Looking Back on a Year of God's Provision

As I sit here trying to figure out how to write an update of life over the past 2 months, I find myself having a hard time knowing just where to begin.

Yesterday was Mapile and my one year wedding anniversary. The time has just flown by, and it’s so fun to look back and see the many ways that the Lord has provided for us during this first year of marriage.

When I moved to Swaziland in June 2015 to prepare for our wedding, I didn’t know where we would live when we were married, where I would work, or how we would make ends meet... and I certainly didn’t know that by our one year wedding anniversary I would be pregnant at 29 weeks with our baby girl! I also didn’t know that I’d already have my Swazi citizenship, or that I’d be 2 months into my 2^nd job in Swaziland… learning so much about pediatrics and being the nurse for 131 kids!

Yes, that's me swearing in and officially becoming a Swazi Citizen 

I could write a separate blog to tell you of the whole citizenship process... but for now I'll spare you the details!

God is so faithful. It’s good to stop every now and then and look back to see the many ways that He has blessed us.

Yes, I did say that I am already 29 weeks pregnant, and we did find out that we are having a girl. We are so excited. She’s been a good baby so far. She’s so fun because she loves to kick, and sometimes I think she must be doing aerobics because of how much she moves. I am suspecting she’ll be a little athlete. We have been thinking about her name, and so far we’ve decided that we’d like to give her one Siswati name, and also one English name, but that’s about as far as we’ve come in the name stage. She is due on October 29, and that day seems to be coming quicker and quicker!

29 weeks

Mapile has been busy with life at the Bible College. School opened back up in July, and he taught a New Testament Survey class for the first time. He’s also been in charge of the library and the chapel services on campus. The college is also going through a time of transition, where he is picking up some new responsibilities as well. Some of those new things include leading times of prayer and fasting, organizing music lessons, and challenging the students to memorize scripture.. Needless to say, things at the college have been keeping Mapile quite busy.

I am about 2 ½ months into my new job working for Heart for Africa at Project Canaan. I am continually learning so much, and I’m so thankful for this new work/ministry opportunity. I often feel overwhelmed and unqualified for the job, but God continues to help me. I am so humbled to be working at this children’s home and taking care of the kids. The set up is really good because I also have the support of a pediatrician who comes out every other week. It helps me not feel too stressed or overwhelmed, because the pediatrician is excellent and it’s a relief to be able to refer anything out of my scope of practice to her (which at this point is a LOT of things!).

Since I started working there we have had over 10 kids join the home. I had the privilege last week of going on one of the pick up trips to get a child. Swaziland’s Social Welfare department notifies our director when there is a need for a baby to be in a safe place, and once it is approved then we are able to pick up the child. As I heard the story of this little girl, which was somewhat complicated and confusing, I kept thinking about how God is El Roi, the God who sees, and He sees all that happens here on earth. He knows all the details and who was involved, and He sees their hearts. The name of the Baby Home at Project Canaan is El Roi, which is such a fitting name because there are so many things that we do not know about the background of our kids, but El Roi doesn’t miss a thing, and He knows every detail.

“The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.” – Psalm 33:13-15 NLT

Here's a few other pics from life the past 2 months. 

My last day of work at Mkhiwa - the nurses bought me a cake and had a small farewell for me. This is Beke and Simo, two of my good friends from Mkhiwa. 

Our garden - we have had lots of spinach and lettuce that we've been able to eat lots of and give away. 

Our cousins and our niece came to visit us again a few weeks back. This photo is taken outside Gogo's house, where they stay.

Wanna know why we are so excited?

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

The old church building

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...  

From left to right: Sithembiso, Temavulane, Bayanda, Fezo, and Lungelo

 

 

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.

Dad's birthday was May 11 - we made him coffee cake.

Mom and Dad at Mphosi Church

Dad preaching with Mapile as his interpreter.

 

 

The beach in St. Lucia

 

Mom and Mapile crab hunting on the beach

Mapile and I went for a little boat cruise & watched hippos and crocodiles in St. Lucia.

 

 
 

 

"Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago."- Isaiah 25:1

"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." - Psalm 40:5

March was an exciting month for our little church at Mphosi. If you remember in my last post I mentioned that the community leaders had not given us permission to build a new church structure. The good news is that in March, the community leaders came to the land and gave their blessing on the building! Now the church is able to continue the building process.

During the meeting, various individuals stood up to say a word of appreciation or blessing to the church. 

The building in the background is the current church structure where the church has met for years.  The ladies at our church made food over the fire for all the guests. 

This cinder block is where the community leaders marked the edge of the church property. 

The church building had already been started, but we were waiting for the official blessing from the community leaders to keep building.

I have been keeping busy with my outpatient nursing job - still working a bunch of hours there. After talking with some friends and assessing my work situation, I've decided to start working part time next month. I'm hoping to work 3 days a week instead of the current 5 days/week.

Mapile and I also had the joy of having some dear friends visit with us in March. Brandon and Joy came for one week, and we really enjoyed our time together. We went to a local game park, Mlilwane, and spent an afternoon swimming in the pool there. We had taken a volleyball with us, and we had at least 10 other people who joined us for playing volleyball in the pool! It was also refreshing to have a chance to catch up with friends, have a good excuse to go out to eat, and just do fun things together.

Hanging out with Brandon and Joy in our apartment. We made yummy food together, which was pretty exciting.

Easter services were held here at the Bible College for the whole Wesleyan church. They started the services on Thursday evening before Easter, and the services kept on happening until the main service on Sunday morning. Many people came to the college and "camped" here - sleeping in the dining hall and the chapel in order to attend all the services. Unfortunately, I had to work that whole week and weekend, so I don't have any fun pictures to show of that.

Some really exciting news for me is that I started a Bible study with some missionary ladies in Manzini this past week. The study is called "Wonder Struck," and it came at a really good time for me. I have been praying for something to help me grow spiritually, and I wanted to be able to meet with other ladies, so this was a wonderful answer to prayer for me. We met for the first time this past Tuesday, and we will continue to meet for the next 7 weeks or so.

I guess that's all of the big news. As far as small news goes, I killed my first chicken today. A lady at the Bible College gave us a chicken to help celebrate Mapile finishing his undergrad theology degree at Hebron in South Africa (which also happened this month - Mapile's paperwork got graded and he has a degree now!)... so she gave us a "home chicken" to celebrate.

Starting work

We got two "home chickens" from a visit to some of our church members.

February 15th was Mapile and my 6 month wedding anniversary. I don’t know how the days keep flying by, but it seems like the longer we are married, the faster it goes.

February started a lot of new things for Mapile and I. School opened up at the Bible College, so Mapile has been busy with all the things that come with his responsibilities as a staff member like teaching, doing the librarian work, helping plan social and sport activities, and anything else that he is asked to help with. We also have a discipleship group with several of the students from the Bible College that meet at our house on Wednesday evenings. We are excited about our discipleship group because we have often talked about wanting to have a Bible study in our home, and now we have a great opportunity to do that. It’s really nice to have the student’s back on campus. Mapile likes to play soccer and volleyball with the guys on Wednesday afternoons, and occasionally in the evenings. Also, the Bible College has a ping pong table and a pool table, which has been a great way to hang out and play games together.

I started working on February 2^nd at a private clinic in Manzini that’s about a 30 minute drive from where we stay. I work in the outpatient/ER department. Most of the time I sit in my little triage room, and when the patients check in at reception I can see their names pop up on my computer, so then I get to call them in to take their vital signs. You might think that’s an easy task, until you call people’s names like, “Nonhlanhla Ndlangamandla,”or worse, a name with a “c” or “x,” which makes the clicking noise. I have to break social norms sometimes and use first names because I’m too intimidated to try the last names. Other times both names are so intimidating that I just have to take a deep breath and try my best to pronounce it phonetically. 

When we have emergency cases, we have a little casualty room where we see to them. We also use that room to prepare patients that the doctors are admitting or to give patients IV/IM injections.

In the four weeks I have worked, I sure have learned a lot of things. Healthcare is really different here, and I don’t even know where to begin telling you about all the differences. It’s certainly a big learning curve, but the Lord has helped me in countless ways. It’s certainly different working at a private clinic because we only see patients who have insurance, or who can pay cash for our medical care. While it is somewhat hard to work for a business, I keep feeling like the Lord is telling me that this is a training ground, where I am learning so much about healthcare in Swaziland. I believe that the stuff I am learning at this clinic will be so helpful for our future. I work from 7am-5pm, and around 190 hours per month.

In the car going to work on my first day at the new job. 

Mapile and I continue to pastor the small Wesleyan church at Mphosi. We have been working on getting a building for the church because now the church is made from wooden poles and corrugated iron. We haven’t made much progress on the building though, because the community leaders in the area haven’t given the final decision to let us go ahead and build yet. So we keep waiting and praying for the go-ahead to keep building so that the church can have a real building. With all of the responsibilities that Mapile has at the school, we have decided to resign from pastoring at the Mphosi church. However, since there is still no other pastors available now to take Mapile's place, we plan to stay with the church until another pastor is found. 

One of the little kids at church snoozing up in the front of the church during the service. 

In other news, Mapile got his driving license this month! It was quite an interesting and difficult process. There is no written test that he had to take, but he had to go to the police station and have an oral test with a police officer. He passed the oral test and the driving test on the first try, which many people are not able to do! It's been really exciting for him to be able to drive, and I'm certainly enjoying not always having to be the one who drives us everywhere. 

We had these two stay with us for a week back in January. Sithembiso, the little guy next to me, is one of Mapile's cousins. Skuta, the one next to Mapile, is a friend of ours who is still finishing high school. 

I came home from work the other day and stopped to remember how beautiful this place is where we live. This picture does absolutely no justice to the view out of my front door... but it's all I have for now to share with you all. 

We really appreciate your prayers. The pace of our lives has picked up a lot. I'm certainly not accustomed to working this much, and I've felt quite exhausted. I think part of it is that the transition from having no job for over 6 months, to working 50 hours a week is really tough. The Lord continues to be faithful to us in so many ways. We continue to be so thankful for His presence in our lives. A few weeks ago we prayed that the Lord would give us opportunities to share about Him with others. Soon after we prayed that, Mapile had an opportunity to share about Christ with a lady who was at his driving school. Then I also had an opportunity to share God's plan of salvation with one of my coworkers. 

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever." - Psalm 136:1-2.
We are so thankful that the Lord does not change - He is the same, and His faithful love endures forever.