Swaziland!

We have been in Swaziland for two months, and it has been very busy! Our ministry was a couple different things, we would do house visits with our carepoint Shepherd, who was in charge of everything. They would choose a child with the most need and we would visit their home and have the opportunity to bless them with food and get to pray over them and talk with them.

Most of our ministry was working with kids at care points. A care point is a safe place for the kids that live in the community, and they get to go there after school and be fed a meal, which could be their only meal of the day, and they would hangout with one another there. We got to go and love on them and play with them, and show them the kind of love that they may not receive elsewhere. They love to hold our hands, teach us games and songs, teach us their language, they love soccer, and they love to play with our hair. We would be at the carepoint from 9 AM to 4 PM Tuesday through Friday.

I have so much love for the kids I got to know, they were all very kind and sweet! They just wanted to play and teach us about what they knew, and we had a lot of fun being with them. One of my favorite memories of our time here, was when this eight year-old boy, Axo, who I got very close with walked in through the gates, saw me, and with the biggest toothiest grin he smiled and booked it to me and gave me a hug.

On Mondays for ministry, we would have ATL days, which stands for Ask The Lord. We would go into town, Manzini, in small groups and go meet the people that were walking around or working. It was a really cool opportunity to know the city and make connections with people. It was awesome to meet people and then get the opportunity to pursue them as we went out every week. We got to see lots of transformation in people, and share awesome testimonies with one another. I also had the opportunity to meet and converse with multiple deaf people while I was here! Also did LOTS of grocery shopping with the hospitality team for the squad, not my favorite thing haha.

My friend and I made a cool connection at one of the shops in town, we would visit every week and say hi and were always so excited to see and talk with us. We got to hear some of the workers testimonies throughout our time there and got to go in and encourage them And hear their view on who the Lord is. One of them was a Jehovah’s Witness, so it was interesting to learn about his beliefs. The main thing that we talked about was how we believe that Jesus and God are one, but he believes that they are two separate beings. We got to learn about each other’s perspectives, and he asked a lot of questions about ours, and by the end of the conversation, he told us that he had a better understanding of why we believe Jesus and God are one, and pretty much agreed with us by the end which is so cool, praise God.

At the beginning of Swazi, we had awakening where we were with two other squads, and it was a week of messages and worship, and all seeking the Lord together. We had revival nights and had some really good teachings. There were a lot of really awesome testimonies from this week and the Lord moved in really great ways. I learned about brotherly and sisterly love and what a brother in Christ looks like and how the Lord gets to show us love in so many different ways through people!

Next, we had PVT, which was when my parents came! Our parents came for a week and we had the opportunity to do a Safari, two days of ministry, and teach them about everything happening. I was super excited to have my parents there and get to invite them into what I’ve been doing for the last eight months. It was an amazing opportunity to welcome them into that and to see how they reacted and got to experience it for themselves. We had a lot of really good conversations and learned a lot about each other and it was really a blessing to have them there. I’m super thankful for my parents and that I got to spend this time with them. the Lord moved so much within our relationship and made me really excited to get to go home and be in pursuit of the Lord together as a family even more!

Next, we had debrief in South Africa, we had the opportunity to finally take a deep breath after having so much busyness the last couple of weeks. We got to process our time in India and Nepal and awakening, and our parents being here. We also got to spend time with only our squad, which was really good! And we did a couple fun things and swam in the pool, and cooked some good meals. We also later went to St. Lucia in South Africa for our Visa run which was a fun time!

We got to celebrate Easter altogether, and we went to a farm that is self-sustaining to help the community. We got to help do some farm work and manual labor, celebrated Easter with a good meal and fun activities and worship and a message! It was a really sweet day:)

Funny stories and cool things: 1) At the same store, the first time we went in, we got to be friends with them, and I used the nail polish at the store to paint my nails, and the coworkers nails then put the nail polish back on the shelf haha. 2) the kids at the carepoint were obsessed with my tattoo (for those that don’t know, I got some tattoos, my parents know I promise) that was in mandarin, and the kids who hung around me most would explain the meaning to the other kids 3) the kids also loved the fact that I was Chinese and would come up to me in a karate kick pose and ask if I was good at karate and if I knew Jackie Chan haha 4) we went to Kruger national park on a safari 5) went paint balling for the first time, lowkey killed it I’d say 6) a boy from the carepoint offered my dad 100 cows to make me his wife! my dad offered ryan instead HAHA 7) I got tickets fever and was unwell and covered in hives for about a week there, but am well now

Anyways, I’m flying back to America now, 17 hour flight ahead and then will be in Georgia and North Carolina for domestic ministry and final debrief! Thank you to all my supporters and I can’t wait to be back in Colorado in two weeks! May 22! Crazy that my race is ending and so amazing how the Lord has moved this last nine months!