May 25 (day 3)

Wednesday

Today was incredible! The team met down at the trashcans around 8am and we walked down the road to the RFM Hospital located on the mission station. Amy took us on a tour and it's just unbelievable the difference between that hospital and the hospitals we have back home in the States. For the most part the hospital was outside, except for when you walked into the different units. She showed us the kitchen they are renovating, the pharmacy, the labor and delivery unit, and we also got to go into the children's ward and see the kids. They are so precious.

[By the way, Amy and her husband Andy are the on-site coordinators from Bethany Church of the Nazarene. They've been serving in Swaziland for the past year, doing basically whatever the church needs them to do, including organizing trips like this one, plus many other things.]

Once our tour was complete we walked down to the Hynd House to meet the ladies of the HIV/AIDs tasks force. These ladies go out into rural areas and check on sick patients who are unable to get out or who just really need support. They go and deliver food, check on health status, pray and just be an encouragement to these people. So, that's pretty much what we did as well. We organized some food (like peanut butter, corn oil, beans) into buckets and we took these buckets to the people and prayed with them and what not. Our group split into two teams so we could reach everyone that needed to be reached. It didn't hit me until later how much these women are sacrificing to do what they're doing. No matter how far they have to go or whether they have to climb up a rocky slope or not, these ladies go on and show the love of Christ to these people. It was just so incredibly humbling to be a part of that today.

And it was awesome to witness the joy and gratification of the people we saw. In one instance we went to see this one man, however he wasn't at his home. This older woman was there, though, and she tried to help us track him down (with no success). But she was so thankful that we had come to see this man, that she gave Joe Noonen (MVNU leader) a bed mat. These people have very little, but they are so willing to give up what they have. It was awesome.

We also got to see some kids, which just made my day:) I would just stick my hand out the window and wave and they would wave back and it was great. We went to one school to visit this girl and there were several kids outside that we all got to love on for a bit. I got to hand out some of the candy that I brought and I just wanted to give the whole bag to them, but I didn't so I could save some for later in the week. But they were just so joyful and excited to be loved and I just loved every second and I wish I didn't have to leave them.

After a long but incredibly rewarding day we eventually made it back to the mission station. We dropped off the boys at their flat and Kayla Allen, Chelsea Connor and I decided to get out and walk back. So glad that we did because the kids were just getting out of school and we got to walk along with them and take pictures and hand out silly bands and what not. They were so fun and they loved getting their picture taken! "Shoot me, shoot me!" It was great.

This evening Team B has just been hanging around at the girls' flat, talking, what not. Team A is still away with TLC, so who knows when they'll be back. Today was seriously incredible and so exciting to see how God has been working through the task force and how He's already been stirring the hearts of our team. Tomorrow we're headed out with the SIFE team, so I'm looking forward to that, talking about hygiene, and seeing some kiddos:)