There are many things about Swaziland that draw me in. I love our staff who live there, giving their lives away everyday. I love the beauty of the mountains when they are covered in the lush green of spring and summer. The various brightly colored flowers on trees, vines, and aloes are delightful. The blue skies and gorgeous sunsets take my breath away. I love the smiles of the people and their soft spoken manner. The worship and the dance awaken my spirit. I am alive when I am immersed in the culture in the middle of the Manzini market on Thursdays or in a worship service, a night vigil, or a Luke Commission clinic. And I even enjoy the challenge of communicating in Siswati.
And then there is this precious little girl who gently places her hand in mine.
She quietly leans against me and lays her head on my knee.
She never smiles and we don't speak with words.
She rarely looks up at me but she hangs on tight.
And I am drawn in to her.
I can not resist her friendship or her longing for comfort and love and closeness.
What does it take for a boy to become a man of God?
Oh precious one, I pray that you will find your true Father. The One who created you, sees you, knows you, and loves you. The One who is always with you wherever you go. The One who goes before you and fights for you. The One who makes a way for you. The One who has good plans for your life and gives you the ability that you need to fulfill them. The One who gives you hopes and dreams and believes in you. The One who is your Helper so you will not be afraid. The One who is faithful and merciful and gracious, slow to get angry and full of unfailing love. I pray that you will find Him and that you will follow Him. His arms are open wide for you.
There seem to be seasons in a boy's life when he wants to be just like his daddy. This is a precious and often times hilarious thing to behold when a little boy is two and three years old. He watches his dad closely and listens intently. He then follows by doing and saying what he has seen and heard in his father. And as he grows, he often imitates his dad in a variety of ways.
I was touched by the young drummer who has joined with the adults at the Swazi Cultural Village to perform traditional song and dance. I don't know if the adult drummer or one of the dancers was his father or not, but I saw him watching them with great intensity and imitating their every move. He had studied their footwork and he pronounced each beat. He was in tune with the flow of the men and he anticipated the coming progressions. I could see in him the desire and confidence to become like the man performing beside him. I saw him look into the man's eyes for approval and acceptance for the performance he was giving. He was becoming just like them.
As the African rhythm erupted my heart cried out to my God,
I long to be like You, my heavenly Father. I desire Your very heartbeat to be what pumps mine. I am studying Your ways and watching You move and work in people's lives. May I step in rhythm to Your dance and live in Your love with the people around me. I want to do and be what I see in You. You are the One I am looking to, the One I am following, the One I will imitate.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children
and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us
as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph. 5:1-2
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of His godly ones.
Psalm 116:15
I met Lucy Dlamini on our very first trip to Swaziland in 2005. She quickly created a soft spot in my heart with her most welcoming greetings and extreme thankfulness. Each time we would meet, she would throw her hands in the air and repeat (in English), "O my God, O my God, thank you, thank you! God bless you, God bless you, O thank God!"
Her smile was contagious and her grip was strong as her small stature exuded great strength. Her loving character and sense of humor regularly caused my soul to laugh in delight. Lucy was a woman who crossed cultures, language barriers, and misunderstandings in profound ways through her ability to communicate with her whole being. I have woven in and out of her life for the last six years and she has always been the same Lucy. She always made me feel good. And I recognized and appreciated that about her.
And now I have learned that Lucy has died. I have experienced a sadness that has left me at a loss for words. But more than anything, I want to honor her. I want to honor Lucy Dlamini, one of God's precious women of Swaziland.
Lucy has been a volunteer cook at the Bhalekane carepoint since 2004. In all of her loveliness she also knew how to carry a stick and love many children into obedience, respectfulness, and order! She was a Swazi hero who carried the blessing and burden of orphan and vulnerable child care every day. She has been a hardworking gogo of Timbali Crafts and always brought life and spirit to our meetings, sewing days, and retreats. Lucy was daily decorated with unique scarves that reflected her inner beauty and her friendly and upbeat nature:)
Lucy was one of the first gogos that welcomed and loved our son Josiah and his future wife Meredith on their first Swazi trip in 2005. (Lucy is pictured on the far left)
Lucy (on the right above) with some of her Timbali/Carepoint sisters.
(in front and on the right below)
In 2009 Lucy enjoyed the Timbali Women's Camp entitled, "Imphilo Lensha" which means new life. I believe she is now experiencing the ultimate new life.
I love you Lucy!
As Lucy's health began to decline she was unable to attend the Timbali meetings and our last women's camp in the fall of 2011. But I was able to visit her a few times at her homestead along with Julie Anderson, the founder and director of Timbali Crafts, and full-time Swazi resident. These were precious moments that I will treasure forever. Even as she experienced pain and many losses, Lucy did not complain. She remained the same loving and welcoming woman who lifted me up. She would say, "Doctor, doctor, I am so glad you have come. O my God, thank God. When you pray I am healed. When you pray I feel better. When you pray for me my problems go away!Your prayers are my medicine. God bless you!" She accepted my loving care for her and she added her faith to mine.
Lucy's homestead
The last time I spent with Lucy
Lucy was a widow with 2 living children and 3 who have died. Here she is with her pride and joy- her granddaughter! (above & below)
Part of Lucy's heritage is her son and his family, pictured below. She has left her Timbali skills to her daughter-in-law, Khosi Dlamini, (pictured below) who helped to care for her in her illness.
Swaziland is not the same without Lucy. Bhalekane and Timbali are forever changed by her absence. I pray the Lord will raise Khosi and the next generation of women to step into the shoes of the courageous and persevering Lucy Dlamini, who truly served her family and the children of Bhalekane with faith, joy, and strength.
Those of you who read my last blog know that the needs at the Haitian Christian Mission are tremendous right now. Pastor Prophete says the supplies from AIM are running out and people are overflowing at the center.
The good news is that AIM is able to respond to these specific needs. Today a delivery was made of 2,000 lbs of food, 16 tents, sleeping pads, tarps, etc. And there is a medical team from the Atlanta area who will be working there for 1 week beginning on Saturday. So God continues to supply for his people.
One of our biggest roles in the DR/Haiti was to continually supply pastor Prophete's ministry with necessities. That meant that we took the weight limit of supplies from the U.S. with us, and then we did a lot of shopping every day while we were there. We had a morning supply drop with him and then a 10pm supply drop. We met at the border and unloaded our vehicle into his, prayed with him, and sent him off as we made new lists and raced to gather more supplies.
It was truly an honor to be messengers of goodness. Thank you again for all of the contributions that you made in order to supply those who are suffering. Please continue to pray for strength, encouragement, and faith for all of the Haitian pastors and leaders who are whole-heartedly serving their people.
Jimani Market where we shopped
more Jimani market shopping
Jimani corner store shopping
Jimani clothes shopping
Just inside the Haitian border where people could shop
Corey & Mitch packing up top
Early on in a shopping trip
Fully loaded!
2 of us rode on the hood of the car after we bought all of those blankets!
Here are some of the items that we got to deliver into needy hands:
Haiti Supply List
54-burner stoves
for pastors
5propane gas
tanks(47-gallon tanks, 114-gallon tank) for pastors
6filled 510-gallon propane tanks for the church
hose
and valves for each stove
clothes-100
items for women, 100 for men, 100 items for children, 50 baby items, men's and
women's underwear, 75 socks, shoes for pastors
18 bedsheets
47
bedspreads each with a pillow for pastors
25
cooking pots and pans for pastors
2
giant cooking pots for pastors
35
cooking spoons, utensils
Laundry
soap
Bleach
Bath soap
60
toothbrushes
60
toothpastes
25
sanitary pads
2
Giant bags toilet paper
antibiotics
120
lbs spaghetti
Spaghetti/tomato
sauce
30
dozen eggs
50
lbs Soup noodles
7
giant jars soup bullion mix
25
lbs Potatoes
25
lbs Onions
25
lbs Garlic
20
gallons cooking oil
Beans
galore
Rice
galore
Diapers
galore
Wipes
galore
2000
Styrofoam cups and lids
500 Styrofoam "to- go" containers
1500
Plastic forks and spoons
Hundreds of waters
Meals
for Haitian people living on the street in Jimani
Gas
for pastor's 2 vehicles x 3
21
giant cans baby formula
Baby
wipes
66
baby bottles
21
boxes rice cereal
12
giant bottles hand sanitizer
10
giant bottles hydrogen peroxide
2
boxes surgical masks
12
boxes latex gloves
12
giant bottles Tylenol & ibuprofen
10
each of Children's benadryl, cold medicine, cough medicine
Team picture at our first supply drop for Haitian Christian Mission
Corey Jacobs, Sam Borg, Pastor Prophete
Miguel Shaul, Dr. Patrick, Mitch Lathem, Marcia Borg, Wilmer, Joseph, Alphonse
Here is an update from Pastor Prophete. He is the pastor who coordinated all of our efforts for getting food and supplies into Haiti. The (his) ministry that we visited is just 20 miles outside of Port-Au-Prince in the Haitian town of Fonds- Parisien. There he runs a medical clinic with inpatient hospital beds, a birthing center, a school where the kids live on site, a woodworking shop, and a church. You can read more at
http://www.hcmsupport.org/quake.html.
As God would have it, we purchased and delivered supplies for this ministry just ahead of the massive influx of wounded survivors form Port-Au-Prince, who are now there for treatment and life giving, life sustaining help.
Pastor Prophete Executive director HCM, AIM missionary Miguel Shaul, Dr. Patrick HCM staff
News on the Haiti Earthquake
January 30, 2010 Update from Etienne Prophete
Present Needs after the Quake
The massive exodus of the Port-au-Princedwellers that escape from the quake fate has caused a tremendous burden on the mission. Most people in Haiti
are afraid to sleep under the concrete roof. They have seen the human
loss and tragedy caused by the quake when roofs caved in on them. They
sustain a constant fear of sleeping under a concrete roof.
Because of that the survivors in Port-au-Prince are either sleeping under the stars or leaving the city wandering for a safe haven. Many
ladies have been raped by the savage who have no fear of God or whose
only way of life is to hurt people regardless of circumstances. Families leave town in large numbers to find a safe place to stay.
Many of them came to us for lodging, food and treatment. An organization called 'Adventures in Missions' has given us chunks of food and water.World Vision has also eased our burden in giving us 40 mattresses. But we are far from getting there due to the increasing number of people.
We are hosting those we never heard of before, people
who have come from the Port-au-Prince churches, neighboring people to
the mission facilities of Port-au-Prince, those who are acquainted with
friends and those who have heard of this campus and need help with food
and medicine. Fortunately the KAH (Food against Hunger) has a remaining portion that adds to the feeding solution of the problem. Thanks to God for donors.
The small health care unit is full beyond capacity with patients and outpatients.Those
who are dismissed have no home to go to. They were sleeping under the
stars with a broken leg or arm or wound. We need to provide them with a
temporary place to stay. The only way out is to set up tents because
schoolrooms are full with people. But this poses a big question: where
can we find the tents?
Besides, those people have no food to eat or water to drink. The provisions made by Adventures in Missions are running down. We need to replenish the stock. So at this time, our pressing needs are:
- foods of all kinds mainly rice, beans, cooking oil, spaghetti,
- water,
- medicine like pain pills,
- vitamins,
- cough suppressant,
- antibiotics,
- antacid,
- blood pressure medicine,
- diabetic medicine and what have you.
We seriously need tents because we do not have rooms to lodge the people for recovery.
We need to make life a bit easy for the victims. Monetary gifts to buy food are welcome.
The stores are timidly opening their doors, but the debris are still
everywhere hindering traffic and displaying the somber memory of a very
dark moment in theHaitian history.
Hope
will be restored, we are sure as friends to stand by us. We are
overwhelmed but our faith is made stronger. As a matter of fact, we are more than conquerors because we realize that life is nothing without God.
We thank all those who support us and are thinking about supporting the mission in this time of despair and great loss. God will certainly bless you!
With the KINGDOM in mind, the best is yet to come.
Etienne Prophete
HCM Executive Director
This is outside of the HCM clinic where patients wait to be seen in Fonds-Parisien, Haiti
This was just before the Port-Au-Prince survivors arrived
Doctors Update from Pastor Prophete
The first team of medical doctors and personnel left and another has arrived. Both hospitals are full and ey treated about 1000 in two days!
The
greatest need immediately is money to buy supplies, medicine, and
food. In addition to treating all of the patients, we have to provide
food and water for them as well as all the workers and staff!
Please keep Haitian Christian Mission in your prayers and send whatever amount that you can to help!
Thank you all so much for you help!
About to make our first supply drop. The 2 cars on the left are HCM's. We filled them up!
Spirits were high on all sides as we connected with Pastor Prophete for the first time. What an amazing God who went before his people to prepare a place for help and healing. May His provision continue in abundance and may it produce faith unshakable.
The needs in Haiti remain enormous. Yet I find that one person reaching out to help one person begins a life chain of hope that makes a world of difference. A small team can produce mighty fruit. A seemingly small act can open the door for massive healing, relief, and progress.
Thank you for reaching out to offer life through your gifts and prayers for Haiti through my trip there. And please know that your individual contribution has made a big impact.
As the Haiti crisis begins to move to the back burner in the news
headlines, I fear that people will forget the magnitude of need and the
amount of suffering that remains. At AIM we plan to stay involved for the long haul. I hope that you will continue to consider your response to the ongoing need- some will pray, some will give, and some will go. Please join us and please spread the word of the opportunity to stay involved through AIM.
God wasted no time on our first day in the DR/Haitian border town of Jimani. He led us to the place where a remarkable Haitian pastor named Etienne Prophete was getting gas. Our local AIM missionary Miguel had met pastor Prophete once before, but had been out of contact with him for at least a week. He recognized the pastor as we were driving by and introduced and connected us with him in this first conversation. This began our journey into Haiti and defined our steps for the following days.
As you listen to him speak please pray for he and his wife Betty, his church family, and the community that he ministers in. Pray for the hospital and birthing center that he oversees where the injured from Port-au-Prince are being bused to, as well as the 56 Haitian churches and 54 schools that he serves around Haiti.
Thanks to the Lord we made it home safe and sound last night. I pour out a heart full of thanks to all of you who covered our lives and ministry by your prayers. We have so much to share so keep checking back!
I want to testify to
the goodness of God in providing for His people. What a humble position
for our team to be in- carrying the monetary support of our own friends and
family and churches to such a desparate place.
We brought all of our "loaves and fishes" to the Lord just like they
did when Jesus said, "Bring them to Me." We all know how
He then multiplied them to feed his people. We have experienced this very
same power. Every night when we came home and counted our funds we always
had the same amount of money left for the next day. We bought hundreds of
dollars worth of food and supplies, large cooking pots, blankets, clothes and
shoes. On the way back at night we all dipped in our pockets only to find
as many bills as we started with. Over and over we bought food and supplies and
drove them to the Haitian border for pastor Prophete, Then we made a new
list for the morning supply run and shopped some more and guess what? At
the end of the day we still had more than enough money in our wallets. We began
to just laugh and laugh every time we counted the money. We couldn't
believe our eyes at all that was continually left over. Even tonight as I write
we have recounted our funds and laughed at God's goodness and are able to
provide an abundace for the Haitians who are now flocking to another border
near us in San Juan. What an amazing God who is faithful in His provision and
who will not leave or forsake His people. He has truly multiplied not only the money but
also our time, our efforts, our compassion, and our love.
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