For the past few months I’ve been writing about my upcoming mission trip to Swaziland. I’ve prayed, researched the country, prayed, researched the organization we’ll be working with, prayed, attended team meetings, prayed, worked long hours in our church cafe to help raise the needed funds, prayed, and prayed. Now the time has come to raise up a support team. Yes, I need to send out a letter asking people to pray for me and to give financially toward the trip expenses.
Swaziland
Pretend They’re Wild Animals?
I love taking pictures of God’s creation. Soaring mountains, flower-bedecked meadows, the year’s first crocus, a Gray Jay landing on a boulder—they all remind me of the Lord who created them, and I love to capture his fingerprints in pixels. In fact, you might say it consumes me.
I remember a birding trip one cold February. It was a whopping eleven degrees with freezing fog. Everyone else was in the warm house drinking tea and watching the feeders through the windows. I was out in the yard snapping photos, oblivious to the cold.
Swaziland Trailer
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I’m signed up for our church’s trip to Swaziland this October. There we’ll be partnering with Children’s Hope Chest and a local church in providing food, educational assistance, and other resources for the many AIDS orphans living near two CarePoints. I could describe what I’ve been told so far—or I can show you this video. Produced by CHC, it shows how one CarePoint is transforming life for those it serves. (This is a different Swazi CarePoint, slightly more developed, than the ones we’ll be visiting, but they’re all very similar. We’re going to Mankayane and Gege.)
Please be patient… the video takes a moment to load.
I can hardly wait to get there!
Partnering with Children’s Hope Chest
Last month, I mentioned that I’m signed up to go on a mission trip to Swaziland, in southern Africa. I explained that our church has partnered with Swazi believers to create a care center in a country struggling to provide for tens of thousands of AIDS orphans. Rather than build orphanages and remove the children from their communities, the goal is to provide enough support for them and their caretakers to thrive. (You might want to re-read my post on this successful strategy.)
A third partner in this endeavor is a wonderful ministry called Children’s Hope Chest. Several years ago, I recommended a book written by the CEO of this organization, Tom Davis. Scared: a Novel on the Edge of the World puts forth in fictional form the true story of many African children. Read this book, and you’ll understand a major reason why I’m going on this trip.
Signed Up
Short-term missions. I’m for them. I’m against them. I’ve waffled back and forth for several years, seeing good points and bad points. You may have read my daughter’s post about her short-term experiences, or some of my own thoughts on the topic (see “World” listed in the Categories to the right) . We’ve supported friends and relatives going overseas, I’ve read numerous books and articles, and I’ve even accompanied Pete as he’s attended meetings and spoken at conferences on several continents. Sure, there’s always some role for me to play on those trips, some way I can be helpful, but I’ve always been there as Pete’s wife, not me.
Well, this year all that will change.
Scared: a Novel on the Edge of the World
Imagine that you have only one outfit, and it’s dirty and full of holes. Imagine that you only have enough food to eat once every few days—maybe once a week. You live in a one-room mud hut. You’re physically abused. Two other people are totally dependent on you. Then it gets worse.
Now imagine living like that if you’re only twelve years old, and you’re an orphan.
Scared is a novel, but the conditions that twelve-year-old Adanna faces are drawn from real life. She’s one of millions of orphans, struggling to survive in Swaziland, the part of Africa hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.
Compost 