We are going to have a baby! Baby Vilakati is coming
October, 2016.
There are also a LOT of other things going on in our lives,
so you should keep reading if you want to hear the latest.
Well, since it has been waaaay too long since I’ve updated
this blog, there is lots and lots of things to tell. The first, and most
exciting news, is what you already heard. Little Vilakati will be joining the
family in October… which brings lots of uncertainties and unknowns for us, but
we are super excited about that one.
This week has been a really eventful and exciting week for
us. On Tuesday morning we heard from one of the youth in our church that he had
hurt his arm, and may have broken it. We decided to take him to the government
hospital in Manzini so that he could have it x-rayed. Little did we know that
God had a divine appointment waiting for us at the hospital! As we were walking
in the main entrance, one of the doctors whom we know was walking by, and he
stopped to talk with us. He had previously (a few months ago) told me that he
knew of an orphanage that I might be able to spend some time volunteering at. I
told him that I’d be interested in that, but with my work schedule at the
clinic it has been hard to do much volunteer work. This past Tuesday, the doctor
put us in contact with one of the directors of the orphanage, who told us of
the need they have for a nurse. We scheduled an interview/meeting for Wednesday,
where I was able to meet some of the staff and hear about the nursing job at
the orphanage. Yesterday I had another meeting with the director, and I
accepted a job to work for them!
So this week I will be resigning at the clinic where I’ve
worked for the past 4 months, and as soon as possible I’ll begin my training at
Project Canaan (which is the name of the orphanage). They have a really neat
website that tells more about the ministries that go on at Project Canaan
called www.heartforafrica.org.
Project Canaan is a little over an hour drive from where we
stay at Joy Mission. It looks like I’ll go there about 3 days a week. I still
have a LOT to learn (obviously) about the job, but I’ll be working with the
kiddos there. They have around 120 kids that are 5 years old and under. I’ll
help to see to the sick kids and do well-child check-ups, along with lots of
other stuff, I’m sure.
This is all really new and exciting stuff, and so much of it
is answered prayer for Mapile and me. I have struggled so much with feeling
like I’m not involved in ministry, and I’m excited for the opportunity to be
more directly involved in ministry. If you also remember, the last time I wrote
I was saying that I was hoping to work part time at the clinic. However, I was
unable to get that request, as it looked like it was either a full time job or no
job. When I met with the administrator, they were able to decrease my hours
from 50 to 40 hours per week, which has made a huge difference these past 2
months.
Also, our church at Mphosi has made rapid progress on the
new building! We are just in need of a floor, windows, doors, and electrical wiring,
but the building has walls and a roof! Once we got permission from the
community leaders to go ahead and build, the progress went really fast.
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| The old church building |
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| The new church building, with the old one right behind it. |
If you remember in one of the previous posts, we mentioned that
we would be resigning from the church. Up until now, we have continued to
pastor at Mphosi since they are still in the process of getting a new pastor.
Today was officially our last day at the church. The district has found a new
pastor to look after Mphosi church, but they are still in the process of
working through the details of that situation. For now Mapile and I are looking
forward to having a chance to visit some other churches here in Swaziland. (I’m
also looking forward to the chance to GO to church, since I have been working
every other weekend at the clinic, I have missed being in church as often as I
usually am - and with the new job, I won't be working weekends!).
In other updates - back at the end of April we had a fun week hosting 5 kids from Gogo's house (Mapile's cousins & his niece). They were on school holiday, and they asked to come to our house for a visit. It made for a crowed house (Since we only have one bedroom, all the kids had a sleepover in the living room - the two girls slept in the hammock and the boys had the futon). They had a blast at our house - playing soccer, watching movies, watching their white "Mom" cook food for them in the kitchen...
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| From left to right: Sithembiso, Temavulane, Bayanda, Fezo, and Lungelo |
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| Fezo and I - on the way to our house at Joy |
And just after those kids left to go back home, my parents arrived! Mom and Dad were here for the month of May, as Dad was teaching a course on expository preaching at the Bible college.
I cannot express how much of a JOY it was to have them here with us. Mom helped me cook, clean, and think about BABY PLANS... and they encouraged us a great deal while they were here. We had a blast playing games together, playing volleyball with the students, and we even got to take Mom and Dad down to our newly found beach in South Africa at St. Lucia.
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| Dad's birthday was May 11 - we made him coffee cake. |
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| Mom and Dad at Mphosi Church |
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| Dad preaching with Mapile as his interpreter. |
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| The beach in St. Lucia |
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| Mom and Mapile crab hunting on the beach |
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| Mapile and I went for a little boat cruise & watched hippos and crocodiles in St. Lucia. |
