Hello from Swaziland! We hope you are all doing well. We have had a busy few days and just wanted to send a quick update with some pictures. Sunday, we went to Hawane Baptist for a baptismal service. We arrived at about 11:00 to an extremely crowded church that had already started singing. Hawane has definitely outgrown their structure, and it was confirmed once again during the service. Somehow, we all fit inside the church and enjoyed a nice service. We greeted the church and shared with them briefly about different things that the Lord has been doing in our lives since we last were in Swaziland. As always, we enjoyed about an hour of singing and then about thirty minutes of testimonies before Steve began preaching at 12:30. At about 1:15 we began the baptisms. Four Swazis were baptized with ages ranging from about 15 to 70. This was the first time that both of us had been to a baptism, and we really enjoyed it. We have included a few pictures for you to see. Sunday night, we went to the International Bible Study that the Allens attend each week.
Monday, we spent the morning shopping at Swazi Candles and then went to the market in Ezulwini (the mile long one). After we had lunch at the mission house, we went to visit Maria’s blind friend. Maria goes to see her every Monday and reads the Bible to her. We walked to her house and stayed for a couple of hours and just talked. We read from Philippians and Ephesians and prayed together. She served us hot, roasted peanuts and some sweet potatoes. Yum.
Today, we left at about 8:15 to go with one of the Allen’s missionary friends, Teresa Rehmeyer, who works with HIV patients and breast cancer patients. We went to the breast cancer clinic with her in Manzini and were there for most of the day. Some of these women were just in for check-ups. Most do not have access to a mammogram machine because there is only one in all of Swaziland, and it is at a private clinic which they cannot afford. Others were bringing back results from the hospitals or other doctors. The doctor we were working with is from Cuba, which presented an additional language barrier. Teresa spent most of the time discerning what he was saying (when it was “English”), and then telling the Swazis (still in English). Sometimes, it took two different translators: the doctor spoke to Teresa who spoke to a translator to tell the patient in siSwati. As you can probably imagine, it was quite an ordeal with each and every patient, especially when they did not speak English. We learned a new meaning to the words “lost in translation.” We did enjoy our time at the clinic and learned a lot. Some of you may remember when Hunter worked with Teresa last year. There was a special little girl we worked with whose name was Lomasantfu. She was about 10-years-old and had an enormous tumor on the side of her face. Well, Teresa told us that she saw her this past Sunday, and she looks like any other little girl- healed, running around, and happy. The doctors had discovered that the tumor was in her bone; therefore, her entire jaw was replaced about 6 or 8 months ago in South Africa. She will probably have to get another prosthetic jaw put in as she gets older and grows, but she is doing so much better and is attending a church through another Christian organization. This was such great news to hear, and I know many of you are rejoicing with us upon hearing this news.
This afternoon, we met up with Monica at the Spar (the grocery store). Tomorrow is Lacie’s fifth birthday, so we were buying some things for her special birthday dinner. Tonight, we are just enjoying some time visiting together. The weather has been warmer the past few days, so we have not had a fire which both of us have been bummed about. J Apparently, this is a much warmer winter than usual, but we have been thankful for it. Tomorrow, Sandile is coming over for lunch, and we are so excited to see him. In the afternoon, we are going to Sibebe with Maria for her weekly Bible Study. Enjoy the pictures! We will write more soon!
Love, Hunter and Brinkley
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