Monthly Archive

PRAISE! The Lord is good all the time. He hears our prayer and answers them.

This morning Monica, my supervisor’s wife, and I along with her daughter, Lacie, went to Manzini to check the post office box to see if any more of my birthday packages had arrived. As we were preparing to leave there stood a young man at the gate. Since Monica was still in the house I greeted him and asked him if I could help him. He said, “Yes, I need to see the pastor.” I told him, “Unfortunately, Pastor Allen is away from the house right now. Can I help you?” He hesitated, but answered, “Yes, I have a prayer request.”

“Well, what is your prayer request?” I replied. “I just lost my job.” He explained, “The people who I was working for left and went back to South Africa, but they didn’t pay me. I am renting a place to stay and because I didn’t have the money to pay they locked the door. Now I have nowhere to stay.” At first I wanted go okay another Swazi asking for money, but then I told myself “No this young man asked for prayer not money.” So, I told him, “Well, let’s pray now then.” So, I took his hands and we began to pray. I asked the Lord to provide the money for him, however, He saw fit because He is the great provider. As I was saying the prayer I thought Lord please hear my words, help this young man and bless him for his faith in you.

Once I was finished praying with him Monica came out to the truck and recognized the young man. His name was Lewis and a youth that Monica had worked with when she was in Swaziland as a Journeyman in 1999. She had recently run into Lewis in town and invited him to come for a visit. She had given him direction as to how to get to our houses and luckily he found them. Monica greeted Lewis and then asked “Do you need a lift to town we are going right by?” Quickly Lewis hopped into the truck and off we were. On our way into town we chatted with Lewis and found out that he was staying close to Mbabane. So, I invited him to our bible study on Friday nights. “Tonight we’re having a bible study at my house. You’re welcome to come. I’ll collect everyone in at the Spar in town at half past five and then take you all home after the bible study.” I explained. Monica added, “It’s for the older youth who have moved into Mbabane. They are all about your age and in their 20’s.” As we were dropping him in town he agreed to come to come to the bible study and we said our good byes. 

Before I knew it the day had passed and it was 5:30pm. I rushed to the Spar and there stood Lewis along 4 of our other youth. I was so excited. I didn’t know if the Lord had answered our prayers from earlier that morning, but none the less I was happy to see Lewis was joining us for bible study. Honestly, I didn’t think that he had received the money and was prepared to possibly give it to him myself. I was impressed with the fact that he hadn’t come to ask for the money, but for prayer and I thought perhaps the Lord would use me to help him.

Once we were back at the house, Sandile, our National Youth Committee Chairman, had began to lead us in our bible study. The title for his devotion was “It is well.” Sandile shared about the Shunammite woman and Elisha from 2 Kings 4. After the lesson he asked each one of us share what the Lord had taught us from the lesson. As we were going around sharing Lewis spoke up. He said “Today I came to the mission houses and sisi prayed with prayed me. I had just found out that I had been locked out of my home and I didn’t know what to do. I had cried asking “Lord what should I do?” After praying with sisi, she dropped me in town. A few minutes later I ran into a friend, who owed me money. Unexpectedly he reached into his pocket and pulled out the money he owed me. It was exactly enough to pay for my rent. So, I rushed back home and paid the rent. I praise the Lord tonight because he is the great provider.” A smile came across my face, which I am sure ran from ear to ear and my eyes filled with tears. I heard a still small voice say “Oh ye of little faith.”

I didn’t expect for it to happen exactly that way. I didn’t know what to expect, but God showed up today in a powerful way. At our training in Richmond, VA they warned us not to just hand out money to the nationals automatically, but to pray with them and teach them to trust the Lord to provide not the missionary. Once, Lewis made the request I was reminded of those words. We prayed and with Lewis’s faith and trust God provided. Today God proved to a Swazi youth to trust him to provide and Lewis’s testimony tonight spoke volumes.

During prayer requests, Ntombi, one of the quite and shy girls, spoke up first. She said “I would like prayer for my school fees. At the beginning of the semester I paid R2, 300 and when then a few weeks ago I received a statement saying that I still owe R600. Then last week I received another statement saying that I only owed R20. I was so excited, but today I received another statement saying I owed R550. The school said that without the money I cannot take the exams next month. I don’t know how I will pay it, but I am trusting that the Lord will provide.” I don’t know if the Lord will provide the money for Ntombi the same way he did for Lewis today, but I do know that the Lord is faithful and there is power in the prayers of the righteous.

 ¹³Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. ¹⁴Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.¹⁶Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:13-16 (NLT)  I’d have to say this is by far one of the best birthday gifts I could have ever asked for! Thank you Lord!  Please join me in praying for these youth… Ntombi: She asks for prayers that the Lord will provide school fees of R550, which needs to be paid by the first of December.Sandile: As the chairman of the National Youth Committee he is encountering obstacles. He asks for prayer as a leader and to be faithful as well as patient as he faces trails.

Mphumello: He asks for prayer for the Christian youth of Swaziland. His desire is for the youth not back slide and for them to be able to encourage one another in the Lord. He also asks for prayer for those who live in Swaziland and do not know the Lord. His desire is for all to come to salvation.

Lewis: He asks for prayer to find a job. He is planning on starting school in January and needs to have job so he can pay for schooling.

Zinty: She asks to be covered in prayer as she is feeling attacks from the enemy. She also asks for prayer as she is suffering from a mild cold.

On October 21^st I was driving home from Piet Retief, South Africa. Kimber and I had gone down to visit our team leaders, the Myers, in Nhlangano and to welcome the new career family, the Oakley’s. That Sunday morning we had gone to church with the Myers and then driven over to Piet Retief for Kimber and the Oakley’s to head to Jo-burg and fly out for 40/40. The Myers accompanied Kimber and the Oakley’s so it left me to drive home from Piet Retief to Mbabane.

I had never been to Piet Retief and our team leader, Wyane, suggested a quicker way to Mbabane without having go back through Nhlangano. It sounded simple. “Go straight on this road and when it ends you’ll be at the border post. From the border post you’ll make a left and then you’ll hit Mbabane.” What sounds simple is never simple in Africa. So, I begin to head down this road and it turns into dirt almost immediately. I quickly turn around to return to the Pick’n Pay at the top of the hill and in parking lot luckily there sit a traffic cop, which directed me down a tarmac road. Praise the LORD!

I plug the ipod in and down the road I head thanking the Lord for the traffic cop. Next thing I know I am almost literally running into this military guy with a huge gun flagging me. I thought “Oh, Lord! What now?!” He asks to see my driver’s license and then asks if I have any fire arms in the car. My response was, “I’ve never fired a fire arm, let alone own one!?” He said “Okay” and off I went once again down the road. Finally ran into the border post. Praise the LORD!

I made it through the border perfectly without a problem and a few miles down the road I’m driving down the side of this mountain and the view is gorgeous. I mean absolutely amazing and as I am driving down the mountain the song on my ipod is I’m Alive by Jacci Velasquez.

Here’s the lyrics…

The first breath, a new sky
You hung the stars
And placed the sunrise
Painted colors yellow and green
And every other in between
From the dust became flesh and bone
The greatest gift I’ve ever known

CHORUS:
I’m alive, I’m alive
I feel Your arms around me
Your eyes of love surround me
I’m alive to shine in pure perfection
And wake up every morning in Your light
I’m so glad I’m aliveBare feet, my first steps
And new dreams in every sunset
What a gift that You give me every day
But what a price You had to pay CHORUS

Life traveling on
And when my time has come
To say farewell
From dust to dust
But You bring me safely home

I take my first breath
I see the new sky
I hear the angels
I see my Father’s eyes
And I know, oh, I know

CHORUS

As the chorus played it hit me, “I’m in Africa! How cool is that? How many people can say they’ve had this experience? I’m pretty blessed!Thank you Lord.” Occasionally I have those moments when it hits me; I’m not just on the west coast of the US. No! I’m in Africa!

            I’m alive. Not just in the sense that there is air coming in and out my lungs and there is blood pumping through my heart. No! I’m alive like never before because I’m in the exact place that God wants me. Yes,  there are times when I want to go home just for a weekend to vacate and experience some normalcy. However, I know if I went home I would be completely disobeying God’s plan for my life.

Living in Africa…well living in Swaziland isn’t always easy. For example when the power was out for 3 days simply because the power company, SEB (Swaziland Electricity Board) not SBC (LOL!), was on strike and wouldn’t give Mormon Electric permission to fix the broken fuse. However, I wouldn’t give anything for this time in Swaziland because I know this where God wants me and through these ruff times, these trails I have grown. I have grown so close to God over the past 7 months and I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world. Even though being on the field is ruff at times and you miss family, friends, your own culture and style of worship. None the less all of these things make you draw even closer to the Lord because He’s all you’ve got. Everything else is stripped away and he’s what you cling to…not a worship service, a style of music, a pastor or a teacher…just God.

So sink or swim I’m diving in. There is a supernatural power in this mighty river’s flow. It can bring the dead to life and it can fill an empty soul and give a heart the only thing worth living and worth dying for. So sink or swim I’m diving in!  (Dive by Steven Curtis Chapman)