time.

wow.  only 4 days left.  time has gone so quickly.  going home is such a bittersweet concept. 

It has been forever since I wrote a blog!!! ahhh. sorry. Life has been incredibly busy, but incredibly awesome.  Let's see... I taught at the local primary school one day... quite an experience... the teacher was out sick so they had me teach a class of about 40 kids.   Crazy! We had a close encounter with an extremely poisonous snake.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by and how much change has happened in my life.  One really cool thing happened... I go to the Mbabane Government Hospital pretty often and usually head to Ward 8.  Ward 8 is where the abandoned children and mentally and physically handicapped live.  So there was a baby who was about 8 months there and I would see him every week.  Well I went up to Bulembu (another ministry site affiliated with where I work) and went to ABC ministries (Abandoned Babies and Children) and there was my baby from the hospital! I was very excited because he is in such a better place!  It was awesome.  Also, my mom visited and we had a team from TC US and some couples from the UK and some other people come stay on the farm.  It has been really great and really busy.  Time has gone by so quickly!  I will be home soon. ahhh! :D peace, love, and Jesus.

TND

words cannot even express what has happened in me since the last time i blogged. ahhh i wish everyone could experience what i have too.  There's just so much God is teaching me, fixing me, and showing me.  It is so refreshing being renewed and realizing how big God's forgiveness, grace and mercy are! God is really giving me the desires of my heart and rebuilding and revealing talents and confidence within me.  Anyways, it is awesome... He is awesome. So i have been a part of some really cool things here.  youth group has been very moving and i've really seen growth in some of the kids.  I've been very busy but very happy. We've had a lot of geckos and treefrogs in our house recently. There is so much i could go on and on about.  I put more picts on facebook so check them out.  I can't believe it is already NOVEMBER! Time has flown by.  Man, I've changed so much in that time.  I mean of course I'm the same silly Tiffany but I'm transforming and fixing things inside my heart and minds.  There is so much freedom in that.  I love it. I miss people at home but I love being here so that prevents homesickness which is awesome.  There's so much to say but typing just doesn't it justice.  i expect a one-on-one meeting with every single one of you  when i get home!

T.I.A.

A very popular saying here is T.I.A.  which is short for... (you have kind of yell this one...) "THIS IS AFRICA!"  You learn this very quickly in Swaziland whether it has to do with time or weather or schedules or electricity or internet or food or toilet facilities... haha. It's awesome here!  It was actually a pretty consistent week.  Cell groups were amazing and the TC UK team left.  They were awesome though.  A cool thing I got to do was go to the local primary school where a lot of our children attend.  They had an award ceremony and whole production to put on.  So we sat outside for like 6 hours in the misty freezing weather. but it was good cultural emersion and to support the kids.  It's just so amazing how God is working in everything. Ahhh! I wish everyone reading this could experience it.  Life here is so cool. 

beautiful day

So it’s Sunday. I left off on Thursday night. So Friday I worked at school mostly doing Math (they call it Maths here which sounds like Mats with the African accent.) after school I baked a chocolate cake completely from scratch (even the icing!) I hope you all are very proud of me! :D haha. It was for my friend’s birthday (he just turned 6.) It started storming very badly with tons of thunder, lightning, and a downpour of rain. The power went out so the little birthday celebration was in the dark and so was youth group. Haha. We had oil lanterns and candles and we did songs and games and the TC UK team shared more testimonies. Saturday is technically my day off, but we went into the community to a homestead that has 16 children to deliver food. The poverty is horrendous but God is so much bigger than it. Before we left they sang us a song about Jesus. Awesome. We ran some errands in town and then had a braai (bbq) for dinner with the team. Saturday night was awesome because the team did a “Pretty Pink Princess Party” for the older girls on the farm. We did pedicures and had chocolate fondu with fruit. And then we had a devotional time. It was really good. Sunday… church, errands, church, lunch and that’s where I am now. Everything is going really well. The weather was nasty Friday and Saturday evening and night but today is absolutely beautiful. I feel very happy. I realized some things lately. Like the reason people seem to have more faith here is because they have to. When you don’t know where your next meal will come from or how you can purchase Bibles for the community or when you or a loved one are obviously dying… you must have faith. It’s so encouraging. There is honestly no where better to be than in the center of God’s will. I have always struggled when I feel that people are overspiritualizing things, but I know that in Swaziland… that is not the case. I have grown so much and learned so much. Being addicted to the Word, madly in love with Jesus, and so secure in who the Father has made us to be is such a beautiful place. Lately, my focus has been decisions, plans, calling, will, etc… consequently I was reading through some Proverbs and WAAAHHHBAMMMM! 16:3 jumped off of the page and into my heart. It says’ “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Yeah…. Nuff’ said.

lately.

What a week! Whew. So I think I left off on Friday and now it is Thursday again. So Saturday we ran some errands and grocery shopped. I brought KFC back for Banele because he was too sick to go the day before. Julie, Stephanie, Kylie and myself went on a crazy awesome horrible happy adventure. We walked to Hawane Resort (a cool hotel type place with thatched roof chalets) for lunch. When I say walk I mean we trampled through thick brush and scraping bushes and barbed wire and electric fences and mud and a river. It was great fun until I decided to take off running and face-planted in the middle of a gum tree forest. Haha. Only in Africa. We took some trampoline jumping pictures at the resort after lunch. (my favorite!) Saturday night was health promotion for the teenage guys. The nurses did presentations and showed a video on HIV/AIDS and then the boys asked questions. It was very enlightening. Sunday- dos churches. The Teen Challenge UK ladies shared testimonies and sang and it was amazing! I got sick Sunday evening but they prayed for me at a meeting that night and it was gone. Monday- mother’s meeting was once again very informative. I set up the jewelry in the curio shop and made a lovely display. The 6 of us volunteers got to go out for dinner to celebrate and it was delicious. Afterwards we had our weekly meeting which was nice as usual. Tuesday- Jane, Kylie, Nomcebo and I took Banele to his Gogo’s house. She isn’t his real grandmother but she took care of him before he came to the farm. She fosters 18 children. It was one crazy adventure on rocky dirt mountain roads. I thought the Hallelujah Chorus would break out when we hit the tarmac again. God was really protecting us because there was a Mozambiquan Spitting Cobra we stumbled upon we’ll eating our packed lunch outside. Ewww. No harm done though. The trip was good though and meant a lot to all of us. We were able to bless the Gogo and pray over her. Tuesday night was Hawane Cell so we all packed into our living room with the TC UK ladies. I always love that cell group. It is so challenging and encouraging. Wednesday was full of school, errands, and then a braai/ bbq for cell group. Today I went to the women’s center at Eluzitweni with the TC UK team. It was a powerful time of praise and worship, testimonies, and prayer. We also went to the Mbabane Government Hospital which may be the worst and most sad place on the planet. It was awesome to be able to pray for people and children in particular. I blew bubbles and passed out presents and balloons. Tonight I made dinner for the 6 of us volunteer girls because Julie and Steph leave tomorrow. Sad day. I’ll miss them tons. Ok well thanks for reading. Blessings and Love.

bunkbeds and other nonsense

I’ve just had some random thoughts floating around that I wanted to share with everyone. Brace yourself…. This may be a little intense! Haha. Ok so I’m kind of in charge of the team house (4 bedrooms with 2 sets of bunkbeds each and a kitchen, dining, bathroom, sitting area.) so we have a team coming this weekend from the UK, consequently, I had to do the laundry and make the bunkbeds. So I’m up on one of the bunkbeds tucking sheets in and nonsense and I think to myself, “Tiffany, what is the best possible way to jump off of a bunkbed?” unfortunately, it wasn’t until after I jumped that the thought then occurred, “There is no safe way!” don’t worry… no injuries were sustained in this process. Just thought it may make someone laugh and lighten their day. Ok next story… this one… not comical but really cool. So there’s this family from the US that attend Potter’s Wheel church. They have 4 little boys and are medical missionaries. However, they just left to go back to the states and don’t return until February. But you should check out their website www.thelukecommission.org (or something like that) It’s really cool and their video was awesome. Next…On the farm here (where I live) we have horses who like to leave their fenced in area and graze around my house and the farm in general. They leave nice presents everywhere too. Now if you know much about me you know I’m very very very allergic to horses. And here in Swaziland I finally met someone else who is deathly allergic to them as well! I’m not alone anymore! We are going to start a club. :D haha And next… KFC is very good in Mbabane, Swaziland. So if you are every at the Mbabane shopping plaza… eat KFC but whatever you do… do not order sweppes dry lemon soda… blehhhh! OK so the last thing I’ve been wanting to do for awhile… there are a bunch of terms that are different in Swaziland, England, and Ireland. Rubbish bin-trashcan Queue-line Black currant-some kind of fruit in the UK that is the flavor of the purple skittle instead of grape Gutted- devastated (now I know this is used in the US but they use it all the time in N. Ireland) Swimming Costume-bathing suit (they laughed at me when I said bathing suit! They said it was old-fashion) Braai- barbque Trousers-pants Jumper-jacket or sweatshirt Gogo-grandmother Holiday-vacation or break from school Convy- public transportation Chips-french fries Crisps- potato chips Biscuits-cookies Homestead- house where the Swazis live. These words are all growing on me. I use them often. Also, I’m learning Siswati. I know basic greetings. Yebo! (means yes or in reply to hello.)

Ps. Everyone here is starting to call me TT... that's what Bethany called me when i was a baby! aww. and a lot of my family still does. it's nice.

Ok so life… I’m a bit stressed about things at home (i.e. bills, banks, schools, etc…) but overall okay. I have a lot going on here… I feel like I haven’t stopped since Sunday afternoon. Haha. It has been the longest week by far. There’s been a lot of stuff going on around the farm. Like issues with teenagers, and health problems with kids, and all sorts of things but God is definitely still in control. We had 1.5 huge containers (like shipping containers) of donations from the UK come in so I was put in charge of the workers to organize and make sure everything was safe and secure. The containers are a blessing of course but also quite a hassle with all the sorting and lack of storage space. We will overcome though. I’ve been helping kids with homework and school things outside of school. And I’m still cooking like a pro! Asian beef stirfry last night and melted cheddar ranch chicken with mashed potatoes (homemade of course!) tonight. Man I love dinner. I’m becoming quite known for my baking here as well. Haha. It’s amazing how God uses little talents and passions that I’ve always had. Tonight was youth group, but the girls had a health promotion event so it was just me and 9 guys. It was a great night of fun and fellowship. I taught them crab soccer (where you have to use your hands to move around… and we played inside the house!) I scored 3 goals for my team… holla! :D It was nice just to hang out with them in a smaller group because they talk more. Good fun. Ok so Banele. He was doing better until midday today. His airways closed up and he couldn’t breathe. Luckily they got to him before anything happened. Basically him and at least 3 others of the HIV positive kids (ages 5,7, and 13) have extremely damaged lungs due to multiple chest infections that weren’t taken care of in the past. I saw chest x-rays from the 3 others and they had white spots all over (indicating lung damage.) The good news is that they are all 3 in decent and healthier conditions. They are precious. So this Tuesday I’m supposed to go with Banele and his foster mom and a few others to Banele’s gogo’s homestead (grandmother’s house). Please keep us in your prayers that day because we are anticipating it will be extremely emotional. He wants to say goodbye to her basically. Just pray for strength for all of us and to be able to be supportive to his foster mom and him.

You guys rock. Thanks for reading. Much love.

better.

the weather is better... it changes so fast. I've spent a good amount of time with Banele (pronounced Ba-nel-ee) and his mom. I went over to their house and made animal balloons and played with Banele and my 2 best friends (ages 3 and 5) Pihwa (pee-wa) and Sihlangu (see-lang-oo) I wish I could upload the pictures of them! They are precious! so Monday night I got to see and lay out some of the jewels4God jewelry (uncle Tim and aunt Michelle's ministry www.jewels4god.org.) It was cool to actually see first hand how their ministry is working and being used! Tuesday I worked at the school again and then Banele and his mom came over for lunch and to hang out. It was so fun because I pulled out my macbook and took silly pictures with Banele. He's so sweet, but really can't breathe. We made cards for nurse Jane. Last night (Tuesday still) we had a party for Hawane Cell. I made italian potatoes (family recipe woot woot) and I baked one awesome chocolate cake! Today is Wednesday and I painted cool designs on the window of the school. I also got to hang out/play with Banele, Sihlangu, and Pihwa. Ok well gotta run to Potter's Wheel Cell with Liz (who is now engaged!!!) yay! alright email me or something!

prayer.

The weather has taken a turn for the worst and so has the boy I mentioned in the previous blog. His name is Banele. This morning at the parents meeting we prayed for his mom (keep in mind this is his foster mom not biological) twice and just wept. To put it simply… we either need a miracle or for God to just take him peacefully. It is so heartbreaking. He is in so much pain and on massive amounts of medication. His lungs are severely damaged and his chest is barreled. He doesn’t sleep much at night because he cant breathe. Just pray for him and for the whole farm… for peace. I will keep you updated. Gotta run now. I’m going to spend time with Banele and entertain him and also teach his younger brother shapes, colors, and numbers.

"time goes by so slowly" (yet oh so fast!)

Every week feels like a month. There is so much going on and so much to do. Let’s see I left off on Tuesday. Tuesday night was Hawane Cell of course and man it was so awesome. That’s probably my favorite one because it is so diverse. We have staff/volunteers from Swaziland, England, Zambia, South Africa, Ireland, and the US. It is just a really great and powerful time of prayer, worship, and fellowship. Wednesday… what a day!?! I taught both of the Lighthouse School classes all by myself. The other 2 teachers had to go shopping for the farm for the next month so that took all day. The kids were extremely well behaved which was a total blessing. However… one of the boys is very very sick. It is so heartbreaking. When he came to the farm he only had 3 months to live… so far he has been here 6 months to a year. During our break time him and another boy were walking to their houses (not very far at all) and he had a coughing fit. He was coughing so hard that he was kneeling down bent over and nearly threw up because he couldn’t breathe. I ran over to him and talked to him softly trying to calm him down. Meanwhile the other boy ran to get his auntie that takes care of him when his house mom has an off day. There was nothing I could do so I just started praying for this young boy out loud. Finally he got enough strength to walk back to his house. His auntie hooked him up to a machine that helps him breathe and I brought him some coloring pages and crayons. This boy is only 13 but he looks like and weighs like a 7 year old should. He is one of the most precious kids ever and loves God so much. We don’t know how much longer we have with him. It could be matter of days, or weeks, or hopefully months. Just keep him in your prayers. I don’t like using the names of the kids in my blog because I don’t want to exploit them and I want to protect them, but please keep all of them in your prayers. I’ll keep you posted on him. Ok so that was a bit overwhelming to say the least!

Wednesday night was Potter’s Wheel cell. We talked about Isaiah and “Here am I. Send me.” Very cool. Thursday I went to school in the morning and then went into the community with Jane (the nurse) and 6 others. They do walk-up health clinics and the others preach and inform the people about HIV/AIDS. I made animal balloons and played with a handful of preschoolers. They were very cute but afraid of Kylee and I. By the end of the day they had warmed up a lot. Thursday night was girls cell and Friday was school and youth group! Woo! We played Fruit Basket Turnover but with Bible Characters instead of fruit names and then another game called “I like people who…” I taught them some motions and a dance to the song “Freedom” by Eddie James. I talked about God’s plan/purpose/will/calling for our lives. Es bueno.

Today is Saturday… I was going to walk to Hawane Dam (which is down the road a little ways) with a bunch of the kids, but we are going to do that tomorrow. I just hung out with the kids and played with them. I have 2 new best friends. 2 little boys (ages 3 and 5) have taken a particular liking to me and are always jumping on me and holding my hands and hugging me and dancing with me. They are adorable! So the 3 of us went into a room where church is held and some of the guys were playing the keyboard so the 2 little boys started dancing. They are hilarious! We walked around the farm together and braved giant horses (not too close), and crazy snakes (there was a dead one in a gutter), and carnivorous lions (aka 2 of the sweet dogs on the farm), and then we (pretend) raced go-karts. It was great fun. One of the boys found a grasshopper and chased me around with it. I was laughing so hard. I’m not a huge fan of bugs but this was probably the coolest red winged grasshopper thing ever!

Kylee isn’t feeling too well so keep her in your prayers too. I realized that everything here is extremes. It is either really hot or really cold. Fortunately it is quite nice weather wise. I love being here. And I am even being taught some SiSwati! Its so fun. I made powerpoints with some songs I wanted to teach the kids. For the ppt background I used my personal pictures I had taken in the US or in Swaziland. They are so cool! Also in addition to all my other tasks… I’m starting cheerleading here so I’ll be coaching… haha. And I’m also event planning and managing teams when they come… which is super exciting. I love it.

Okay so keep me in your prayers for decision making when for after I get home! Love you all. Keep it real. Email me tiffnd10@hotmail.com

wait... what? i'm in swaziland?

sometimes it is so crazy to think... I'm in Africa? It hits me randomly. I love it. so i got a chance to go up to Bulembu. It is very pretty up that way. We ran over a baby green mamba (aka very poisonous little snake!) no big deal. School today (Monday) went extremely well. I think that I made a lot of progress in math (here they say maths which ends up sounding like mats) with one of the kids. Tomorrow i will be teaching by myself in the morning. 5 kids. just me. haha. its awesome. Today is my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad! :D
Currently i'm at an internet cafe so that i can upload pictures. i hope it works. if so... check out my facebook and if you don't have one get one or find someone who does. :D haha.
ok much love. peace.

one long blog

Alrightttttt! More blog!!! Woooohoooo. Here we go!

(I know it is a long blog but if you stick with it it’ll be worth it and you’ll understand a lot more about where I am and what I’m doing! READ IT!)

First off… let me explain things a little more…

Okay… I live at Hawane Lighthouse Farm. On location… there are 8 orphan homes. Each home has a house mother (1 or 2 have adult guys) and they have anywhere from 5-8 orphans (some are their own children but most were brought here by social services.) Most of the house parents are widows or were left by their husband. Each orphan has a little plot of land/garden area. The farm is self-sustaining. They have vegetable gardens, catfish ponds, and rabbits. We get water from a spring in Emafini. Emafini is about 30 minutes away and is where the men’s teen challenge is located. It is also where Potter’s Wheel (the more western-like church) is at. The teen challenge guys run a water bottling plant. So all of the water I drink here at the farm is filled and transported and completely safe! Awesome! I’ve only been to the teen challenge center once to tour it. All of my work is here on the farm. Also about 15 minutes from Emafini is Eluzitweni (spelling?) That is where the battered women’s shelter is located. I also visited there once. The other location is at Bulembu. That is a few hours up in the mountains and I haven’t been there yet. They do training of TC graduates and kids from Hawane that are grown. So back to Hawane. Here on the farm is also the director’s house (they had some issues with people using their names and pictures to falsely raise money online so for the sake of their protection I’m not going to give their full names.) They are awesome people though! Currently, there are 6 female volunteers. 2 from England here for 3 years (Liz and Jane), 2 from Northern Ireland that are here for 6 weeks (Julie and Stephanie leave soonish…sad) and then the 2 of us from America (Kylie and Tiffany… me duh.) are here for 3-4 months. Liz and Jane live in the hospice. Liz is who I work with at Lighthouse school. We used to meet in the hospice but just moved into the new building Friday! Ok so I hope that clarifies some things…

So… I am being stretched like crazy and it is awesome. I teach grade 3. I am a youth pastor on Friday nights. I am a gourmet chef (its amazing how God uses my passions.) I have made sweet and sour chicken and veggie stirfry with rice, fajitas, pasta with 2 different types of homemade sauce, different types of chicken, homemade garlic mashed potatoes which rocked! So Tuesday-Friday I do school. My focus is actually math with the 3 kids I work with. It’s going very well. Monday nights is fellowship with the other volunteers at the director’s house just to review our progress. Tuesday nights is Hawane cell group with the other volunteers and staff. Wednesday nights is Potter’s Wheel cell (not on the farm and it is with church people.) Thursday nights is Hawane teen girls cell (it has about 10 girls that live in the homes on the farm.) Friday nights is Hawane Youth group (we are the pioneers of it and every teen that lives on the farm has attend so far.) Saturday is my day off but it is typically busy anyways. Sunday we go to Potter’s Wheel and then occasionally to Hawane CLC (which is half English half Siswati.) So… as you can tell I stay busy!

Youth last night (Friday) went extremely well! I spoke on respect. Mostly on respecting yourself and others (others being only peers, friends and equals.) I plan on doing another series on respect and authority. However, I’m waiting on that because I’m currently watching the John Bevere DVD series called “Under Cover” which is all about authority. We played 2 games… “fruit basket turnover” and “sick duck Charlie”. (if you know about that please make sure you laugh thoroughly… thanks!) Then I made up a game called the “apple name game” basically you have 1 apple and you say your name and someone elses and toss the apple to them and so on… the whole night went very well. And I enjoyed it and I think they did too!

Some swazi facts… the 2 main languages are English and siSwati. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate out of every country in the world. King Mswati III is the current king. It is the only African kingdom left. It is amazing how the people here are in constant prayer for their nation and for the salvation of their king. Although the people are very kind… there is so much deep pain and hurt in most of their lives. The number of orphans in Swaziland is horrendous and if nothing is done… it will only continue to grow exponentially.

On a deeper level… I’ve been thinking a lot here. My mind never turns off. I think mostly about stuff at home. And what and where I’ll be coming up. It isn’t really worrying but it preoccupies my thoughts. I’m just curious. All I know is that I just want to be in the center of God’s will. Someone said to me the other day, “God promise to give us a lamp unto our feet, not a search light.” (bammm!) that hit me hard in a good way. Just one step at a time. I know right now I’m exactly where God wants me. If He didn’t want me here He wouldn’t have provided everything like He did! But I know that this is only for a season. But I also know if I listen and let Him… He’ll keep me on the right path. God loves waiting until the 11^th hour to give us direction. And that keeps life interesting! God’s will is more like a scavenger hunt than mapquest… mapquest gives you every step, turn, distance, time, etc… But God does not. He takes you to one place and then gives you guidance to the next. I love that! Romans 8:28 rocks. It feels like God is more real here then at home… BUT… that isn’t the case. Its just that people’s ears and eyes are more open. They are constantly praying and in the word. It is incredible when that rubs off on you. I wish every one of you reading this was here to experience it with me. It is amazing having so much faith in God and letting Him be your provider, best friend, caretaker, lover, father, and so much more! Although in man’s eyes I am very independent (how many people do you know my age that would fly to Africa alone with very little information about what they will be doing?!?) it has made me all the more dependent on God. I know that I cannot do this without my hand in His. I am very careful not to overspiritualize things, but I also cannot deny what He is doing and has done here. There are so many little things that have come together. Kylee and I say all the time, “God is in the details.” Fo sho! :D I have only been here 2 weeks today. But I have already learned some much. There is power in prayer and although I’ve been raised in church and have had Christian education… this has definitely proven it to be true. James 5:16b says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Another verse that kind of sums up why I’m here and what I’m doing is James 1:27. It says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (if that isn’t a spiritual cup of coffee… I don’t know what is!!!)

Okay thanks for bearing with me. I know it was long. I hope you enjoyed it! Peace and love. Email me: tiffnd10@hotmail.com holla! :D

REMEMBER… “One cannot consent to creep when one has an impulse to soar.” -HK

Safariiiiiiiii

Sunday: We had quite a fab (very commonly used by the UK peeps) day at the Mountain Inn. It was great bonding for the 4 of us (Kylee, Stephanie, Julie, myself) and then we had movie/chill night afterwards.

Monday was the mothers meeting (mothers being the head of each orphan home and the volunteers) it went very well and I learned a lot about Swazi culture and the things going on around the farm. Basically it is a weekly staff meeting. Kylie and I will be attending to help with input for different things. It’s quite a cool job. Afterwards I went with Jane and her 3 UK friends to Emafini (this is where the teen challenge actually is and the water bottling plant and Potter’s Wheel church.) After that we went to Eluzitweni (spelling? Haha) where the battered women’s home is located. These women are often victims of domestic violence and are abused and typically run to drugs and alcohol. There are 2 infants there and 2 other boys (3 and 6). While touring the facility I played with the little boys. Precious! Next we went to Matenga Cultural Village. They performed cultural dances and toured the village made completely of straw and wood. It was so cool looking. Monday night is fellowship for the volunteers. So there we bring up any questions and concerns and just hang out.

Tuesday: BE JEALOUS! I went on a real African Safari! We went to Mkhaya game reserve. There you pile into a giant open-top land rover…awesome… I don’t recommend safaris if you get motion sickness haha. We saw wild giraffes, elephants, rhinos, warthogs, nyalas, impalas, antelopes, crocodiles, buffalo, eagles, mongoose, ya know the usual. Mhkaya doesn’t have cats (i.e. lions and leopards) and the hippos were hiding in the bush because the watering hole was too dry. My favorites were the giraffes and elephants. While eating lunch at a beautiful table under a large tree, we had baby nyalas (similar to deer) walking around and guinea fowl were everywhere. I cannot justify eating an animal that is walking around me. So I passed on the nyala stew. I may or may not be slowly becoming a vegetarian. Haha. I opted for butternut squash which was amazing! It was such an exhausting day but so worth it. Tuesday night is Hawane cell. It is for the staff, volunteers, farm workers, etc… just a mix of people. This one was particularly good. It is so amazing to have people from all over worshipping God together. That group is so challenging for spiritual growth. I mean it is simply amazing how in tune people are with God and his will and calling individually and corporately here. Such an encouragement.

Wednesday: I officially started school today. Sounds funny, right? I helped teach grade 3 for the homeschool. I was asked which planet I was from. That was comical. It felt rewarded to teach and see growth within a few minutes and hours. So my daily task is to assistant teach and work with preschool. I will also be doing homework/tutoring. I’m done early today so I have some free time. Everything is going so well. I feel like I’ve been here for a long time because of how comfortable I am already. People are so welcoming I feel like I’ve known them forever. Tonight is Potter’s Wheel cell with Liz. :D

finally internet

(apologies in advance for all spelling and grammar... i was in a hurry)
Monday: so monday started out as a day without plans and turned into a packed awesome day. the last blog was sent from the TC office so this is what went on after i left there...
Paul, pastor augustine, kylee and i drove to elizabeth hynd's new hop centre orphanage. we met a girl from australia that came for 3 days to visit and stayed for 3 years. crazy! That night we had a final farewell party for the CLC guys and don and elaine smith. after pizza it was such a God time. incredible and completely indescribable.
Tuesday: we went with the CLC team over to the site of the new Hawane church and orphan home and prayed over it. after the guys left for the airport kylee and i cleaned the team house and took all of their left over food (major blessing!) Liz (teacher/volunteer from england) took the 4 of us girls grocery shopping. i made dinner for my american and irish roomies. and then we had Hawane cell group with Ntokozo, Sabelo, and Nick. it was great. (there is so much other stuff that i had written a blog about on my laptop so this is the condensed version. :( )
Wednesday: it was kylee's birthday so we made a banner and put up balloons. we spent the day taking inventory and moving into don and elaine's old house... yes, i have a house. haha. we also got our schedules. i'm going to be working with the 5 homeschoooled kids and preschool. we went to potter's wheel cell group and it was fantastic.
Thursday: i cleaned, redecorated, organized, and rearranged our house. There was a large brown horse outside of our kitchen window... weird. no worries though. i got a lot accomplished. i went into town with liz and shoprite (grocery store) caught on fire! it was chaos! we had hawane teen girls cell at night and then a birthday party for kylee. it was fun and we played games and goofed off.
Friday: i walked over to the hospice (on the farm where the homeschool meets) and hung out and got to know the kids i'll be working with. we had youth group for the teens on the farm. there were 20 of us and i shared and we played some games. it went really well.
saturday: it is nasty rainy misty cold wet foggy gross outside. the weather changes quickly and drastically. we went grocery shopping briefly in the morning. and for lunch... jane, the nurse from england, took us to hawane resort. it was the coolest getaway place. i'd love to expound more on that later. lol. good food. good conversation. we played some board games last night.
sunday: church was good. it's still freezing and the internet is so frustrating here when you are used to instant wireless.

alright i gotta go there is a queue (line)
pray the internet works soon.
love and miss you all.
sorry this wasnt too detailed!
ps. this week i'm going to game reserve and cultural village.
happy still :D

here.

sept. 13. 2008 So I’m here safe in Swaziland! The plane from Joburg to Manzini (Swaziland) was possibly the smallest commercial plane I’ve ever seen.  Most planes have seat patterns such as 3-5-3 or 2-4-2… not this one… this is 1-2. Haha so I was the first seat on the left so I had no one next to me and nowhere to put my carryon. It was cozy but a very adventurous and fun experience.  In my opinion, they should have chosen a more petite flight attendant for a plane of that size. Here’s what I learned: Pringles are only 42% potato… Gross! What is the rest!?!  Also, FDR and Helen Keller have some really great quotes.  Helen picked me up from the airport (with Asher, 14, her daughter.)  It was a really cool drive. I love mountains and there is some fantastic vegetation here!  We chatted in the car about me, life, Swaziland life, and what all I’m going to be doing (wouldn’t you all like to know :D.)  There was a fire here a few weeks back so the phones and internet are down and have been down for a while.  It was dark by the time I got to Hawane so I haven’t gotten the tour yet.  I’m staying in the “big brown house” which I think used to be a barn/farmhouse.  Pretty cool.  I have some housemates. Roomies! Haha. They are really awesome.  Stephanie and Julie are from Ireland and are only here for 5 weeks as a part of their nursing school program.  Both are 21 and have great accents. I like them already!  Then there’s Kylee.  She’s 23 (24 on Wednesday) and from Dayton, Ohio.  They are all new too but have been here for almost a week already.  Kylee is also here till December or longer.  She has so much ambition and passion for this place already.  I love it and can’t wait to get plugged and get to know her more.  I went to the Wards (Kevin and Helen) for dinner.  We had chicken on the brye (sp?) a.k.a. Swazi term for the grill.  And we had some tasty salad with avocadoes and all sorts of great stuff.  I met their son Joshua who is 12.  He’s a very cool kid as is Asher.  I can’t wait to be BFFs with them and get to know everyone better.  I haven’t met any other regular staff yet, but there is a team here from Dayton (Kylee’s church/ Christian Life Center) They’re doing construction.  It was very cool to talk to them and share my story of how I got here and hear about them.  One of the guys has 2 daughters at Lee and I have mutual friends with them. Small world!?! We had tea and chocolates and talked and played with animal balloons.  It was a very pleasant evening.  When Kylee and I got back to the house/barn (:D)  there was smoke everywhere! Stephanie and Julie made a fire in the fireplace and I guess the chimney was inefficient.  We were all laughing really hard and our eyes and lungs were burning.  It was a comical experience.  My room is upstairs and the door was shut so it wasn’t smoky.  Helen said I will probably move some when I’m here.  (all of course on the grounds here, but to different locations like the other half of the big brown house)  I unpacked some.  I love it here so far.  So far so good… well… so far so God.  Oh and it is warmer here than it was in Johannesburg.  Alright well I better get some rest.  Church and wake up will come early! Peace and Love! Tiffany Noel

 

If you are interested I seeing more stuff about CLC Dayton team go to www.clcdayton.com and click on Swaziland and then blog.  They are an awesome church and team.

 

sept. 14. 2008.  Sunday- Early morning for church.  It was a crazy/awesome day.  We went to the Potter’s Wheel for church and it was really good.  By the way… awesome thatch roof! There is a couple from the US (the Smiths) that have been here for the past 6 years but they are leaving Tuesday for good so he (Don Smith)  spoke in church.  Plus the CLC guys shared testimonies.  It was such a good service. Afterwards we went back to Hawane for a more traditional Swazi service.  We went to the church’s new site after church and prayed over it and played with the children. I went to Kevin and Helen’s house again for lunch and had butternut squash soup.  Delicious.  Also, I took an amazing nap that came back to bite me last night when I couldn’t sleep.  When I woke up we had a going away party for the Smiths (mentioned previous… leaving for the US) and we played with the children again.  I spent some more time with Stephanie and Julie and then tried to figure out my plans for Monday (today.)  We watched a video on children with AIDS.  It was very heartbreaking but good for my mindset.  More quality bonding with Kylee and Julie and Stephanie.  I didn’t sleep too well last night.  Today I am with Kylee and Paul (from CLC) and pastor Augustan (pastor of Hawane church) We went up on the mountain across from us and met with pastor Lewis.  CLC Dayton is looking for more locations to start doing what they have done at Hawane.  The concept is called ICBC.  (In community, by community)  Basically, they are trying to build self-sustaining communities with orphanages and widows as housemothers.  They children do the work on the farm, which is how Hawane is run.  It is amazing how CLC has such an intense passion and dedication to Swaziland.  It was definitely a different experience.  Pastor Lewis and his wife single-handedly run an orphanage of over 30 children plus many more that live with “go-gos.”   It is incredible to see his heart and passion to make his ministry grow.  So CLC is an awesome church and I’m glad I’ve been able to spend time with the guys from there and live with Kylee while I’m here.  I’m very happy still.  It has been quite an adjustment as far as climate, culture, time difference, and overall life pace.  Some things to pray for: my adjustment, fires (they break out all of the time and the CLC actually helped put out a raging fire that was about to get to a crippled widow’s house.  They beat the fire out with branches.)  smooth transitions with the Smiths and CLC team leaving and with the new volunteers.  Also, we are figuring out what exactly I’m going to be doing here.  The plan is to just try different things and see what fits so within 2 weeks I should be totally plugged in and settled.  It’s exciting not knowing on a day-to-day basis what I will be doing.  We will see! I’ll keep you all posted.  Love and miss you all lots!

Joburg.

The plane rides were not too bad.   Nothing fantastic but nothing horrible either.  So that is a good thing I guess.  Everything has gone fairly smoothly.  In DC I had to split my one bag into 2 for weight reasons but that’s no big deal and now I have 2 suitcases so I think that’s kinda handy.  I really enjoyed watching the sunset and sunrise on my way to Amsterdam.  I know plane experiences aren’t always the greatest but I can’t help but to feel closer to God when I’m in an airplane.  Your whole perspective changes when you are looking at the clouds from above and seeing the stars.  Oh man! On the plane to Joburg I realized how much I miss the South African sky.  Obviously it is a whole new set of stars when you are in the southern hemisphere and the night sky has always been something I enjoyed on my previous 3 South African trips.  The Africa Centre hotel was awesome and I got 2 hot showers in my 12 hours there.  I slept fairly well except for waking up virtually every hour on the hour but I don’t feel too bad.  I have a slight headache though.  Currently (6:57 AM EST and 12:57 PM here) I am sitting at a very cool café/ restaurant in the Joburg airport.  Oh and I had to pay for excess baggage weight but just for South African air.  Not too expensive no big deal. I have a good deal of time until my flight so I figured I’d type up some of my experiences so far. Plus I don’t know when I will be online again. Ps. The other people in the café are watching rugby. I love it.  And I love accents here. I’ve missed you, Africa.  Ok. I miss you all and next time I update it will be from Swaziland. Get excited!

Ready. Set. Go.

I leave home in about 7 minutes. My plane leaves at 5:30. I have some snacks and books. :D

Man! I am soooo ready! Here I go.

.3.5.

Yup. That's right. I am 35 days away.  Seems far right now, but time will fly.  I have my flight info pretty much set. I'm using both Northwest and South African airlines.

Leaving: 

depart-Dulles 5:30 pm on 11.9.08 (sept-11-2008) 7hours50mins

arrive- Amsterdam 7:20 am 12.9.08 (sept-12-2008)  3,852miles

depart-Amsterdam 10:30am 12.9.08 (sept-12-2008) 10hours40mins

arrive-Johannesburg 9:10pm 12.9.08 (sept-12-2008) 5,603miles

*spend the night in Jo-burg

depart-Johannesburg 4:20pm 13.9.08 (sept-13-2008) 1hour5mins

arrive-Manzini 5:25pm 13.9.08 (sept-13-2008)

Returning: 

depart-Manzini 5:45pm 9.12.08 (dec-9-2008) 1hour

arrive- Jo-burg 6:45pm 9.12.08 (dec-9-2008)

depart-Jo-burg 11:55pm on 9.12.08 (dec-9-2008) 11hours5mins

arrive- Amsterdam 10:00am on 10.12.08 (dec-10-2008) 5,603miles

depart-Amsterdam 1:20pm on 10.12.08 (dec-10-2008) 8hours40mins

arrive-Dulles 4:00pm on 10.12.08 (dec-10-2008) 3,582miles

Okay well thats my life the next few months

                 

Do it. I dare you.

So this is my first post... just sittin here thinkin.

Pretty excited about Swaziland and overwhelmed with what I need to accomplish.

It'll be good though. God has already opened many doors. :D yay!

oh. so that title. Basically God just kinda whispered it to me one day... 

I was considering my options of school and travel and I thought...

hmmm Swaziland... and God just said, "Do it. I dare you."

Pretty cool and very simple. Just a thought.