I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in a while, so that means this is going to be a big one! Buckle up!
Since I last posted, we left South Africa and took our 30-hour road trip up to Swaziland! We were reunited with the rest of our squad, who had been doing ministry separately in South Africa, and it was such a sweet reunion.
After a couple of days of rest, we started ministry in Swaziland! I absolutely LOVED ministry in this country. We worked with care points in different communities around our base. Care points are basically afterschool feeding programs for the kids, but they do so much more than just that.
While we were there, we did house visits in the mornings before the kids arrived, and they were AMAZING! They were definitely tough—walking 30 minutes in a UV index of 14 is no joke, and talking to random strangers isn’t exactly in my comfort zone. Even though they weren’t the easiest, they grew to be the highlight of my day. We built super sweet relationships with the ladies in the community, and we even witnessed healings!
I’ll post a separate blog just about those because it was amazing, and this blog is already getting so long!
After house visits, we would wait at the care points for the kids to arrive after school. You could always tell when they were coming because a stampede of about 100 kids would sprint toward the base, so excited to see us. They would come running in, give us the biggest hugs, and we’d jump straight into games.
From playing hand games like “Double Double This This” to their own siSwati games to running around playing tag or “touch,” we did it all. Anything we could do to love on the kids, we did—even if that meant getting our hair ripped out and tangled at the “hair salon” or getting tickled nonstop.
Even though the days were physically exhausting, they were the most fulfilling, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Holding the kids and staring into their eyes and being filled with so much love really makes me think of how much more love God has for us.
Our base in Swaziland was such a sweet place for our squad to grow even closer. There wasn’t really anything to do except hang out with each other. There were bunk rooms inside, but we all stayed in our tents because the rooms had the biggest and scariest-looking bugs I have ever seen. Everywhere was hot, but the porches or the main room were probably the coolest spots, so that’s where everyone would hang out.
We also didn’t have service or WiFi, so it was a great time to unplug and grow deeper in relationships. I had so much fun doing the most random things with friends out of boredom, as well as having some super sweet conversations. I really grew to love the simplicity of life here so much. I loved my time in Swaziland so much!
My parents also got to visit me, which was amazing! I missed them so much, so it was so cool to see them, talk for hours, and show them everything I have been doing. We got to go to the care points together, and seeing them play with the kids made my heart melt!
After my parents left, we had our squad debrief in Kruger National Park, which was so cool! We went on a safari, hung out, and reflected on our time in Africa before moving on to the next location. Then, we had Awakening! Awakening was so fun—three squads in Africa overlapped, so we all met up for teachings and worship. It was amazing to meet them and share stories of what God has been doing on the race, not just in our squad but across all the teams.
This brings me to where I am now—because I am no longer in Swaziland! We arrived in Batam, Indonesia, a couple of days ago! After two plane rides to Singapore, a really sad goodbye to the rest of the squad who went to Malaysia, and an hour-long ferry ride, we made it to our home for the next two months. I am so excited to do ministry here, and I will post another blog about what it’s like once we start so I can give you a better idea of what ministry looks like!
Thank you for all your prayers and support,
Romy
Dancing in the rain
siSwati game
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