Week 7 In A Picture

Roof going on Mbutfu building, picking lettuce for carepoints,
pregnant Phindile playing netball, earthbag house.

New Road...Old Truth

   Where I am living in Swaziland, there is only one paved road, with many dirt roads leading off of it.  Some of the dirt roads are more used than others, and some merely look like a hiking trail.  It is intriguing to see a road & wonder what is down it, but with gas being $5.77 per gallon, I can't afford to follow my curiosity.  Yet this week I was able to go down a new road as we went on a home visit and won't forget how God used that new road to teach me an old lesson.

    The road was pretty good by Swazi standards, meaning not a lot of big rocks & only occasional huge dips.  We still never were able to go over about 25 mph...even on the best part of the dirt road.  As we approached the homestead, you could see all of the extended family's laundry hung out to dry near the few huts where they lived.  There were 2 women hanging clothes, both with babies tied on their backs.  Another woman sat on a grass mat in the shade of one of the huts.  We were here to see a woman in her late twenties/early thirties who is HIV positive and has had a stroke.  We walked over to her hut on the homestead- a modest cinder block building with a metal roof.  As we walked in, she sat up in her bed on the floor with a smile on her face.  Her brother's wife joined us, with a sleeping baby on her back and an abruptly woken, crying toddler ready to sleep on her lap as she sat on the cement floor.

   We entered the home/room, sitting on grass mats & rice bags on the floor, which was wide open and dusty with only the mattress & a shelf in the house.  As we shared bits about ourselves & some Scripture, we asked her if she had a favorite Scripture & in speech, garbled by her stroke, she replied without hesitation, "John 14." 

   Tears welled up in my eyes as we read the truth that Jesus promises us when He said, " 'Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I  going.'  Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.' "

   I have read these Scriptures many times but they hit at a whole new level when a homebound woman who has no earthly hope of healing or wellness speaks them as her favorite passage.  This truth- that Jesus has prepared a place for us, that He will come back to get us, that He is the only way to get to the Father in heaven- is not just a simple truth to be known about in our heads. It is THE truth- THE truth that cant be improved upon, THE truth that changes our hearts, THE truth that you can build your life on...THE truth that you can count on in your death.

11 Commandments Of Missions

William Carey's "11 Commandments Of Missions" have been great reminders as I start to establish life as a full time missionary.  They are:

1.  Set an infinite value on immortal souls.

2.  Gain all the info you can about "the snares and delusions" in which the people are held.

3.  Abstain from all English (American, whatever culture you're coming from) manners which might increase prejudice against the gospel.

4.  Watch for all opportunities for doing good, even when you are tired and hot.

5.  Make Christ crucified the great subject of your preaching.

6.  Earn the people's confidence by your friendship.

7.  Build up the souls that are gathered.

8.  Turn the work over to nationals as soon as possible.

9.  Work with all your might to translate the Bible into their languages.  Build schools to this end.

10.  Stay alert in prayer, wrestling with God until He "famish these idols and cause the people to experience the blessedness that is in Christ."

11.  Give yourself totally to this glorious cause.  Surrender your time, gifts, strength, families, the very clothes you wear.

Week 6 In A Picture

Bongani, the builder for Mbutfu carepoint with the new building; GFU team's shoes as we walk into a homevisit; battery that exploded in the car while I was driving; Smanga, Mxolisi & Matt with a VERY full truck of supplies

Let The Gospel...

I have been in Swaziland for a little over a month now & have been working my way through a great devotional called, "Gospel Meditations For Missions."  At the end of each day, it has a phrase to think about that day & they have helped lay a solid foundation for my first month living in Africa.

Let the Gospel...

...open your eyes to the harvest of worshipers around the world.

...stir you inside & out.

...comfort & compel you, even when no one seems to care.

...prompt your prayer for its bold proclamation amidst opposition.

...blow you away with its audacious promises.

...'s past victories inspire present & future faith.

...be as urgent to you as it was to your savior.

...free you to love Christians who are different form you.

...interpret your interruptions.

...which delivered you, inspire you to evangelize fellow sinners.

...'s advance on the frontlines drive your oh-so-normal life at home.

...be evident in your response to persecution.

...'s goal of magnifying God's fame in every corner of God's world be the passion of your life.

...drive you to your knees.

...'s advance inflame your corporate praise & prayer.

...mobilize you to reap a universal harvest.

...remind you of the cross - His and yours.

...change hearts and families and cities and nations...in that order.

...'s advance be your heartbeat.

...make you live and give with reckless abandon for Christ's name.

...'s supremacy compel you to do everything in your power to spread it.

...embolden you to proclaim the controversial, soul-saving truth.

...produce in you a Christlike compassion for real people.

...reignite your faith in its power to save.

...and eternity determine how you use your time & money.

...stir your heart to spend & be spent to help people to heaven.

...inspire you to live as though souls are more significant than gourds (based on Jonah).

...encourage you to penetrate the world's confusion for Christ's glory.

...knit your heart with the hearts of your persecuted brothers & sisters.

...demonstrate its power through risk-taking, self-replacing ministry.

...reach its target by sending and taking it where it isn't.

Week 5 In A Picture

Cabbages for carepoints, Mbutfu building, mountain view of Nsoko, team here serving in May.

Some Are Called To Plant...

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  He who plants and he who waters are one."
(1 Corinthians 3:6-8)

   Sometimes it's hard to pull weeds or plant seeds, not knowing when the harvest will come.  The tedious daily work of tending to a garden is a discipline, even for those who have tasted the fruit of the reward at the end.  But how do you explain this concept to people who haven't gardened or haven't tasted the fresh vegetables from their own garden at the end of a season?

   In the same way, daily life serving in missions (and ministry anywhere) is hard - there are times when seeds need to be planted, weeds pulled, the ground watered...and eventually some even get to be a part of the harvest & see the fruit of their labors.  This lesson is hard to learn & even harder to teach.  

   But we are trying to take God's lesson from this word picture & make it tangible in a small garden here to help short term teams this summer see their role in God's work in Nsoko.  There have been teams before them, there will be teams coming after them, but their job is to faithfully serve in the roles & work that God has prepared for them for their time here.  Yes, some teams will just come & do unglorious weeding & watering, and there will be a few teams that will actually get to eat from this garden.  But so it is in serving in God's ministry!  Sometimes the most mundane things are the most important & God has a bigger picture in mind of what He is working towards for these people & this area!  But as we faithfully try to serve in the roles that God has given us in serving Him, we must remember & watch for Him alone to give the growth!

Breaking ground on a potential garden in 2009

Last week, the team planting seeds in the garden that will be tended by
visiting teams & the produce shared between teams & carepoints.