January and February have definitely been busy and interest months nonetheless; however, no matter how busy I’ve been God has definitely never taken his favor from my ministry. I have so much, to share with you about how the Lord has blessed my ministry as well as the lessons the Father continues to teach me. Hope you’re in for a read! It’s so awesome to see God working! Enjoy!

 Ministry… 

During the month of January I spent most of my time keeping the Swazi roads hot. I visited 10 of our 12 churches to put on Children’s’ Day Camps, where I taught about how God Always Keep His Promises. From January 8-26 over 800 peanut butter and jam sandwiches were consumed and almost 400 kids were able to hear about God’s great promise of all…John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

 

On January 14 during my visit to Sympathy Baptist, God opened my eyes to how I could show his love to a community without words. The sun was shining brightly and it was one of the warmest days yet since the rain had begun earlier in the month. I had sent a message with another church member to announce the camp several weeks prior, but when my translator, Ntombi, and I arrived we quickly figured out that no one had passed along my message. So, I figured kids in the community would soon begin to come as they saw us setting up the games. The church meets in a small maize (corn) grinding mill and people are always passing by the road or coming to grind their maize. About 30 minutes had passed and no one had shown and we decided we’d wait for at least another hour to see if anyone would show.

 

All of a sudden as I was praying and reviewing my lesson a heard this wailing from behind the maize field and my first thought was, “Lord, please don’t let that be someone demon possessed I really don’t know if I am equipped to handle such a task.” Then a few minutes later a thin young boys came from behind the maize field. I’m unsure if it was him making the noise, but I could definitely tell that he mentally handicap. Ntombi and I were seated on my grass mat talking when the young boy came over to see us. We greeted him and Ntombi tried to talk to him, but he simply wouldn’t respond. Finally, we asked some of the men at the mill if they knew who he was. Their response was that he was mad or crazy. I could tell though that he was crazy and a few minutes later we all began passing a small blue inflatable ball, which he then began to kick as if it were a football (soccer to those of us in the states). For the next hour and half we kicked the ball from one end of the field to the other and most of the time I was one chasing after the ball while he was the one kicking it. J Nonetheless I quickly noticed the people gathered around the mill watching us and at that moment God quietly spoke to my heart. He explained to me that if not one other child showed up that day that His will had been accomplished and His love had been shown.

 

Surprise, though! More children did show up after the make (this is the term for a woman in sSwati) from the church had gone to the river to fetch the child. While the children were coloring I invited the same little boy over color with us. Of course he couldn’t color, but once I showed him and began to guide his hand he caught on quickly. His smile was so big and sometimes he would even laugh, but that was usually when he would kick the ball far away and I’d have to go fetch it. More than his smile though I remember the looks of the Swazis around me as I would play with him or help him or most of all when I gave him hug before leaving. I guess God’s promise of salvation wasn’t the only lesson He taught that hot sunny day.

 More to come…