"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