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