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Our blog's purpose is to highlight the ups and downs of ministry in Swaziland, we try to post monthly, but admittedly we aren't always good at posting on a schedule. Please, if you read something you like, be sure to leave a comment in the bottom of the post or share the post on your favorite social media website. One of the easiest ways to keep in touch is to subscribe to receive updates whenever we post to the blog. We're really excited to keep the conversation going with our dear friends and partners in ministry.

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Jan 28
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Off to Work We Go

By | Friends and Family, Life and Faith, News and Updates, Swaziland | One Comment

We have internet! We have air conditioning! We have a 1-year-old! Apologies for the radio silence- so much has happened in the last few weeks but we haven’t had internet to post an update in awhile. Last Friday, Zach turned 1. Wow. We had a little birthday party for him where he was completely uninterested in his “smash” cake (maybe because mom used a sugar-free recipe). He did, however enjoy opening birthday presents and having so many other kids to play with. It is amazing to see Zach learning something new everyday. This week he learned how to “RAWR” like a lion. Oh the aborableness- it kills me! Our office was on holiday until January 11, but now ministry is in full swing again. I’ve been busy learning the ropes to take over finances for one of the missionaries whose family is soon going on furlough for 3 months. Brandon has been giving some IT lessons to the local staff and helping make our tech more efficient. Brandon has been quite popular with requests to debug laptops and help create media for donor relations. We’ve also visited a few homesteads over the last month and a half. Most of them we visited before Christmas so we could bring some of the neediest families food to last the Christmas break. It’s always humbling to see these families who have no electricity, no plumbing and are so grateful for your visit and gift of food. One family we visited was using barbed…

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Nov 26
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Giving Thanks

By | Friends and Family, Life and Faith, News and Updates, Personal Reflections, Swaziland | 5 Comments

We have a swimming pool. Well, our future home here (maybe next week) will have a swimming pool- yes, it is small and currently filled with debris, but it is still a luxury in a country that has spent over a decade in an increasingly dire drought. Needless to say, we will not be filling it with water any time soon. Cows are still dying here and the capital city not too far away only has a 20 day water supply remaining. Swazis have been asked to use chemical toilets when possible and here we are being asked if we’d like to use our pool. The weight of our relative wealth and privilege feels HEAVY. We want to give thanks for all the blessings God has given us, but that’s difficult when we feel guilty of having them in the first place. As we’ve been running around trying to navigate getting a house, electricity, aircon (A/C), a fridge, furniture, we have been mindful of being good stewards of the resources given by our supporters who have made it financially possible for us to be here. We know that we need certain conveniences to allow us time to do our jobs well, but it’s still a challenge shopping for a washing machine and refrigerator when we know so many Swazis here don’t even have electricity. In the states, it’s so much easier because, well, everyone has those things. Here, I feel embarrassed to let a Swazi see where we live, our “new” car, or…

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Nov 13
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Rain, Rain, Come this Way!

By | Friends and Family, News and Updates, Personal Reflections, Swaziland | 6 Comments

Pouring rain, thunder, lightning, then… no power. No biggie, we feel super proud of ourselves for bringing headlights and solar-lamps! Then… a bit of disappointment when the lights go back on five short minutes later. We were excited to rough it! We were glad for even that half hour of rain, as the drought has been terrible here. Fields that should be green are crunchy with dead grass. It’s spring here, but instead of new life, over 12,000 cattle have died from starvation. We are glad to hear it may rain more in the next few days. Please keep Swazi weather in your prayers. We’ve now been here just over a week and have gotten so much more done than we expected. We were told that everything takes a lot of time here, so we feel blessed that we have been able to get a post box, buy a car, and sign a lease on a house. Of course, there are no set dates for when we will actually receive the car or move into the house 😉 We’ve also gotten to visit a few carepoints while they’ve had their Christmas parties. We are thankful for that distraction because before the festivities begin, they are pretty fascinated with Zach. They don’t get to see non-Swazi babies often (if ever), so they tend to swarm him and all want to hold and touch him. I’m glad they will make good playmates for him, but for now, I’ve been keeping him close as to not…

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