So, I was going to write out my blog last night...but I fell asleep watching a movie so I will write one quickly just to keep you updated.

We arrived in South Africa around 5:00pm on Friday evening. The border closes at 9:00 into Swazi so we sped and broke many traffic laws to try and make it. When we were 13 minutes away our tire blew out and we ended up having to pull over at a gas station. This began our 16 hour stint in a Honda CRV with 5 people. About and hour into our wait the electricity went out in the town. It was pitch black! Jess and Katie got out to use the bathroom on the side of the road (good thing we stole toilet paper from the plane) when I man came up with a flashlight. Of course they screamed and I thought we were going to die. Turns out he was the security guy for the gas station. He told us he would get in his car and go to his friend's house to try and get us a tire...We never saw him again. Around midnight my stomach started to turn into knots and make crazy noises. I was like, "Really, I've only been on this continent for a few hours. How can I be sick already?" Needless to say, that was miserable!! I tried to get out and go to the bathroom on the side of the road. Didn't work. However, it gave us three girls a nice laugh. Finally in the morning Sabelo was able to ride public transportation into town and get us a tire.

We finally arrived in Swazi on Saturday morning. It was surreal driving past familiar faces and places. When we arrived at the homestead we saw Gogo, who remembered us immediately when we said "and yooooou." :) Lelo is letting us stay in his newly renovated bachelor pad for the next few days because an AIM team is staying in the hut currently. The hot showers were such a nice surprise! Yesterday morning we went to church and it was all I could do to not burst into tears at the sight of everybody. All of the kids are like a foot taller and Thaban could be spotted immediately sitting on the lap of a guy with drool running down his face. After church we rode Lelo's new four wheelers with some of the kids. The picture above captures why I love Swazi so much. Of course the two smallest kids would be pushing the four wheeler up the hill.

Today we went to visit the Hope House. It was so good to be back! We visited with one of the care givers that we met last time. Her name is Loveness and, believe me, the name fits. Please pray for Loveness as she is sacrificing being with her two youngest daughters in order to be able to work to provide for them. She is a single mother and she said she questions whether she is doing the right thing. The love for her children is written all over face when she talks about them. She only gets to see her daughters once a month because she cannot afford the bus fair to go visit them. It was hard to swallow when I realized the bus fair was only 15 bucks. Loveness spends her life working and taking care of others. Day in and day out she takes care of two Gogos at the Hope House. You can tell that she is tired but that she is a strong woman who wants the best for her kids. It's so funny how many times I leave a person's house feeling more blessed than when I walked in. The very hope that I wish to bring to people is brought tenfold back to me.

Well, I am running out of time but I want to just give you guys a few things to please be praying for.

1) Our stomachs :)
2) Two guys tried to break into Lelo's house about a week ago. Lelo caught one guy by throwing a bush knife at him and beat him up (we saw pictures and video). The other guy got away.
3) The girls currently staying in the hut told us that rats have been leaping onto them while they are sleeping during the middle of the night....
4) Pray for us to figure out where God wants us to spend our time in ministry here.

Sorry if there is bad grammar and spelling in this blog! I didn't have time to proofread.

A Lesson from Bananas

If any of you knew my Papa you might say that he was strong, stubborn, stoic. A real man’s man. He was fiercely protective of his family and worked hard to provide for them with everything they needed. He enjoyed life and although he was in a wheelchair for the latter part of his life, he was on the go more than anyone you ever met. Who else do you know that would go for a ride around the neighborhood in his wheelchair in the middle of an ice storm just because he refused to be cooped up in the house any longer? You might even say that he was a man that you never wanted to make angry. Take it from the girl who would burst into tears at the thought of being told on to him for misbehaving (although I never actually heard him raise his voice at me, let alone give me any real form of discipline), he was a very intimidating man.

But if you were to ask me what the single most descriptive term I could think of for my Papa would be, I would say that he was kind. This headstrong, stubborn manly man is the key to my very first memories of learning what it means to show kindness to others.

Growing up everyone knew that my Papa adored his granddaughters. People tell me all the time about how they remember him riding around the neighborhood showing my sister and I off tucked securely in his newspaper bag on his lap. And seeing as how he was friends with all of our neighbors, we made plenty of stops along our route. It seemed as though my Papa never met a stranger.

One of my fondest memories of my Papa was when I would go to the nursing home with him to visit either my great grandma or grandpa. It’s common knowledge that for many people a nursing home can be a sad and lonely place. Often times, people are dropped off and are visited seldomly by family members. My Papa was not this type of family member. He visited every single day, rain or shine. However, he didn’t just visit his own family. The man knew just about everyone in that nursing home by name. It would take us forever to make it to our family member’s room just because he had to stop and talk to people. My favorite stop to take with my Papa was to Mr. Roger’s room. I never saw any of Mr. Roger’s family come visit. He would usually just be sitting in his chair looking out the window. Every time we would stop in his room my Papa would sit and chat with him for a while and before we would leave, he would reach into his bag and pull out a couple of bananas and hand them to Mr. Roger. They were his favorite.

This is the first distinct act of kindness I can remember. It was the first time I had seen someone go out of his way to show love to another. This story may seem trivial to you, but it has paved the way for knowing what kind of person I would like to be.

It’s what got me here.