Swaziland day 5.5

I tried posting this blog a few days ago but was unable to so this is a little late but here you go 🙂 This was last Sunday’s blog

Sunday: Day of rest in Swaziland (by Susie )

We were looking forward to Sunday for many reasons. #1. Sleeping in, #2. Church in Fontoje. And #3… some free time after church. We have been working pretty hard the last three days so sleeping in was a nice treat and gave our bodies a little bit of a rest.

Church was amazing. When we got there the women and men were split for bible study, which was all is Swazi so we tried to get what we could and sat there with smiles on our faces. Then the children flooded in to sit in the front and the men last and they all sat on the right side of the room. The pastor is a woman, likely because her husband was the pastor and he is deceased and she has taken over for now. They started with singing, which was led by a woman with a voice that needed no microphone. After that they called us up to share our testimonies. One by one we shared about our journey in life that let us to Swaziland and how God’s love had changed our life. We also talked about how God’s love is an example to us on how we should love each other (Which Jamie shared a great message about). So as you can imagine, 11 testimonies took a while to get through. At one point one of the team members had to stop because of tears and the whole congregation started singing ‘we give you hope’. It was amazing, gave me chills. We got through the testimonies and Ryan and Chris sang a few songs, which were a big, hit with the Swazis. The pastor then came up and said that she was going to preach about God’s love and how we need to love our neighbors but we had done such a good job with our testimonies that there was nothing more that needed to be said! So church ended on that note. Everyone was so encouraging and excited that we were there. Church service left us feeling full of God’s love and very encouraged.

When we got back, we were left with a few hours of free time. Ryan, Matt Roper and Abajian went to play golf with SonnyBoy and Baby face. (Apparently SonnyBoy was the highest ranked junior in Swaziland and will be getting into the pro circuit soon. ) Taras, Rachel, Katie and myself (Susie) went for a jog through the property. We were having a great time, wonderful conversation when we heard some animal noises… we stopped in our tracks…. Quiet… then took one step and heard the snorting, growling again so we did a 180 and got out of there. The others stayed at the rooms and napped, blogged, journaling, ect.

Before dinner we had another treat…. Fireball. Kids… don’t try this at home. So you get some tennis balls and light them on fire basically and throw them in a circle. The key is they are soaked in methylated spirits. (This is not legal in the US) Through magic the fire does not really burn your hands but can catch the grass, hair and clothing on fire if it stays in one place too long. I don’t know the science of how this works but Daniel if you are reading this I bet you can tell us ☺. Fireball will make another appearance before this trip is over I am sure. For all of the moms reading the blog, I would like to reassure you that no one was hurt in the fireball extravaganza. The rest of the night was spent sorting supplies, making bundles of gloves and another big treat…. Home made guacamole by Rachel and Katie! A little home away from home! Those girls have been great encouragers this whole trip.

Sunday was a much-needed day of laughing, resting and glorifying God. We are ready for Monday.