I just got back from South Africa yesterday evening.  The schools went on break last Friday so we have 3 weeks out of the schools.  When I asked the Lord what He wanted us to do with the break he said "Pray".  So Phumlile (Faith), Zabiba (Bibo), Hloniphile (Ruth) and I went to Nelspruit, South Africa and sought the Lord in His beautiful creation.  There's a place there called God's Window and you hike up to the top of this huge mountain and then there is this amazing view but you can look straight down the side of the rocks and we were up so high.  It was also cool because while we were there He had us read Psalm 95 which says the depths of the earth are in His hands and looking at this depth, it just made us realize how BIG He is.  Then we drove a few kilometers to this beautiful waterfall and he had us read Isaiah 43:2 - "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you."  God orchestrated the weekend so beautifully, I loved it.  It was a great time to reflect back on the last few months, see God through His creation and how GREAT He is, and help us set our vision for the next few months.

Then...

WE PICKED MY SISTER UP FROM THE AIRPORT!!  MY SISTER IS HERE!!  I cannot tell you how excited I am.  She's here for 2 weeks and it's going to be so fun!  Please pray for her, she has a really bad cold.  Praise God for those who were praying because the pressure on the plane didn't affect her at all!  Gotta go, we have so much to do and so little time :)  I can't believe my sister is in Africa with me!

continued from "Mourn with those who Mourn"

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" - Matthew 5:4

I had read the beatitudes so many times and I knew that those who mourn would be blessed but I had not idea I could be blessed by those who mourn. 

I arrived at the school not knowing what to expect and I found the school practically empty and Make Zwane, the vice principal waiting for me.  "I can't even look at you she said, I'm in shock".  She was amazed that the rest of money that they needed had been supplied by her brothers and sisters in the States (thanks again for all those gave to this family).  She quickly rushed me to the Head Teacher to explain that the money was there and you should have seen the relief on his face. 

Nonphumelelo, the girl who died, was a double orphan (both parents had died) and she was living with her disabled grandmother and her younger sister.  When the head teacher found out the girl had died he immediately took money out of his own pocket and began to ask people in the community to help financially.  By the time I had gotten there he had reached the end of his resources.  I've been to so many high schools in this country and I've never met a head teacher with such integrity and really lives out the Word of God in all he does...anyway I could go on and on about the faculty at this school, but it confirms over and over again that God was already working at this school and I am just joining His work.

So I went and visited the girl's home only to find all of her classmates there.  They had arrived early that morning and gone and cut down branches and brought them back to make a structure and then put a tarp over it.  Then they went and cut down grass with knives and put in on the ground to keep the place less dusty.  Have you ever tried to cut a lot of grass with a knife?  It's hard work and these kids were awesome!

I was told to go and say hello to the grandmother.  I walked into the small, dark room and as my eyes adjusted I began to see dark silhouettes of old women sitting on mattresses around the edges of the room in traditional Swazil styly (with their feet straight out in front of them). 

I stumbled through my SiSwati explaining who I was and they were so thankful to have me there.  It reminded me of when I went to Africa for the first time in 2004 and God gave me the "ministry of presence".  I didn't have to do anything or say anything, just me being their showed that God had not forgotten them.  After I prayed and left the room others from the community continued to come and pray and sing songs with the grandmother.  It was such a beautiful picture of "mourning with those who mourn".  All the grandmothers friends and community members her age just come and sit with her until after the funeral.

I was so blessed by those who were mourning of how they came together and helped each other out.  I have so much to learn from this culture.

Yesterday the Lord led me to pray through the last part of Romans 12 and the part that stuck out to me was "rejoice with those rejoice and mourn with those who mourn".  Well unfortunately there are way too many mourning here.  Yesterday I found out one of the girls at the high school we are working at died.  She wasn't in our Bible Study but this school is the one I worked at last year and I'm definitely mourning with them.

The reason I'm posting this is because the girl's family has literally nothing and they can't afford a coffin ($200) or the cost of transporting the coffin ($100).  The Principal at the school as well as the parliament member for the area has rallied together those in the community to help and they've got $175 so $125 still remains.  Ask the Lord, don't do it on emotion, ask the Lord if He wants you to contribute to helping this family.  You can email me or just post a comment and i'll let you know where you can send the money.

I just keep saying, "Lord, I'm so tired of all this death around me, I'm just tired of it!"  At the same time on Monday the Lord led me through Matthew 5 and told me again, those who mourn will be comforted and blessed.  Lord we need your comfort.  Thank you for letting me be your hands and feet today.  We are leaving for the school now and I'm not sure what we'll find, if we need to counsel students, go to the families' house...I know most of you are sleeping now so I'll update you tomorrow...

I can hardly believe it but the first 9 week Bible Study has already finished on Friday and the rest will complete this week.  Just wanted to share a few pictures.

Hloniphile (Fufu), Zabiba (Bibo), and Phumlile (Sikoni) made cupcakes for the girls to celebrate.  I had way too much of that icing :)

The girls each received a completion certificate and if they had done all of their homework and memorized all of their verses they received a Bible.  As you can see Gugu on the right clutching the Bible to her chest.  These girls were so excited.  Most of the girls said "This is the first certificate I've ever received" and others said "wow, this Bible is so expensive" - (they were $3/each).

Sonia has her hands over her heart before she received her Bible and certificate.  This is how I felt the whole time and I thought she captured it perfectly.  I love that I get to be used by God to shower love on these girls, even in a tangible way by giving them something brand new.  The girls at this school are at a boarding school and struggle with feelings of being forgotten by their families.  When they call for their parents sometimes to bring food or send money for food they sometimes get hung up on or the parents just won't answer their phones.

We meet outisde on the grass at the school and it was perfect weather on Friday.  I also love this picture because of the light we got to bring into darkness of some hearts at this school.  And the Holy Spirit was definitely at this party because of the overflow of love and joy. 

Praise you, Lord!! I had a hard time leaving these girls.  Some will be leaders for the next group at their school but it will never be this same group.  We have 4 more parties this week and lots more cupcakes to bake :)

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, "RAbbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in His life".  John 9:2-3

Many of you know my car situation for the last year.  I've owned a car but could only drive it for 3 weeks at a time and then it would break down and go back in the shop.  Two or three weeks ago I cried the whole day because I just couldn't take it anymore.  It was a drain on my bank account and a hindrance to ministry.  Over a month ago, my team and I were having our morning devotions and we studied this verse.  Ruth's version says "so that God's miracle can be shown" and she said, "Becca, this situation with the car is so God's miracle can be shown".  A few days later I talked to my mom on the phone and she told me she shared the prayer request with her Bible Study and one of the men said "Tell your daughter to expect a miracle".

So of course at first i'm excited and waiting and nothing happens...3 weeks later I'm in tears the whole day because I've had it with this car situation.  I sought advice here and asked if there was something I was doing wrong, was there a sin in my life that was causing this.  Like Jesus said "no one sinned, it was the backdrop for God's miracle".  I sent a prayer email out in desperation and here's what happened.

The following Monday, i got a phone call that my car was fixed.  I had been renting a vehicle to go to ministry from Pete.  Upon returning the vehicle to Pete he asked what I was going to do with the car now and I said sell it.  (When I picked the car up, the mechanic said "keep an eye on it", after just spending a large amount of money into it.  I was dreading selling because the market is terrible right now.  There have been nice cars for sale in my community for months and no one is buying).  Pete tells me his Father-in-Law has a RAV4 and if i wanted to trade him.  A few minutes later his father in law comes and gives me the keys to the RAV and says "take the car tonight and drive it and if you want it, you can have it".  I took the car to my mechanic and he said it was a great car.  I was in shock, i couldn't believe this car thing was going to be over. 

I thought okay, Lord, what did i do different today from the last 11 months.  "Nothing" he said in my Spirit.  It was that He had planned before the beginning of time that day it would be over and He would provide me with a car that works.  I'm still on cloud 9!  it's amazing that when God commands something, it's done - in 1 day it was all over after 11 months of grief.  Praise Him.   Thank you for all those who have been toiling with me in prayer.  Isn't that car so cute?  Oh, it's perfect, exactly what I needed!

In February, I introduced you to the team I'm now working with (Faith and Ruth).  We now have another team member - Meet Zabiba (2nd from left).

In February, I introduced you to a woman named, Lindo, who is a Pastor's wife with the same passion for the women of Swaziland that i have.  She has a group called Daughters of Virtue that meets twice a month and Zabiba is a "daughter".  Zabiba finished high school last year and Lindo wanted me to meet Zabiba because her passion is to teach sexual purity to her peers.  She doesn't start University until June so she started coming along with us to the schools and the Lord soon made it clear she was suppossed to be on staff.

Zabiba is vibrant, intelligent, and never runs out of things to say.  If any of you are familiar with the four personalities Zabiba is an extreme sanguine!  Faith and Ruth fell in love with her immediately and really these three prove themselves to be Christ's disciples because of the love they have for one another.  When they see each other after the weekend they are so excited and tell how much they missed each other.  I'm really blessed to have these girls and it's fun to watch them grow as they help others to grow.  I'm understanding more and more that my job is to disciple these 3 so that they can disciple the masses :)

Please pray for us as a time to be one in Spirit, mind, and purpose and for the Lord to draw each one of us intimately while still being dilligent in the great harvest He has called us to.

Sorry, I know it's been more than a week since Easter but I had trouble uploading the pictures and the pictures tell the story.  Here they call Easter, Easters, because most churches began celebrating on Wednesday or Thursday with night services and continue until Sunday evening.  Good Friday is a public holiday as well as Monday.  Therefore it's not called Easter here (like one day in the States) but Easters.  Here's what I was up to...

THURSDAY: There is a Children's home about 15 minutes from my house that has about 45 children living there.  The director of the home put on the Passover Feast for all the children and I was invited. 

Left - That's little Jadida, the cutest thing ever, holding one of the four cups at Passover - I believe this is the cup of joy.  Everyone takes a sip of the grape juice and we pass it around the table.  The first person prays over the cup and Jadida volunteered - it was precious!  When we first sat down at the table, she said "(Gasp) The blood of Jesus" pointing to the cup.  They take communion every Friday so this precious 3 year old already knew what the juice represented.  You can also see my plate there with an egg, parsley, lamb, and unleavened bread.  Each representing part of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt.  RIGHT:  Zipporah and I taking a bite of the lamb when we were taught about the lamb representing the Lamb of God.  The lamb in Passover was killed and the blood on the doorposts so the angel of death would pass over that household and Christ is our Passover Lamb - mmm...that Lamb was good.

FRIDAY - RIGHT - Good Friday is a holiday here so two of the coolest girls in Swaziland, Kate and Cassie, hung out with me up in the northern part of Swaziland.  First we drove up to the mountain and on the way up there are these cute kids that always dance on the side of the road to get tourists to stop and give them money and buy their crafts.  Kate and i decided it was a perfect time to get out of the car and sharpen our dancing skills .

 BELOW - Quick snapshot of our adventure, isn't Swaziland beautiful?

SATURDAY:  I went to Manzini to buy a new outfit for Easter (Thanks mom!) and then hung out at my friends' house from church.  This is my friends' daughter and one of the neighbor kids.

Sunday:  I invited Swazie and her family to church with me for Easter and then we treated ourselves to KFC - A Swazi favorite :)

I will never forget Easter Sunday 2008.  I say the following only to give God glory and to plead with you to pray for my protection here.  I picked up Swazie and her family and were heading to the church that Adventures in Missions just opened located about 1 1/2 hours from my house.  It was pouring down rain and I was driving slowly on the 2 lane highway when suddenly my car lost control and we spun 4 times in the middle of the road.  By the grace of God the cars on both sides stopped and did not hit us and we stayed on the road somehow.  It was a strange experience because I was at peace the whole time and remained calm and I just felt the presence of the Lord so thick in that car.  I pulled to the side of the road and asked if everyone was okay.  We spent some time in prayer thanking the Lord for preserving us.  I decided to return back to my church instead of continuing to the AIM church and the whole way back Swazie and her family kept saying "If it wasn't for Christ, we would be dead"  "Thank you God for saving our lives" etc. and while I didnt enjoy the spinning I thought "How appropriate, Lord, that we are realizing that if it wasn't for you, we would be dead.  That's how I should think on Easter every year.  That if it wasn't for your Christ Jesus, I would be spiritually dead" and I knew God was glorified through the utterances of that precious family. 

You will not believe this, after church I went home and was invited up to a friend's house and i refused at first because I really didn't want to be in a car.  Another friend, offered to drive so I agreed, and on the way to the house we were sitting at a stop light and a drunk driver rear-ended the truck behind us that ran into us.  Thankfully again no one was hurt but I was like "you have got to be kidding me, twice in one day".  Like I said, I will not soon forget Easter 2008.

I've been humbled and brought to tears at how many people want to get involved with the Card Project to provide income for these girls.  Thank you to all of you who are wanting to be involved, your help is needed for this to happen.  As for right now, I need you to pray and then I will have tangible ways to get involved soon.  Currently I'm profiling the girls to learn about their living situations and what their needs exact needs are.

Pray: 1.  Logistics - Time to meet with the girls, buying supplies we need  2.  Business - writing up business plans and coming up with a logo/name for the cards and trying to partner with other card projects in Southern Africa  3.  Pray for the group of girls that they would be seeking the Lord even now for answers to their needs and that this would be an answer to their prayers and they would see it is the Lord providing for them.  4.  Nelile and I - would be one in mind, spirit, and purpose.

I continue to feel so inadequate for this and I ask for the Lord's guidance.  Pray for me that in the midst of this season of business my intimacy would the Lord would increase.  I want to be a woman of prayer and one who hears the still, small voice of the Lord.

I promise, i'll let you know as soon as you can start to buy and sell these cards!!  Right now is the strategic time of prayer and preparation though and it is so important to have this foundation for the project.

continued from You Give Them Something to Eat, February 15, 2008

The Lord wants me to start an income generating project for these girls to keep them from having sex to have their basic needs me.  Where did I start?  I got on the internet and typed something genius into Google like "making cards in Africa for money".  A website came up 80  Rwandan refugees making greeting cards and selling them over the internet.  There was a link that said "email the founder" so I emailed him and told him what God was calling me to do and asked him some questions, honestly hoping he would discourage me from getting into it (I'm scared, this is so much bigger than me).  Instead I got an incredibly inspiring message from this missionary encouraging me to do this.  His first step when he arrived in Rwanda (from England) was to find a local artist who could teach others to make the cards.

So I began a hunt for the artist in the local tourist markets and all the people who were selling the cards had not made the cards.  ALL of the cards were made by people living in other African countries who just sold them to the shops in Swaziland.  Frustrated, I got back in the car and started telling my friend, Thandie, about God's idea for the greeting cards and told her I was looking for a local artist. (To give God more glory, it was random that Thandie had decided this day to come along to the high school to teach the Bible Studies today).

"What about Nelile?  Remember the birthday card I gave you?  Nelile made that" Thandie asked.  I used to go to church with Nelile but hadn't seen her in a few months since she moved.  I called Nelile and just said "God put you on my heart, meet me for dinner". 

At dinner I said "okay, let me tell you why i asked you to come..." and spilled the whole vision of the project to sustain the girls in the rural areas.  Nelile looked at me emotionless the whole time i was talking and I thought she's so not into this.  I stopped talking and she just was shaking her head saying "oh my God, oh my God"...she had been fasting the week before and the Lord had been preparing her for something and as I was talking the Lord was confirming that this was it.  He had given her specific visions and Scriptures and she was sure this is what the Lord was talking about.  4 days before my proposal she was up all night making wedding invitations and was telling the Lord "unless you send me people to help me do this, I'm giving up this card business, I can't do it anymore".  The Holy Spirit was so present at our meeting but she asked for a week to pray about it for the Lord to confirm and I got a text message from her a week later saying "Let's do it".

We met yesterday for the first time and Nelile is obviously the perfect person for this.  She is smart, hardworking, extremely creative and has an awesome relationship with the Lord.  She sees this is not only a way for the girls to go to school and have food and clothing but to help them tap into creativity which is hindered for people who live in poverty, and even more so for people who live in a monarchy.  They are told what to think and not to question it so when you ask them to come up with something on their own they don't know what to do.  This makes them think they have nothing to contribute and keeps them in a dependent state.

We are going to start with 20 girls at 1 school.  I had mentioned to the Vice Principal about the project and asked her to think of 20 girls who would be vulnerable to have sex with an older man because of poverty and she said "I can't think of any specific girls off the top of my head, they are all in need".  So I prayed that whole week that the girls would come to her and the next week she said one after another were coming to her office telling her their story...I love how God brought them.

Please pray for the initial stages of this project.  1) Profiling the girls and seeing their needs 2) scheduling training times to make the cards between my schedule, Nelile's schedule (she's also planning a wedding for September) and the girls schedule.