09sw0908rl13 - Life in Nsoko

Hey friends, family, and supporters of our Swaziland team!

The girls are writing blogs as we go, but because of our limited access, it is taking longer than we anticipated to get those posted. The following is one that Lindley wrote to sum up the last week or so of our travel and time here in Swaziland. Yesterday we worshipped alongside our Swazi brothers and sisters - with our own team members leading children's programming, preaching, leading songs, and praying for church members with needs. This morning we began our much anticipated ministry - divided between care points and building showers at the care points! You would be so proud of your daughters, sisters, and friends and the ways that they are allowing the Lord to stretch them to serve the people of Nsoko! We will post more later this week to share with you how God is at work in this first week of ministry! Thanks so much for your prayers - it means so much to us all to know that there are so many all over the US praying for our team 24/7! God bless you!

Erica

From Lindley:

After four days of traveling, we reached Nsoko in South Swaziland. The people of this area have welcomed us with warm smiles, open arms, and an eager heart to about our culture and the message of Jesus. The majority of this week has been spent in traveling, learning Swaziland culture, adapting to the climate and resting. On Friday, we traveled to seven of the eight villages where our ministry teams will be rotating between. It is at these "care points" where we will feed the orphans, work on community projects, visit with the locals, and host church services every Sunday. We are currently scheduled to stay in South Swaziland for six weeks before heading North.

Please keep our team in your prayers as we have already encountered a language barrier. There are few South Swazis who speak English and all communication is done thru a translator. ALthough many of us have began to learn Si-Swati, (the native tongue), there are only seven translators at our disposal. Also, please continue to pray for strength as we have witnessed

poverty, hunger, and disease in ways unimagineable! It is our prayer that we stay focused with the task at hand and continue to love as God our Father so greatly loves us!

In Christ,

Lindley