing us as mere objects.  I truly got a taste of what its like for the young Swaziland women who endure this every day to earn money :(

Monday July 9th

At assembly at Enjawbeni School~  I absolutely adore hearing their african songs and voices.  They seriously blow America out of the water when it comes to singing and dancing.  These girls came out dressed in some cultural garb and started doing this awesome African tribal dance.  The kids were hotting and hollerin and cheering the ladies on, and some occasionally jumped in themselves.  aTTHen some guy s stole the show and did the same dance.  After assembly, Kirsten and I went to the 1st grade class (where I knew Nokwanda would be).  Today I actually discovered Ningwani's name is actually Nokwanda!  Ive been pronouncing and writing her name wrong all this time.  But she responds to both pronunciations, so it must just sound the same to her.  They were learning about what jobs exist and sentence structure in English.  WE left a little earlier because we were starting to get a little tired sitting and lisening to such basic eduation.  SHortly it was break and Nokwanda and her friends came and cuddled and hungout with Kirsten and I.  They are SO sweet.  Tehy started calling Kirsten and I magy which means mother in English...  One of the girls that was with us named Seke told us that her mom ran away to South Africa and her dad is dead :(  She currently lives with her grandmother.  Later we saw her running around town with no shoes :(  Breaks my heart.  It also turns out tht Nokwanda's mom stays in the Squadder camp in Mangonani every day and her dad does "things"....The girls seemed really hesitant to explain to me his exact occupation.  This really concerns me.  I seriously want to take thiese kids ho me with me.  THey live in poverty, and call me mother.  How can I not fall in love?!  After break we went to the preschool and played 2 circle games with the kids.  Shortly they were all sitting down and the CUTEST little girl in the universe started waving me over so I sat by her feet :)  She kept touching my hair and back really gently.  ITs amazing how hungry for love these kids are.  I mean they were just quickly  touching me just to touch me.  And during the games they were getting in arguments over who got to hold my hand...
Later in this day we FINALLY got to see Hosea's Heart house :)  Soon this house will hopefully be FILLED with girls who are at risk or have been abused through prostitution, slavery, etc.  The house needs ALOT of work.  The ceiling is caved in in certain places, walls are cracking, and its just got a lot of work left.  Funds are needed SO badly in order to get this process moving.  The house is a wonderful size though, and it is so EXCITING to see the beautiful potential this house has :)  Thrilled to come back in 2 or 3 years to witness the dramatic alterations and to hopefully see it filled with girls!  Right now we are trying to finalize a contracter from South Africa.  But with African time, things take awhile.  Prayers are NEEDED.   Fortunately Tenele officially said she wants to move out from Sedrick and get away.  PRAISE GOD!  Mary Kate (our leader) met Tenele when she was 12 as a prostitute.  Her step mom was selling her off to men.  So she decided to run away and make her own profit instead of her mother getting all the money.  Eventually she got pregnant and not has a BEAUTIFUL baby girl whom she named after Mary Kate.  She now goes to church and still currently living with the baby daddy Sedrick.  Sedrick actually was one of the men her step mother sold her off to.  Tenele is ready to move out and completely cut ties.  PRAYERS ARE NEEDED!  We may be able to buy a temporary home for Tenele and Christina (the social worker on our team) to stay in and that way more girls we come in contact with can stay in that home until Hosea's Hearts official home is completed :)  This is honestly amazing progresss. 

I wrote this while completely overwhemed earlier this week....

"I feel so filled with the Spirit of God, and incredibly convicted.  Am I not doing enough?  I know that I am currently in Africa. But being here was really made me realize how much I hold onto.  Luke 14:33- "So you cannot become a disciple without giving up everything you own." Wow.  That is SO much to take in at once.  How do I live in the States and not rely on things of this world?  What is ok and whats not?  Where do we as Christians draw the line?  God, please break my heart for what breaks yours.  Flee demons away in Jesus name.  I pray you reveal my calling throughout this trip.  I feel a call to adopt one day, and to love on the broken.  Give me guidance.  I honestly feel like not washing my hair, wearing no makeup, and going barefoot for the rest of this trip just to become more on their level and to experience their daily way of life.  They live so simply here, with such simple intentions that are slowly branding my heart.  Melt and mold me into a beautiful image of you.  I am here.  I want to answer your call, I am listening.  Passion laughs at the hold of hell. "
Immediately after writing this, I flipped through my bible and prayed, "God, please just show me what I need to read." And I came across this... Colossians 1:18~ "So he is first in everything." 

Tuesday July 10

Went to the Hope House again on this day :)  Its so nice praying and singing for the patients.  One of the grandpas wanted one of us to stay with him and be his wife.  Thank God for my purity ring because everyone mistakes it for a wedding ring! :)  They are all excited to see us come back next week, and it was awesome to see that they reemberd us, and seemed genuinely delighted to see us.  Its inspiring to see their positive attitudes about being healed in Jesus name.
Went to care point again--LOVE IT THERE. Seriously could live there.  I wish I could bathe them, continue to shower them with love, and bring them home :) Mom, you would easily fall in love quickly ;p
 Later we had dinner at the volunteer house.  Austrian style lasagna!  At one dinner we were representing 4 countries! It was such a nice evening.  Unfortunately from the meal Rachael, Mary Kate, and one of the Austrians got food poisoning :( Wednesday was pretty miserable for them all ;-/

Wednesday July 11

Went over to the school again today and we first went to the 6th grade thinking we would only be there briefly... Turns out that the teacher literally just left the class and told them he would be back tomorrow...?!?!  This kind of thing happens often in Swaziland apparently!  So Rachael, Kirsten, and I were the teachers until after lunch time.  We had a blast, although the students treated us very poorly.  We love them all, but they were extremely rowdy and basically super pumped to have a substitute teacher for a day to just let loose.  The thing with Swazi culture is that teachers are allowed to use physical force.  Sticks, books, hand, you name it.  And we were not about to be using any of that style of discipline.  Definitely a good experience!
Went to carepoint again.  Lots I could say, but one story that I think youll find amusing...
So when we first walked up to the carepoint there was a little girl whom none of us have seem yet, so when we got closer she ended up screaming at the top of her lungs and began to sprint down into the Sqaudder camp!  Apparently we are the first white people she has ever seen!  Her face was so incredibly flooded with pure confusion and fear!!

Thursday July 12

In the evening we had a birthday party for Ayanda!  This is the second party she has EVER had in her life.  Although her and her crew were literally 2 and a half hours late for her own party, she ended up having a blast :)  We had chocolate cake for her!  She lives in the Squadder camp, and has SO much character and SUCH a personality.  When she opened our gifts, she immediately started giving AWAY some of the american candy to her friends...talk about selfless.  She is so sweet.  She also got my Nike tennis shoes, and she was wearing them Thursday and they fit PERFECT! ahhh it made me so happy.  She is SO deserving and a perfect example of how we should all be striving to live.  Very mature for only being 16!!

Friday July 13

Today I received the most precious note from a student :)  Absolutely framing it when I get home.  I named her Nicole because her Swazi name is too hard to write/pronounce!  I love that we are here for a month, because we are finally able to get deeper with the Swazi people, and at a better place to learn more about their lives and what we can do to help them.  Turns out that there is a large number of sexually abused girls that go to the school we volunteer at... PERFECT!!! Prayers we may continue to dig deeper into their lives and hopefully offer up the home to a few girls who need immediate help! 

This week over all has been truly amazing.  It went by SO fast, but in one week I feel as if God has accomplished so much with the girls home, in my own life, and with the Swazi people in general.  Funds are still needed for the girls home for the construction!!!
Thank you for all the support, with out you, this wouldnt be possible!

With an abundance of love,

Lindsay :)