Update on the Hoskins

Thank you for your prayers for a church for us. We are now attending Mphembekati Baptist Church outside of Manzini. It has been so nice to get to know the people there and worship as a part of the Body of Christ. I’ll describe the church for all who are interested. The pastor is Lloyd Dlamini. He works as a principal of a school in Phuzumoya and is also taking courses at the university. Yesterday we had about 18 people in Bible Study (Sunday School for youth and adults) and probably somewhere around 25 kids in Sunday School. The church is currently meeting in a one-room wooden building with a tin roof and a traditional dung floor. We split up during Sunday School time, and the youth and adults move benches from the church outside under a tree. We’re slowly learning the songs and are getting better at picking out words here and there. The children from church will be coming to the radio station on March 12th for a tour, and we’re going to have them up in our house for a snack afterwards (you may remember that we live above a radio station). We’ve never been the destination of a field trip before, and we feel pretty special. The church will be moving sites sometime in the near future since a teacher’s home is being built on the land that the church is currently using.

We have a motivation for continuing language learning. Although we don’t pick up a whole lot quite yet, we do recognize when someone says, “Hoskins.” Recently our ears have perked up as our name has been used to volunteer our services. Todd was volunteered by Pastor Lloyd to help find a place for the Easter services. Deborah was volunteered by one of the ladies at church to help the children come up with a presentation for their visit to the radio station. Along with some of the pastors, Todd was able to help find a location for the Easter services. It might not be the best location in the world, but it’s a location. Deborah’s volunteer job is not looking so promising. While she can’t exactly teach siSwati songs yet, she does know some useful phrases for managing children like, “Everyone sit down!” and “Don’t drink beer!”

We are making more friends around town. Please pray that we will have wisdom in our relationships and opportunities to share about Jesus. Lucky Dlamini, one of Todd’s friends who works as a night guard at the building next to ours, has come over a couple of times to eat early breakfast with Todd. Bongekile, Nokukhanya, and Sihle, 5th and 6th grade girls from the school down the street, come a few afternoons a week to hang out with Deborah.

The Bible Training School’s first session is still planned for May 10th through May 13th. Please continue to pray for wisdom in figuring out how to make the school effective and self-sustaining.

Thank you for keeping up with our work. We appreciate your prayers!