Almost 20 students from Univerisities in NC and MS came together to work in Swaziland for about 10 days. They braved the elements and slept outside in tents on the property of one of the local schools near 4 of our churches. We praise God for all their hard and we are only beginning to see the works of their labor! Thank to our team for all their hard work. We praise God the laborers and are looking to the harvest.

Yes, I am on foreign soil; however, we as Americans still celebrate our independence whether we’re in the US or else where. I had the most fun preparing a meal for our team of volunteers from the US. I made homemade mac and cheese, potatoe salad, pizza dip with chips, baked beans, along with hamburgers and hot dogs as well as dessert by Kimber! After revivals that night we all came back to the house where enjoyed Kimber’s dessert and fireworks. As Kimber and I read about the fireworks on the back on the box it advised us to always buy our fireworks from reliable firework dealers. We both laughed out loud since I had bought them earlier that afternoon in a Chinesse shop, which did we mention is in Africa. No matter where the fireworks were purchased from we still had lots of fun. I was especially overjoyed that the weather was so pleasant. Last year it was cold, drizzling rain, and miserable! YAH! for great weather. Thank you, Lord!

Youth Leader’s from all over the country all came together June 27-28 in Manzini at the Baptist church for training in biblical leadership and how they can be leaders in their communities, home, schools, and churches. The Youth Leaders had a great time not just learning, but also finalizing all the plans for the National Youth Camp in August.

Back in April while I was in Manzini on my way to the fruit market I noticed some of the children carrying colorfully wrapped packages, which looked like shoe boxes. As I looked closer I realized that they were actually Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. WOW! Pretty cool, huh? I remember writing about the experience in my journal. Every year my home church, Flatwoods First Baptist (FFBC) in Flatwoods, KY, would prepare about 150 boxes to be sent out by Samaritans Purse International. During the last collection I was able to participate in November of 2006 my Sunday school of 4^th and 5^th graders prepared close to 16 boxes. So, for myself and my church family Samaritans Purse and Operation Christmas Child are very close to all our hearts. As one of those who would fill a box for a special little girl or boy I always imagined what it might be like on the other side when the children received their box. So, to actually be able to see a child with their box it was kind of surreal. The boxes were perfectly in tack and not one of them had opened it yet. I know for myself if I were one of the children I would so excited that I couldn’t help, but rip into the box. Not these children, though.

Well this past week my experience was taken one step further when I was able to participate in the distribution of the shoeboxes. One of the other mission sending organizations called, Children’s Cup, have care points where they feed and help the children with their education. As a part of their ministry that have also partnered with Samaritans Purse to be a distribution center for their shoeboxes and when I found out about it I jumped at the opportunity to join in. How awesome is our God that He knows our hearts desires and grants our requests without even an utterance.

 So, here are some of the pictures from my experience. Hope you enjoy our Christmas in July.

Nathan Curtis Allen was born on March 7, 2008 at around 1:30pm in Jo-burg, South Africa.

March 23, 2008

Sing: Yes, Jesus Love Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children

Recite (with motions): John 3:16

Speaker 1: God sent his one and only son to die for my sins!

Group: Jesus died for me!

Make Twyla: Reads Romans 3:10-12, 23

Speaker 2: Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins.

Group: Sin equals death!

Musa: Reads Romans 6:23

Speaker 3: Thank you Jesus for loving me even when I sin.

Group: Jesus loves me!

Gogo Shandu: Reads Romans 5:6 and 8

Speaker 4: We praise God because on the 3^rd day Jesus arose from the dead.

Group: He is risen!

Kimber: Reads Romans 10:8-10

Julia: Becoming a follower of Jesus is as easy as learning your ABC’s…

            A-Admit you are a sinner. (Group-Admit)

            B-Believe Jesus died for your sins and arose from the dead. (Group-Believe)

            C- Commit your life to following Jesus and confess him as your Savior.

(Group-Commit and Confess)

Speaker 5: Jesus’ death on the cross gives us freedom from sin.

Group: We are free!

Make Twyla: Reads Romans 8:15-16

Sing: Deep and Wide and I’m Gonna to Sing, I’m Gonna Shout Praise the Lord

Journal Entry 3-22-08

I have been feeling so overwhelmed by all that’s going on with Easter services and to be honest all I want is to be done with it all. I feel as if I have nothing more to give, nor do I really want to give. When I arrived this morning and went to enter into the meeting tent for services I noticed 3 little boys sitting outside and rather than go into services I decided to play with the boys. I recognized the boys from one of our churches, Ntsintsa. Two of them were brothers; one was probably not quite a year and the other 2 were probably 3 or 4 years old.

The youngest little boy started to cry when I gave the other 2 boys Lifesavers and I knew he was too young to have hard candies. So I picked him up to try to soothe him, but it only worked for a short while. In the midst of this Make Sikuwayne, one of our pastor’s wives, came over and greeted me and had some of the sweetest words to share with me. She said, “I know sometimes we are busy and we may act like we really don’t care, but I wanted you to know how much we really do appreciate you. You are a part of us now and we love you.” Tears filled my eyes as my heart was overwhelmed with emotions and simply I couldn’t help myself as I let one of my loose to run down my cheek. Swazi’s very rarely show emotion, especially crying and others crying definitely makes most feel quite uncomfortable. However, I didn’t care because I knew at that moment it was a gift from God and his special way of showing me that He did indeed hear my prayers from earlier in the morning. It was as if God was gently hugging me and saying, “Yes,  you can go on. I will give you strength to preserve and finish the race. I will give you the capacity to love beyond all you could ever know.”

Thank you, Lord. For you are good and mercies endure for forever.

On February 1, I discovered a leak in my bathroom. I had no clue where it was coming from accept it wasn’t from the toilet or the sink. So, the next morning I quickly phoned the plumber, George. Of course on Saturday, I had lots of things to do and sitting at the house with a plumber wasn’t one of them. Luckily Kimber was able to be there for a while and then Monica was able to come over once she had to leave. Nonetheless though when George had to knock a whole in the wall in order to repair the pipe, Saturday simply wasn’t long enough. So, on Monday morning George arrived at the house bright and early. Mondays are usually my days off and I already had my day planed out with a trip to town followed by some time at the gym, but my plans quickly changed.

Since George was in the bathroom, which is off my bedroom, I decided to stay near and organize my closets. As I was doing so George began to ask about me my knowledge of the Mormon Church. To be honest my former pastor, Matt Riley, had discussed this religion as well others with our church several years back in a Sunday evening sermon series, but at that moment nothing was coming to memory. I had a feeling though where George might be taking our conversation and after my brief answer to his question, he replied “Well, I’m Mormon. I’m asking because American seems to have so much education, but so little knowledge about things they’re not concerned with.” I wasn’t shocked by either statement. As Americans we do tend to be very closed-mind and egocentric. I by no means want to demean my culture or my country, but I have come to realize how knowledgeable the educated Africans are about the history, leadership, and culture of the world around them. I too am even more aware of my own ignorance to the world around and how egocentric I have become over time.

George quickly began to dialog and share with me about his beliefs in Mormonism as well as traditional African religion. I asked George to share with me about his conversion to Mormonism. He explained that as young child he grew up in a SOS village, these are places where double orphans can live and receive an education, and that every Sunday a different pastor from a church would come to share the word of God. He said, “Every Sunday I listened to what the pastors had to say and at the age of 15 I prayed to accepted Christ.” However, once he reached the age of 18 and left the SOS village he shared that he could never find a church where he felt comfortable or where the pastor practiced what he shared every Sunday and as a result he quit attending church all together. Several years later George was visited by 2 Mormon missionaries who shared with him about their beliefs and encouraged him visit their church.  After much prayer he explained and attending a church service he decided to convert to Mormonism. Along the way of course I would ask him questions about what he believed about sin, how one gets to heaven, what does he believe heaven will be like, who he believed Jesus to be, and other questions along that line.

Once George finished his story I asked him if I could share with him what I believed from the Bible in scripture, which he gladly welcomed and was delighted to learn more. So, I quickly went to the living room for my bible and as I walked back to my room I prayed, “Lord, why isn’t Kimber here? She knows more about the Mormon faith. She could do this much better. Please lead me to what to share. He knows so much about my faith, yet I barely know anything about his. Give me your favor and your words.” Suddenly I sensed as if Romans Road would be the right set of scriptures to share and then I remembered my friend, Maria’s testimony. Maria had actually grown up in a Catholic home and had never had a real relationship with Christ until a friend one day shared with her the plan of salvation through Romans. Roman’s Road at first seemed too trivial to share. The plan of salvation through Romans Road was a something I had learned as a teen in youth group, but then God reminded me of the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word. So, into my room I walked and as George finished working on the tiles and pipes behind the toilet there I sat sharing the plan of salvation and other truths through Romans. Afterwards, George said we’d have to agree to disagree on certain parts of the Bible, but he did want to come back and learn more.

When George left that evening I felt so drained emotionally and my heart was burdened for him. He reminded me of the Pharisees who were bound by the law and their good works that they were never able to experience the freedom of the blood Christ shed for us. As I sat there listening to his answers about salvation, sin, and heaven I simply wanted to cry. Shortly before George left I was simply honest with him and said, “George, it breaks my heart to listen to you share because you are so bound by all the lists of what to do and not to do, but Jesus came so that we could be free from all these things that tie us down. Your salvation won’t be based on your ability to do right or your good works.”

The next time to share with George hasn’t quite occurred yet, but I know the Lord is working on his heart and the day of salvation will come. George is also the plumber for several other missionary friends and I recently found out that he’s been facing some difficult time financially as well as personally. Also, since hearing this news both mission houses have had plumbing issues and on this past Monday Monica had the opportunity to share with George about their family’s ministry in Swaziland. However, the most humbling news came shortly before Easter as I discovered that I’m the only one who George has felt comfortable enough with to share his faith. Why Lord would you choose me? You could have chosen someone who was more knowledgeable or an eloquent speaker, but you chose me. Why I may never understand, but thank you for the opportunity.

I am praying for George and I ask that you please do the same. I can not believe that the Lord would allow George to have contact with the truth and then to bring him around so many missionaries, people who have come to share the love of Christ with a lost world, only for him to perish. Lord, I have faith that “one day every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that you are Lord” and on that day their will be Swazi believers around throne saying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is to come.”