The Beginning of it all - Part 4

2009

It was starting just like any other year except God was working on our hearts even harder. Thoughts of Africa was every where. We thought of the children at the projects and prayed for them often. We already in our mind was ready to go back and serve with them.

We loved seeing different parts of the world and this year a trip to Bangladesh was going to be offered. I so wanted to see that part of the world and work with the children there. The trip was offered through Mission of Mercy and Jen and I was ready to sign up. But not enough people signed up for the trip and now the thoughts of a trip to Swaziland, Africa was being offered. I actually had to look it up. Never heard of it before in my entire life.

We signed up for the trip and packed the bags. That August we was off to Swaziland. Upon our arrival you could tell this trip was going to be awesome. The sights as we landed in South Africa was awesome. While driving down the highway, the whole landscape looked just like western Oklahoma. Rolling hills and cattle everywhere. We crossed the border into Swaziland.

The first day was to be a day of meeting people in the community and handing out supplies. We loved it. We handed out oil, soaps, rice, beans, just what the people needed. We spoke with locals who were struggling to survive. Now when I say survive, I don't mean they have only a couple of bucks in their checking account till payday, I mean they have nothing, and there is no payday. Strictly survival mode here.

We met a grandmother who was raising small children who could barely walk. We met with a lady who did some cooking at one of the carepoints that had children in the programs. We met several people who just wanted to say hello. It was house to house. When we got back we all talked about our visits with different people. We had three different groups in several parts and all had a story to tell.

One story was told by a group that met a mother with four children who had one that was 9 months old. They said it looked like it was a newborn because of starvation. We talked about the children we saw with AIDS, diseases, TB, and one boy who was so eat up with ring worm that he scratched his whole body against a tree for days to stop the itching. Never have I seen so much hurt. But it didn't matter. We held them, loved them, and kissed them just like they was our own children. We prayed that night for all we had seen especially for the little one who was starving. We prayed that God would heal.

The next day we set out to do a Safari drive and night stay. A very native and awesome experience. All the animals you would hope to see, we saw. Exotic foods and native dancing through the night. We got up the next day and finished another drive and then began to head home.

Before we left we prayed. We spoke about what we wanted to pray for as a new day was arriving. Then we got the news. God had healed that little baby. God had healed that child in His will. We received word that the child had passed away that night. That hurt. I can remember the sadness, fear, and anger all at the same time. Not mad at God, just mad in general that there was still people living like this in 2009.

These people needed Jesus. It was their ONLY hope in life. They needed a savior. They need someone to guide them. I was glad I was there and hoped I could show them some kind of light. We headed back to our carepoints. Not a single person spoke. We all had sadness on our hearts and it was heavy. Oh the joys of Africa. Oh the sadness that is there as well.

Now my heart is prepared to face anything. The whole trip I hugged and loved on any child I could. No matter what that child had, I wanted to let them know they was loved. I wanted to see them smile and have a day where they didn't have to worry about a thing but to have fun.

On the trip we had an opportunity to feed the children. Talk about breaking your heart. We fed them rice and beans. What was so awesome is that while seeing it being prepared you would think it wouldn't be enough. We served each child a bowl of rice and beans. They carried bowls, buckets, I even saw one that had a plastic sack to fill just so it could eat. If you could put food in it, they had it to eat out of. The more and more we served, the more and more God provided food. I literally watched the food fill containers and God added more and more to them. Just when you thought you was going to run out, God filled it again. Very touching moment that day.

We had a day where the nurse came to inspect some of the children. We gathered them in a huge group and asked who was sick. Funny thing is that no matter if they felt awesome, all of a sudden they started coughing. They was just starving for attention. We had a few that needed some meds and they was evaluated and checked. You could just look at their eyes and tell if they was sick. Redness in the corners would be so dark red, you could tell they hurt in some way. One little girl I feel in love with she was HIV positive. It was sad. She was one of the cutest and happiest girls you'd ever meet though. She was full of life no matter what. I could tell hundreds of stories of Africa that year. I could write a whole book on just that trip alone. It was pretty obvious God was working on us while Jen and I was there.

The trip was coming to a close and for the first time on any mission trip I wasn't ready to go home. I felt like I was, but also felt it could just be the feeling you get when you like something that strong. We returned home and everything changed in our minds. The way we viewed things, the way we spent money, the way we traveled. We began praying God would use us in a special way to speak for Swaziland. Each night when we slept we would have dreams of the children singing. It was just like we was there. You could hear the songs and see them dancing. Jen would wake up talking about her dream, and it would be just like mine. God's voice began speaking again to my heart. Swaziland He would say. I knew what He meant but wasn't ready to hear that just yet. Jen and I would talk about what if we gave our full attention to Swaziland. Maybe full time missionaries? I just felt like at that point in my life I needed more self evalutaion with God. I didn't say no, but did ask He build me and prepare me more before we went down that path. I never heard Him say it again. Jen and I would speak of it some, but when we did we felt comfortable staying put. We shared with our close friends (Hildebrants) about what God was saying. They said they had been hearing it too. Awesome. Next thing we know they are moving there. Sweet. To this day God has used them in such an awesome way.

The year is coming to a close and Swaziland was the highlight. We prayed, talked, and thought about it everyday. Everyone we spoke to had to hear about it. It stayed in our minds forever. The new year was approaching and new adventures was present.

2010

We said this would be the year that we would focus on us. We needed some time to ourselves to regroup and rethink our process. In June Mission of Mercy would be traveling to Dominican Republic. The group was out of Oklahoma and I told Jen I wanted to go to see the children of the area and have a great time with some fellow okies.

Dominican was awesome. Met some very nice people. Got to see how many was affected by the earthquake out of Haiti which was next door to this country. The whole trip though I thought about Swaziland. It was a constant reminder every time I held a child. I felt very guilty that I didn't give those children a chance of my best love due to everytime I held them, I thought about the children of Swaziland. We traveled to a border town and went through the local market. If I would have had my wallet in my back pocket I would have been mugged three times. It was hilarious the things they tried to do to steal from me. Sad at the same time. They was just trying to survive the best they could in the crisis they was in. I traveled with a local friend, and on that trip I met some of my bestest friends I could ever have. We all stay in contact to this day.

I came home and told Jennifer of the trip. I told her all about the new friends. But I did tell her that in 2011 I wanted to go back to Swaziland, but I wanted it to be a trip we put together and led. We prayed about it and began the whole process of orginizing the trip.

...stay tuned to hear about our last trip to Swaziland...its the year God reminds us of how to be an Acts 1:8 couple...and its the year He guides us to our final destination!

Remember to look at photos on FB..I have the photo of the small child being held by the mother that passed away. A heartbreaking moment of 2009.