We made it to Eswatini!

Hi Friends!

We made it to Eswatini!

Last Monday night, we got on the longest journey I’ve ever taken. 46hrs of traveling! It was exhausting, but I’m happy that we ended up sleeping in the airport and airplanes because I didn’t feel the 7+ hr difference when we got here. So, it was so worth it! We landed in Johannesburg, SA, and took a bus to Eswatini; everything went so smoothly, and the drive felt short even tho it was about a 6hr drive. Eswatini’s landscape reminds me a little of Puerto Rico, a very mountainous region with mango trees, “flamboyanes” trees, and a lot of flower plants that my grandma has at her house. Seeing all of these little things so far away from home made me so happy. I immediately noticed how warm and welcoming the people are, so polite and eager to start a conversation.

We’ve only had the opportunity to have 2 ministry days since getting here, and it was a blast to see what will be happening with the teams this month. Our squad is composed of 3 units, and we do ministry days with our teams! The team that I’m in is called DBS (I’ll tell you later what that means)  are two amazing women, Nikki + Morgan, and two amazing young men, Andrew + Caleb, they are so servant-hearted and love Jesus above all else. I feel so blessed to be ministering with them. Our first ministry day was an ATL (Ask The Lord)  in the town of Eswatini, where we just walked and asked the Lord to highlight people that we needed to pray for, our talk too. It was so good! One of my favorite encounters was with a lady in a wheelchair. She was sitting by a traffic light, and we went to talk to her (with the language barrier and all), and she asked for prayers, we prayed and right when we were about to say our goodbyes, Andrew noticed that one of her wheels was broken, in my head I thought “ahh I wish I could get her a new wheelchair.. or a new wheel” but, with very little resources a few of us ran to the nearest store got some tape and fixed the wheel! When we were done, her face lit up with a beautiful smile, and at that moment, I was reminded that even the smallest thing could brighten someone’s day. We don’t always have to come up with the biggest idea or use up all our savings to make a small difference in someone’s life, you can bring hope by just meeting a need. So I encourage you, my friends! Look for those little opportunities 🙂

The other ministry day that we did was at a care point, we will be visiting this specific care point Tuesday- Friday of the whole month of February. Care points are areas where pre-schoolers come to learn and have free meals, and then bigger kids can come and have a meal after school too! The care point that we were assigned to sees about 150 kids a day! We got to help in the kitchen, fix a few things around the building, and got to play a bunch with the kids! It was a blast, they are all sweet, playful, and so joyful! There’s a big project for this care point that you guys from home will be able to partner with if you would like! I’ll be giving you more details about it next week! Till then, keep us in your prayers as we go into our first full ministry week!

So much love,

Alisha