Life in Manzini!

Hey guys! We arrived in Manzini, Eswatini the evening of Feb. 1st after 46 hours of travel! We felt extremely blessed by our living conditions. There are bunk beds and running water for us… even if our showers are cold 🙂 We are staying in three houses on a homestead and we even get access to a pool. I hand washed my laundry for the first time.. and hung it up inside our house to dry because it’s rainy season here. 

While here we do our own grocery shopping and cooking. In an average day we have cereal for breakfast, PB&J for lunch, and then we all take turns making dinner- which is traditionally tacos or something that can be made on our two burner stove top.

Learning to live & share space with so many other people has been an adjustment for a lot of us, but overall has been going really well. I have been learning how important it is to set aside intentional alone time with the Lord. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

Here’s a brief recap of our first full week of ministry:

Monday: We all loaded up in a van and went to a staff meeting where we got to meet a lot of local Adventures in Missions staff. We worshipped together and listened to teaching (It was very similar to a Sunday morning church service). After the meeting we headed to town, Mondays are our day to grocery shop for the week. We loaded up our 60 gallons of water and bunches of groceries into the van with us and headed back home. In the evening we had group feedback (a daily intentional time to encourage each other to be more like Christ through positive and corrective feedback.)

Tuesday: After breakfast we all went to one care point. A few of us girls helped the local cooks prepare food for the children. They get two meals a day, a porridge (similar to grits mixed with apple sauce) and rice. While we cooked, some of our squad walked a box of rice to a small village and read them the Bible and prayed for them. We also spent lots of time playing and getting to know the children.

Wednesday: Today we split into groups and went to three different care points. I was glad to be able to see some of the kids I met last week again! Less children came because of the rain (many of them have to walk a mile or more and are unable to cross the river after heavy rain). So we spent time getting to know the care point leaders. We taught them Go Fish which they loved! I took photos of the children that were there so that they could be posted online and hopefully get sponsors (which help pay for their schooling and food). Many of the children that come to the care points are orphans being raised by grandparents or families of the community. So without the help of sponsors many are unable to attend school. After we got home I spent some time with the GoGo(Grandma) that lives on the homestead with us. She taught me how to pick and prepare prickly pear!

Thursday: Today we did an ATL (Ask the Lord) day instead of going to a care point. This is a day where we just go into town and ask the Lord to provide us opportunities to love and tell people about Him. So we went to town and prayed for a few people and then got lunch. In the checkout line a couple girls from my team met a lady who was originally from the same town as them. So we invited her to sit with us and ended up talking to her for a few hours. She was a Christian and God really encouraged her and our team through the interaction.

Friday: Today was my favorite day at the care point so far. The rain finally slowed down so a lot of children came to our care point (around 100). They taught us dances, songs, and new games! I had a really sweet two hours just holding a quiet 6 year old girl. She didn’t say anything but she just put her head on my chest and soaked up all the love and affection.

God has been doing so much through seemingly small moments. Please continue to pray for our team to continually grow closer and cling to Jesus in the hard moments and days. Ultimately pray that the Lord would use us to bring Him glory!

love you all!
Alicia