Join the Mission Team for Africa 2008!
Updates from Africa Mission Team July 12, 2008 Great News! The work we were sent to do at Lomngeletjane is complete. On our 1st day, we traveled up to the Methodist school in the beautiful hills outside of Manzini, SD, and came upon a new school, which will take the place of the old school. Imagine us, scrambling out of the kombie (van) and seeing cows in the schoolyard. One of our tasks was to fence in the schoolyard with diamond mesh (chain link) and barbed wire fence (no one was seriously injured in this task but some of us did fall into the post holes.) The funny part is that in Swaziland cows are allowed to graze anywhere and that means even in your frontyard, except during growing season, so we were building the fence to keep the cows OUT and in the USA, we build fences to keep the cows in. We fenced over ½ mile, including a car gate on one end of the property and a pedestrian gate on the other side. The main reason for the fencing to be installed is because Chris has plans for the school to have an orchard of fruit trees, which will be donated by someone in the community, and a garden for vegetables so the children will be able to learn to grow them and also the children will have food to eat while at school. Anthony Riquelmy For more details and pictures, visit Chris McClain’s blog at: Chrisinswaziland.blogspot.com.
The second task we completed at Lomngeletjane Methodist School was building three partitions to separate a large classroom into two rooms. We used lumber that we had purchased out of the project mission fund and "donated" sheets of plywood, which were in bad shape. We measured, sawed, and hammered frames for each opening and then we began attaching the plywood to the frames. This was much more work then we anticipated since each piece of plywood was different in size and width and after much unnailing and resawing, the partitions finally were built and put into place. The best part about this week was working side by side with folks from the local community and creating new friendships and lasting memories. Finally, we want to send our love to our family and friends who have supported our mission. Keep on praying.
Leigh Hilliard
Kelly Voorhies
Steve Bixler
Jul 9, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, we made it to Swaziland!! This is an amazing and beautiful country and we are very glad to be here. We arrived and unloaded and then went up to the church and were greeted by Absolom and Thobile, two circuit stewards for St. Paul’s Methodist Church. They also had some of the youth come to meet and greet us and sang beautiful songs for us. Then one of the local ladies prepared a common Swaziland meal for us to take back to our house and eat. It was a wonderful meal and really hit the spot. We shared in our devotional for the evening and then spent a lot of time journaling as we had lots to record because we had already been gone for 3 days. WHEW!
So, today was our first day of work. We went to a school about 20 minutes away. There we were able to look around, take LOTS of pictures, peek in on the children that were in class and scope out what in the world we were supposed to be doing. After what seemed like a very long time, which is normal for a first day, we set out to get the Y posts pounded into the ground and attached the barbed wire that the local guys and ladies were also working on today. It is next to impossible to share all the emotions and interactions that went on so I am struggling to write this email. I wish I could express more of what has gone on but I suppose we will have to save this until we return and have the pictures to support our stories.
Our team is growing together in a way that is such a gift from God. Thank you all for your love and support, that allows us to even be here. May God give you a special blessing for being a part of making this happen.
I know that Chris has some pictures ready to update on her blog. You may be able to gleen some more info and ideas about our trip from there. Check it out at chrisinswaziland.blogspot.com!
Know that we are thinking about you and will try to send another email in a few days.
Love in Christ,
Kelly