Swazi Update 2

Aloha all. I stopped by to give an update while picking up water this evening. The past couple of days have been hard on me - emotionally and physically. We have a team of 14 people and while it is clear to see why God placed each person on the team, there have been some personality and communication issues. I have been doing my best to try and foresee problems before they happen, but that is just not entirely possible.

Sunday was our day off. We were supposed to go to an engagement party at the church from 10am-11am and then stay for church. Last week church was from 11am-1:15pm or so, but there were a lot of formalities so we figured this week it should also end between 1pm-1:30pm. Some of our team members get a bit antsy if they do not have a scheduled activity, so I scheduled an activity and asked who wanted to go. Everyone wanted to go, but we only had enough transportation for 12 of us. Two people agreed to take a cab and skip church so that the other 12 could go. We were supposed to meet them at the culteral center around 3:15pm.

Well, it turned out that the engagement party started at 10am, combined with the church service at 11am. The service lasted until shortly after 2pm and then they were going to have a dinner. Some people wanted to stay, some people wanted to go. It was quite the headache. I went with the majority of the group, but felt torn because I knew the people wanted us to stay for the dinner. I knew I did the right thing to keep peace in the group, but it was difficult to do.

Heidi has appointed me as the Worksite Manager for the past few days. She has not been able to be out at the site much and the team felt they needed a "go to" person. They were burning fields today which was made it a bit more difficult to breathe. Between the smoke and the sun, my body is yelling at me tonight.

I did get to work in a classroom today. The first grade teacher was not in, so I was kind of appointed to take her place. Talk about overwhelming! There were over 40 children in that classroom and they spoke very limited English. In many ways it was sweet. They wanted to touch my skin and hold my hand. Unfortunately, since there were over 40 of them, it meant that they were trampling over one another and some of them were getting hurt. I had to leave the classroom to get help because I was worried that someone might get really hurt. God was gracious and we made it through the day pretty well. We counted, did addition, a bit of reading from their si-Swati books, English animals and their sounds, rhythm activites, songs and games outside. Wow!

I sawed wood today for the new chairs. It gave Bruce a good laugh. He told me that I could autograph the board I cut, but he didn't offer to let me cut any more! hehe I also helped measure for the new fruit trees that we are going to plant.

I think the highlight of my day came in the morning when we saw them pass the fruit out to the children. We all chipped in to buy enough fruit for the entire school and they passed it out at lunch today. Not only was it great to watch the children with their fruit, but they were washing their hands with soap before they lined up to eat it. I actually had tears in my eyes, silly me. It was nice to see some immediate "fruit" if you will from our work.

The building is coming up nicely. It is only about 2 blocks from being as tall as I am. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they finished the walls by the end of this week. We may get to see this home finished. That would be wonderful.

Thank you for keeping me (and the team) in your prayers. I am sure that they are the fuel that keep me going some days. This is probably the hardest Mission Trip I have ever been on, but I learning so much. The lessons have not always been fun, but I believe they are necessary for my growth. Pray that I resist the temptation to withdraw and instead face these lessons head on. Pray that I am open to being used however God may want to use me throughout the rest of this trip.

Thank you all so much. I will write more later.

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Be Blessed,
Jeannie