The Thing About History...

In 2009, this guy was one of the ones that I got to know
quickly as we spent time together at the center.

 When I first moved to Swaziland, one of the things I didn’t realize I would miss from my life back home is the familiar history that I shared among people in my own culture, and people who I had lived life with for many years.  My sisters and I obviously share the most history together and many times can be found thinking the same thing in a situation just because of the ways it triggers our thoughts.

As I got settled in to life in Swaziland, I sometimes became quiet because it would be too much work to explain the context behind a word or situation, something that someone from my culture or my life back home would just know. 

There were times when I wanted people to know the context of a relationship or a hobby, but it takes time to share stories and get to know each other before that could happen.  There were times when I wanted to be able to explain how something reminded me of an old song or movie or tv show, but I knew it wouldn’t make sense, so I often just laughed to myself.  

During our first home visit to Ntombi's house in 2009...
little did I know how much she would become a part of
my prayers & life over the last 5 years. 

But as it happens anywhere, we share bits and pieces of our own histories as we begin to make history together.  This happened as I eased into life in Swaziland - I was able to tell friends here about friends & family back home.  At times they were able to meet them as they came over to visit.  And they shared bits & pieces of their family history and life history with me as we went through life.  Even today at the gas station, a Swazi friend who works there asked how my sister's kids are and if my other sister had her baby yet. 

And I found myself in the middle of a history that God was building in us together...I can look back now over the last few years and see lots of times I can remember with my Swazi friends and realize that we have a lot more in common than we thought at first.

M & I share a common history as his younger sister was
one of my favorite kids out of all of the carepoints.  Here
we were in 2009, just 4 short years before his sister
would be hit & killed by a car & he & I would see each
other at her funeral on a rainy, muddy morning. 

Yet as I prepare to step away from AIM, one of the unexpected hardest parts for me is leaving the history.  As others step in and meet some of our kids & friends, I can’t help but think back to the history of that person that God has allowed me to experience.  For one, being part of throwing him a party for his 1st birthday, and then just a couple weeks later, helping his parents get his mom’s body to the morgue and then bringing the casket home for burial.  For another, older girls from her homestead would bring her to the center with them when she was just 4 months old, and I have watched her grow up over the last 5 years!  For those coming now to serve, they meet this 6 year old and 5 year old and haven’t experienced the history that has made them who they are today.

Over the next few weeks & months, I hope to share a glimpse here into some of the ways that God has been at work here in Swaziland (now that I have a bit more time to blog).  In the midst of the busy day to day ministry, we sometimes lost sight of how God was moving, but now as I slow down and reflect over the last 5 years & the ways God has worked, I am humbled by His faithfulness and it fuels my faith in His faithfulness for the ways He will lead & work in the future.  And as I prepare to spend some time back in Colorado, I will again find myself in a place where I am having to explain history of a Swazi friend, situation, or experience, as I figure out how to make new history there.