Jesu Uyakutsandza

We completed our first full week of ministry this past week! Here is what a typical week looks like for us in Eswatini:
Sunday: Visit a local church. Spend time in town for a couple hours to eat lunch and connect with wifi. We only get wifi for a couple hours each week on Sundays, so communication is very limited. You can expect blog posts from me each Sunday afternoon!
Monday: We have an ATL (Ask the Lord) day. This day is spent in the nearby town of Manzini, and we get to evangelize in the streets and stores as the Holy Spirit leads us. It is also the day where we get all of our groceries for the week.
Tuesday-Friday: These are our care point ministry days. We get to spend lots of time playing with children and sharing the love of Jesus with them. We also have been able to help the leadership team of the care point with administration tasks.
Saturday: Sabbath. Thank God.

Care Point Ministry
Most adults here speak English, so when we go into the town, it is fairly easy to communicate. However, at the care points, the younger children rarely speak any English. The children around 12 years old and up are starting to speak a little bit of English. We have been learning some of the Swati language to have very basic conversations with the children. Our favorite statement we’ve learned is: Jesu Uyakutsandza. Jesus loves you. Seeing the children’s faces light up when we say this to them is so special. Giving the children a smile, a hug, and a “Jesu Uyakutsandza” is one of my favorite things at the care points. These children just want to be seen and loved, and we get the opportunity to show them the love of Jesus. May these children not just remember us and the love that we showed them, but the person of Jesus and the love that He extended to them through us. As I was saying, “Jesu Uyakutsandza” to the children, it was a cool moment when they started saying it back to me. Since I’m becoming an expert in the basics 😄, I respond to them with a “Neobonga,” which means, “Thank you.”

Marketplace Ministry (Ask the Lord)
On Thursday this week our plans changed a bit, and we got to have an ATL day in Manzini. We went in our teams of 6-7 and got to interact with lots of people as we walked the streets and in the stores. As the Holy Spirit led us to certain people, we got to have lots of fruitful conversations. We were set out to share the love of Jesus with those we would come in contact with, and we got to do just that. But we also were encouraged ourselves because we got to interact with a few people who had a strong relationship with Jesus, and they shared their wisdom with us. It’s so cool to learn about the same magnificent God from followers of His on the other side of the world.
Our last conversation of the day (one of my teammates and I) was with a middle-aged woman who knew Jesus. She was so sweet, gentle, and very soft spoken, but very wise, had a heart of gold, and had fire for the Lord on the inside of her. I got to ask her some questions about following Jesus, and she encouraged us with the following truths: We will only be complete in Jesus. Without Jesus, we are nothing. God is taking caring of everything, even the things that we cannot see. You have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. He is always with you. You cannot take Him out of you. He is in you.
She was also encouraging us to see God in everything: in waking up, in the simple act of walking, in working, in people around us, in nature, etc. She shared with us that she wishes people would see God in this way throughout their week and not just on Sundays. It was so sweet to see her heart for Jesus, and it was encouraging to us to keep pressing into what God is doing here in Eswatini and into all of what God wants to reveal of Himself to us in no matter what we are doing.

I also got to have an interaction with a 12 year old girl who was on her way home from school. I just got to ask her about her school day and let her know that Jesus loves her and that she is beautiful. A couple of my teammates and I were able to walk with her for a couple blocks. I believe it was a special interaction because as someone who wants to feel seen, known, and loved, God allowed our paths to cross and gave me the opportunity to speak life into her and show her that Jesus sees her, knows her, loves her, and cares about her. As God has put people in my life to encourage me and build me up, I want to do the same for the young girls that I come in contact with.

To start off the day on Thursday, the first person the Holy Spirit led me to personally I found out was a middle school teacher. I was able to connect with her right away because we have a shared experience with middle school teaching. This led into a conversation about the mission we are on and about the God we both serve. God was super gracious to give me a smooth first conversation, and He continued to be gracious in leading me in conversations with people throughout the day. This was a relief because our first evangelism evening, which took place in Georgia, just seemed very difficult and like not much was flowing. It was a discouraging evening for some of my teammates and I, so for Him to give us another opportunity to go out and share Jesus, and for Him to show us His grace each step of the way was such a gift.

What God is Showing Me 
What I am learning is that every interaction I have, every opportunity of ministry, is an opportunity to know Jesus more. May my main focus be my relationship with Jesus, and everything else will flow from abiding in Him. May I not get caught up in the ins and outs of doing ministry, as it can become exhausting and discouraging at times. When I fix my focus on Jesus, everything else falls into place, and despite the “successes” and “failures” of the things I am doing, I get to see more of who He is.

My family and friends back home, I miss you. And as I get to communicate with these precious children here in Eswatini, Jesu Uyakutsandza. And I love you too.