Eswatini quickly became a sweet home for our squad as we stepped onto our final continent. It’s easy to cruise through these last couple months on the race as our minds begin to fixate on returning to the states, but I’m so thankful for the way the Lord has slowed us down, reminded us to be present, and given us the space to process with him. Here’s some updates about our time in Eswatini:
- T-Squad Unites As One Team: For the final leg of our race leadership decided that the Lord was inviting us to finish the race together. With the merging of our previous teams we then became one big group and were able to start our ministry in Eswatini together. There are always difficulties when you work, and live, and eat, and breathe with 9 people for a whole year, so we knew that this would be a good season of learning to have grace for one another…and it definitely has been haha. But I have learned so much about what it means to love the church and honor the differences that we all come to the table with. We are all so much more equip to love those who differ from us and have grace and patience through trials. I wouldn’t want to finish the race in any other way. I love being with these people.
- CarePoint, CarePoint, CarePoint, Repeat: Our ministry in Eswatini was a partnership with Adventure in Missions’ (our mission organization) local base. They run over 30 CarePoints in the country that provide daily meals to children in the communities. The meals at these CarePoints are cooked by local women who volunteer to support their communities. The logistics are managed by graduates and students of Adventure in Missions leadership school. We simply get to come along and encourage the local staff and love on the kids in the communities. For an American group it can be hard to be content with just love on people. We are so accustomed to producing, to having visible evidence of our works. But time and time again we were reminded by local staff that love is the best thing we can give these kiddos. To hold, play, befriend, encourage, and genuinely care about them. It was an honor, an exhausting one, but an honor nonetheless to love on the Ngungwane community.
- Parents Get to Visit: We had a really sweet time getting to meet some of our squad-mates’ parents during their Parent Visit Trip (PVT). This week was full of fun excursions, showing the parents our home and ministry, and celebrating what the lord has been doing in our time away from the states.
- Not Your Average Hike: A group of us got to go on a hike with one of our local friends but little did we know, we’d be walking through a reserve! Let me tell you, that’s the way to do a safari! You just may want to avoid the water holes…
- An Early Birthday Celebration/Squad Leader Retreat: Taylor and I have been squad leading since our alumni leaders went home back in Guatemala. It has been such a joy to take on all that this role entails. The Lord has been so kind in humbling me, teaching me, and letting me focus more on loving my people throughout this race. As I’m sure you can imagine, this role is no easy task haha. It involves a lot of discernment, a lot of God, and a lot of obedience. Encouraged by our leadership team back in the states, Tay and I were given the opportunity to have a little retreat and a small birthday celebration for the both of us (Tay 10/10 and me 10/14). I really valued that time refreshing with the lord, taking about how to love our people better, and spending time pouring into our sweet friendship (cause man, loving and getting along with your co-lead sure makes life easier haha).
- And Here We Are, The Final Country: We drove our way into South Africa on October 12th to meet up with our last ministry parter in Johannesburg. We will be working with Impact Africa and the many programs they run here to share the gospel and support their community. We are still very new here and the environment differs a lot from what we have been exposed to and used to so far on this race, but I’m so excited to lean into this ministry and learn what the Lord has for us here.
