We are flying to America this Tuesday. We
are so excited to go back and visit my family! I left the States in June 2015
as a single woman… and I’m returning in July 2017 with my husband and beautiful
daughter! This is a very exciting time. I should say that this trip is coming
at a good time for me personally. Lately I think I’ve been facing a lot of
culture shock and all the emotions that go along with it. I’m looking forward
to seeing my family again, and being in an environment that is like “home” to
me.
Life continues to just be busy as ever
here. We now have 160 children at work, and they sure keep me busy! It’s been
full of babies having surgeries (one for a congenital anomaly of the finger,
another for undescended testes, another pre-auricular sinus removal for
recurrent infections..), sick babies (everything from pneumonia to ear
infections and rashes), a chicken pox scare, and trying to keep up with all the
charts in the meantime. I think I have a really cool job because I’m constantly
learning and being challenged with things. It doesn’t come without stress
though.
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| Simo at work with one of the Aunties |
Simo is 8 months old now. She is a very
smiley and social baby. She sits up all by herself and plays with her toys. She
says “Dada” all the time, and never tires of peek-a-boo. She loves listening to
music and being outside. Everyone who meets her just loves her hair and wants
to touch it. She has also already started driving lessons (see below.) She is such a blessing and a joy to us!
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| Simo playing scrabble with Mom and Dad |
Mapile has been on a break from school at
the Bible College, but he’s been working half days over the break. He plays
soccer 3-4 times a week, and he absolutely loves playing football (we use those
interchangeably here: soccer/football). Lately he has been working on his New
Testament Survey course that he’ll be teaching the Monday after we arrive back from our trip.
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| With daddy on the soccer field |
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| Cheering for Dad! |
You may be wondering how Mapile’s TOEFL
test went. Well, he ended up not taking it. We would love your prayers for us
in this regard – we just aren’t sure where and when we will go to seminary, and
all that involves.
In other news, God has blessed us this past month with
allowing us to get two pieces of land here in Swaziland! One of them is land
that is down south of Swaziland in Mbutfu, where Mapile is from, and another
piece is really close to where we live now at the Bible College. We have been
trying to get some land in Mbutfu for over a year now, so it is such a blessing
that the community finally allowed us to have land! We are hoping to use the
land in Mbutfu to have a place to stay while we are doing ministry there. We
have a dream of working with the youth in Mbutfu and building a community
center one day, so this land is just the very beginning for us – we need to
have a place to stay in order to do ministry! The other piece of land came
about rather randomly – it was like we heard there was some land for sale at a
really good price, and when we saw it, it was great land, so we went for it for
the good price. We aren’t exactly sure what God will allow us to do with that
land, but we feel like it’s a good investment for the future.
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| Land near us at the Bible College |
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| Land down in Mbutfu. The community came to bless the land and we had a braai (barbeque) for them. It's the traditional Swazi way of sealing the deal for the land. |
Our dear babysitter and friend, Ayanda, has been accepted to University in the States in Wisconsin! She will be leaving in August to go to school. So when we return, I need to find a new babysitter. I praise God for Ayanda and for allowing me to meet her. She is an amazing young woman, and we've enjoyed many long car rides together to work. I'm excited for her and the opportunity she has received to go to school, but we will sorely miss this lady.
At the beginning of June one of my
friends/suitemates from college came out to visit me! She was here for a full
week and got to see my work, go to a revival meeting, visit our Gogo down in
Mbutfu, and go on a safari! It was so refreshing and nice to have a friend
visit me – I don’t get a whole lot of visitors here, so it was really fun to
have her.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
There are many spiritual battles going on in the unseen realms around us.
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Pray for God’s provision in our
lives – sometimes it’s very difficult to make ends meet here. We are so
thankful for how God has provided for us in the past, and we believe he will
continue to provide for us in the future!
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Pray for God’s direction in our
lives as far as when and where to go to seminary/further education.
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Pray for safe travels and a
wonderful visit with our friends and family! We want to make the most of every
minute we get to spend with them!
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| This is a Praise - Mapile's Dad came to visit us on Father's day this year! This is the first time he's visited! |
Until next time...
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within
us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, for ever an ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-2
