A photo of our introductory meeting ...

Swaziland Relief 10th summer team

Hello everyone. 

Today marked a milestone in the work of Swaziland Relief.  We held an introductory meeting for the 2016 Swaziland Relief summer team.  This year is a milestone because it markes the 10th summer team. 

Please pray for Swazi people as even now they are facing a severe drought that is crippling their agriculture and cattle herds.  I also ask that you begin to pray for the members of this year's team.

Thanks and God bless you!

The Imbalance of Giving

Happy New Year!

Following Christmas this year I got to thinking a great deal about the magi, those "wise men from the east" who visited Jesus bearing gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense, as told in Matthew 2:1-12.  

Here's why:  

My nephew bought his mom a very expensive present this year for Christmas, on his own initiative, and with his own money which he had been saving to purchase a gaming console.  It was an extravagant gift, but I did not try to dissuade him.  I knew my sister was buying him a pretty extravagant gift as well.  Also, someone who learned about his gift to his mom bought him the gaming console anonymously.  It was sitting under the tree when my extended family gathered for Christmas dinner.  (Dear sister and nephew, if you are reading this hoping to find out who is responsible for buying the PS4, my answer is the same as it was on Christmas:  Santa Claus!)

The whole situation has made me think about extravagant gifts.  And also the inherent imbalance of giving.  

If one person transfers money to another person in exchange for goods, that is a purchase.

If one person transfers money to another person in exchange for services, that is a wage.

If two people exchange goods or services of equal value, that is a trade.

If one person receives goods or services from another where some recompense is expected in the future, that is a debt.

In each of these cases, some kind of balance exists or is expected.

But giving is inherently imbalanced.  A gift is some good or service transferred from one person to another without the expectation of recompense.  

Going back to the story of the wise men, you can see the connection.  They entered the house where Jesus was with his mother, and presented them with costly gifts.  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  It must have been staggering for Mary; the gifts of the magi constituted more wealth than she had ever seen before.  Certainly she could not hope to balance the gift.  

How do we respond when we receive extravagant gifts?  I think there are two reactions that are common, quite understandable, and nevertheless wrong.

One reaction is to refuse the gift.  "Oh, I can't accept that!"  "You really shouldn't have."

A second reaction is to look to create balance.  This is especially so when someone has done something for you, like help you move.  (I've had lots of people tell me that they "owe me one" after I have helped them move.  Some of my friends owe me two.  I probably won't ever collect.  But I am not looking to.  There's an imbalance of giving when helping people move.)

Of course, there is a twist to the story of the magi and the imbalance of their giving.  Although they could not possibly understand it at the time, they were laying treasure before the King of the universe!  The extravagance of their gifts pale in comparison to the gift of God that is salvation through Christ (Ephesians 2:8).  

Many people refuse this gift.  It seems too extravagant.  They either believe they do not need it or do not deserve it (in the second case, they are correct, but "deserving" has nothing to do with receiving a gift!  "Deserve" is a term related to balancing the books.)  

And certainly we know we can never repay it.  The grace of God is the ultimate gift, and the ultimate example of the imbalance of giving.

There's only one proper response to an extravagant gift.  It should be received with thankfulness, and the recipient should owe nothing except to love (Romans 13:8). 

That reminds me of a song, so I will leave you with this:

July 11 - a "sports day" in Madudula

One of the most important aspects of our annual trips to Swaziland is the building and maintaining of relationships with the local churches.  They are our hosts, our partners, and our friends; people we have worked alongside, in some cases, since 2007.  In pursuit of the goal of relationship-building, the past 2 years we have scheduled a recreational "sports day" in Madudula, for which all of the churches gather and compete in races and games.

The USA did not field a soccer team this year; the less said about our previous soccer teams, the better.  Suffice it to say that I was eligible to play again, because apparently the red card for dangerous play does not carry over from previous years.  Nonetheless, I did not come out of retirement to play this year.

The races were fun to watch.  There were separate divisions set up by age and sex.  The most interesting race to watch was the older women; I wish I had taken a photo of the bogogo (grandmothers) dashing across the field, but alas, I did not have my camera at the ready.  

Of course, where there is sport there is injury.  Two of our men pulled hamstrings during their races.  I got some pretty nice pictures of the injuries as they happened (not nice that it happened, but a well-captured shot of the action).

I also captured some interesting photos of the races as they finished, including one of team member Antwan winning by a finger ...

...  and the grin of a victorious pastor Themba Fakudze as his team defeated the US team in the 4x4 relay.  That was quite a race to watch.  Our 2nd runner was out in the lead when he stumbled and fell.  In a move that became a living parable, he got up and continued his race!  He actually made up some of the ground he lost and passed our teams baton on to the number 3 runner.  He gave us a picture of perseverance in the face of difficulty, and finishing the race!  Another living parable was when our 3rd runner passed the baton to our anchor man, his son.  

Two other new and interesting things I saw that day were the library at the school in Madudula, and the playground.  Both of these were the work of a Peace Corps worker who has been in Swaziland for the past year.  She was an invaluable help to us in communicating with the school.  She's back in the US now, but her legacy will live on in Madudula.

July 10 - spending a day in "Jersey"

On Friday, July 10th the Swaziland Relief team journeyed to another remote location where we had never gone before.  As was the case with Phangwini, I didn't know the name of the place until the day we actually headed there, so for purposes of identification (and in place of calling it "the place where we are going Friday) I dubbed this region "Jersey."

The name of the place is actually Nsubane, and it lay to the southeast in the shadow of the Lubombo plateau, which forms Swaziland's eastern border. 

There was no discernible village, just a few buildings including one small grocery and one general merchandise store.  The place was quite desolate.  There was evidence of the drought conditions that Swaziland is facing in the dusty fields bereft of any remaining grass and in the skinny cows that still attempted to graze on what meager plants remained.

In spite of the desolate conditions of the land, the people we met in Nsubane were joyous and welcoming.  I have often remarked that when we travel to the various regions in Swaziland, we are greeted "like rock stars."  Let me show you what I mean.  When our truck and vans pulled up to the building at Nsubane where we were going to be holding our clinic and distribution, we were greeted by a half dozen (or more) women who were dancing with joy!

Once we unloaded we followed our typical routine of setting up the clinic and the distribution.  Again we had a yellow and white circus tent to use for the distribution, and a cinderblock structure that housed the clinic.  We used one of our 22 passenger vans as the back "wall" of our distribution center, see the picture with the "shoe department" ready for action.  I also took a shot of our nurse Katie and our "pharmacist" Jason looking out of the clinic window toward the Lubombo plateau in the distance.

Before beginning the distribution and clinic, we held a service.  Pastor Angelo preached a powerful message of God's love and hope, and over 20 people came forward to receive Christ at Bishop Nelson's invitation.  The picture shows the people who came forward being prayed over by Pastor Harry Washington of Vision of Mission Tabernacle church in Philadelphia.

There were no other buildings nearby and no shelter handy from the intense sun (the sun is quite hot in Swaziland, even in winter), so we improvised for the prayer chapel by moving our other 22 passenger van to the side of the clinic building and placing chairs in the shade of the van for our chapel.

I spent most of my time in the prayer chapel in Nsubane (when I wasn't taking all these pictures).  Many people came for prayer for healing, blessing, encouragement, and protection.  One of the most moving moments was when a woman brought her son who was suffering from some kind of paralysis or weakening of his body (I'm not going to pretend to diagnose).  Each member of the prayer team took a turn holding this boy and praying for him.  Here is a picture of Pastor Van holding the boy.  You can also see his mother holding him in the photo with Pastor Harry praying (pink shirt and red skirt in the foreground).

I prayed for his healing, knowing that God can heal by medicine and by miracles.  He did not rise and walk that day, but I still have hope that he will rise and walk some day, if not on this earth, then in the world that is to come.

July 9 - Journey to "Delaware"

In 2015, the Swaziland Relief team visited two very remote villages that we had never visited before.  No one even seemed to know the name of the villages we were visiting when we asked about it, so I temporarily dubbed our destination on Thursday "Delaware" and our Friday destination "Jersey."  So, on July 9 we got up early and began our journey south to "Delaware."

Our trip took us as far south as we could travel while remaining in Swaziland, less than a mile from the southern border.  We then traveled for a short stretch along a highway that parallels the border, and ultimately turned north onto a dirt and gravel road.  Just after turning off the road, we waited for about 15 minutes for a guide to arrive to show us the rest of the way to the village.

It turned out that "Delaware" is actually called Phangwini.  We were received there with a joyous welcome!  We arrived just as some men in the yard were dressing a freshly slaughtered goat for their supper that evening (yes, I have pictures; no, I won't post them).  Our team took over the small building for our medical clinic and a small circus-style tent for the clothing distribution.  As the team set up, Pastor Van Moore preached a message of salvation and hope to the people waiting. 

On this day, I joined the prayer chapel team.  Once people have visited the distribution center and clinic, they are invited to visit the prayer chapel.  There our team prayed for healing, blessing, deliverance, encouragement, and protection.  It was a blessing to pray alongside the rest of the prayer chapel team.

It was a short work day; there were fewer people in Phangwini than we had seen in any of the other locations, likely because of the remoteness of the location.  After the distribution was complete, and while the clinic was finishing up, our team members taught some of the kids games.  Some learned to bat a wiffleball, and others played ultimate (although with no frisbee, they used a rubber dog chew toy).

Long drive home afterward, with a late supper and a team meeting following.  Tomorrow we head to "Jersey."

July 8 - Zindwendweni Day 2

On Wednesday July 8th the Swaziland Relief team traveled a second time to the remote village of Zindwendweni in southeastern Swaziland.  This time we were expecting a large crowd and planned a full-on distribution of clothing and shoes.  Our expectations were not disappointed.

Our morning began a usual with breakfast at the convent.  We had to get up early, thought, because we had a lot to do and a long drive again.  After breakfast we took the khombis (vans) to the main CMC church in Matsapha to load boxes for the distribution.

The method we use when deciding which boxes to load is orderly but not precise.  When we loaded the container back in May we sorted all the clothing donations by gender, adult or child, and size.  So when we load up for a distribution in Swaziland, we take a certain number of boxes marked "Men's S-M" or "Girls size 7-16" along with boxes labeled "shoes" or "coats."  We bring more women's and children's clothing because they make up the vast majority of the people that come for the distribution.

Once we had our boxes for the day selected and loaded (precariously) on a flatbed truck that was about the size of a Ford F-150, we made the 2 hour drive to Zindwendweni.

Once at the village, we were provided with four rooms of the school to use.  One was strictly for shoes, and the other three was for adult men, adult women (with or without small children), and children of either sex.  I was assigned to the "men's department."  Each department set up the room to facilitate movement through it, opened boxes, and sorted clothes by size and type.  For example, in the men's department, we sorted S-M and L-XL separately, and for each size we separated pants from shirts and cool weather shirts from sweaters and sweatshirts.  I also set up a station for the suits that we had.  The men, especially the older men, love to get suits and sportcoats.  

Once we were set up (a process taking about an hour) we started to take people through each of the departments.  The school's layout helped us here, because it consists of an open courtyard surrounded by all of the classrooms, with the doors facing in.  We were thus able to set up queues (that's "lines" to you Americans) in the courtyard that ended at the doors of the various departments.  

The distribution was very orderly, but there are always many people and the numbers swell throughout the day as new people arrive and those who were already served hang around.  I took the picture above from the doorway of the shoe department late in the day.  It is difficult emotionally to know that no matter how long we stay, we will run out of supplies long before we are able to meet every need.  But then, who can supply all of our needs except God alone?