Swaziland News from the Jordans

The World Cup has come and gone in South Africa and it has been deemed a huge success! The World Cup had never been held in Africa and this was a proud continent during the month. Great unity has come from this undertaking and the witness for Christ was enormous. Praise the Lord!

A report indicated that the fears of what would happen with youth being exploited and sex workers being brought in by the masses did not come to pass. One worker in that trade said that World Cup fans had indicated, “we are here for soccer not for sex.” Praise God!

We have to admit we got in on the excitement as we watched endless hours of the games, even bought a vuvusela. We were proud the USA went on to be in the final 16 but sorry they didn’t go further. However, if they had to get beat we were glad it was by an African team. As much as we wanted Ghana to win, they just couldn’t pull it off. Now we are having World Cup withdrawals. They called it PCD (Post Cup Depression). By the way, we just heard that this World Cup was the safest ever, which is amazing for South Africa. God’s people prayed and He answered.

This past Saturday I (Belinda) had a reunion for the pastors’ wives’ fellowship started back in 2001. It was so good having these women together again to renew friendships, visit, pray and eat. (see picture) Some of the husbands of this group are no longer pastors, which is a real prayer concern.

Speaking of the previously mentioned prayer concern, we have been saddened as we go to the little struggling churches that were once thriving. We look around and notice the leadership once there is now missing whether it is a pastor or other church leaders. Several of the churches are in desperate need of God called pastors. In the past, pastors have been appointed one way or the other. Of course, that never works. Please pray for God to work in the hearts of godly men who would answer the call to be pastors.

Please continue praying for the National Youth Camp beginning in less than six weeks. Pray for youth who come to meet God and not just their friends. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of those who haven’t accepted Christ. Pray for those who have accepted Him to grow spiritually. Pray for our team from First Baptist Belton (Grant, Jenna, Brett, Courtney and Daphne) as they make preparations physically and spiritually. Also pray for Swaziland’s new True Love Waits representative, Kym Pennington. She will be here before and during camp.

I (Al) must tell you my experience of going to a rural church Sunday over the worse roads ever. I know we have told you about the roads here before but I just thought other roads were bad. Actually, I think I might have lost a few pounds since I was bounced around so much. (the picture attached doesn’t do the road justice) After finally making it to the church site and running a little late we noticed no one was there. Then I found that the chief had called a meeting of the people in the area to elect a new representative to parliament. Since there was another one of our churches in close proximity I decided to go there. A few youth had gathered with two Adult women. One of the youth tried, and I do mean tried, to play a keyboard and it was just horrible. I prayed the Lord would help me worship in spite of what I was hearing. The Swazi people sing very well without accompaniment. I think maybe even God had His ears plugged this morning listening to the keyboard. Of course I was expected to preach and had a youth from another church interpreting for me. Several times she had to ask, “what did you say?” and looked to others for help in interpreting a word or phrase. I had to remind myself that God’s word does not return void even in the midst of seeming chaos. I do need to give the young lady credit though since she has just started trying to interpret. Needless to say, I was exhausted when I got home. Most of our experiences are positive but I thought you would appreciate hearing this story so you would know to especially pray for us on the weekends as we go to the different churches for worship and/or Bible study.

Thank you for hanging with us in prayer during these six months. We appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.

Al and Belinda