Dear Family & Friends

Wow, I don’t even know where to start....It seems like it’s been so long since I last wrote. I don’t know how many of you read my blog, but I am trying to update that at least once a week.

So much has happened since I last wrote a newsletter. Let me start by saying...God is good, all the time! We have been on outreach now for just over a month. We started our trip by going to Swaziland; it was an awesome time. We arrived at the YWAM base in Mbabane (the capital) on the 17th of December. We also found out that when we crossed the border Bob would be able to drive, as long as his license is in English, and he is not staying anywhere for more than a month. So, that was a good thing, as it took some of the stress off the other driver. When we first starting praying about what God wanted us as a team to do in Swaziland, the word that most people received was “servants” - we wanted to be servants to the people of Swaziland; to show them God’s love in everything we did. Here are just a few of the things we did while there:

- We were able to go and spend a few days in the hospital doing mercy ministry. It was amazing to show people God’s love and to see how responsive they were to hearing the gospel. I was even able to minister to a wife of a gentleman that was in the hospital. It was amazing and then at the end of the conversation, both her and her husband said the salvation prayer! We were also able to spend some time in the abandoned children’s ward and just sit with these kids that live in the hospital 24/7 as they have no one to take care of them. They range in age from newborn to teenager.

- We went, with the local Alliance church, to an orphanage one Saturday afternoon - it was amazing time and to tell you that these kids didn’t capture our hearts would be a lie. As a team we fell in love with each of them and they ranged from about 5 years old to 15 years old. We wanted to do something special for them on Christmas Day, so we went out and bought a whole bunch of toiletries and a gift for each of them. Then on the afternoon of Christmas Day, we went and spent the day with them. We even bought meat and ended up having a braai (BBQ) and just enjoyed the day with them. You should have seen them opening their gifts - it was just so special! They were so thankful for everything. It was such an awesome time and our entire group realized that it truly is better to give than to receive. To say goodbye to them when we left was very hard. Bob and I really fell in love with two little girls; they are 7 year old twins. They only speak a little English, but, wow, if I could have picked them up and taken them home with me, I would have in a second!!

- One day, we spent working in a garden for one of the churches in the villages. They needed weeding done and so we did that for about four hours in the sun - it was a good time and lots of hard work. The only bad part was, as we were leaving, I slipped and fell down a hill and ended up scraping my leg pretty bad and found out later that I had broken one of my toes. I didn’t go to the doctor as I have broken toes before and knew the pain. Also, the fact that my toe was so swollen and bruised - I could tell right away.

- Another day we were able to go to a different orphanage and help there with painting the outside of a 26ft storage container and doing some more yard work.

- One amazing adventure occurred during our last week in Swaziland. We were told we were going to face “the great outdoors”. We ended up heading about two hours from the base to this village where we had no running water, no power, and no flush toilets! It was an amazing time and we all agreed that it was one of the best experiences we could have had. We ended up staying in round huts and sleeping on foam mattresses on the ground, covered with mosquito nets. We worked with the locals. One day, we girls worked in the garden while the boys worked on helping one of the churches put a roof on. Where we stayed is a project from a pastor originally from Alaska (his wife runs the orphanage that we painted the container for) and they started this project and they employ locals to help with everything and all the food that they grow goes to help the local orphans who still live at home, but have no parents as they have passed away. We were even able to go and meet one such family. The oldest was an 18 year old girl and she has been raising her three younger brothers for many years. She has given up so much so that she can stay with her brothers; she was an amazing woman of God. We ended up taking her out one day and spoiling her, as she had never really been spoiled as she always had to be the adult.

- The other thing we got to experience while we were in the village, was the Zionist Church. I was not able to attend the church service, as our group had to split into 3 groups to go to 3 different churches, but Bob was able to attend. The Zionist Church is very big in Swaziland but they are very liberal and believe that everything is okay. Some people are into witchcraft and into prayers to the ancestors. I was able to be there for the last half hour of their church service (their services last about 4 hours) and at the end, they were taking people by the head and spinning them to remove the demons. When the service was done they told us we had to stay and eat with them. I admit I was nervous and then, when I got the plate, I was even more worried! On the plate was goat meat!!! And not just any part of the goat - it was stomach lining!! Apparently that is the best part of the goat...I was not sure what I was going to do, as I just couldn’t eat it, and I knew that it was rude to not eat it. Even the smell made me gag, it smelled like pooh. (One of the guys told me later it was because it was not properly cleaned before they gave it to us!!!) I was praying and trying to decide what to do, when one of the guys from my team asked if he could have my meat as apparently I had been given one of the best parts!!!! SAVED!!! Needless to say, I had my back to the pastor and my brother ate the meat off my plate. Then one of the other guys asked if he could eat the rest of my rice as he could see I was having trouble. I was very thankful to both my brothers that day!

This past Friday we went and got our visas for Mozambique. We left Swaziland on Monday morning (the 14th) and headed to where we are now, Beira, Mozambique. When we left Swaziland we thought that it would only take us about 14 hours to get here, as it was two hours to the border and then from there it was only 1100 km to Beira. Needless to say, we were so wrong! Once we crossed the border we experienced the corruption of the police here. They see a white person driving (or just in the vehicle) and they pull you over and try to get money out of you. But God is faithful and took care of us. The roads once we got into Mozambique were so bad; for about one hour we had good driving highway and then for the next two hours Bob could only drive 40km/hr as there were HUGE holes in the middle of the road! Also, because we kept on driving through the night, all the gas stations were closed and so we ended up running out of gas twice. Once we were in a very small town and one of the local truckers sold us some of his petrol and then the second time, we ended up having to push the kombi about 4km up and down hills until a missionary couple stopped and gave us a tow into the closest town. So a trip that we had thought was going to take about 12 hours ended up being over 30 hours long!! But God is faithful in everything! We have been here for two days and this place is unlike anything I could even imagine. It is beautiful and yet poverty is all over. Today we went to a village and did some evangelism. I know that God has plans for us and we are just happy to be a part of whatever He wants to do through us. We went to see the ocean the first night we were here, but we went through the community and it was so dark and I admit a little scary. I have been told there is a nicer part of the beach that we haven’t seen yet, so hopefully we will be able to see it soon. Well, this is getting longer than I expected so I guess I should get going. If ever you want to read more about our adventures, I try and update my blog once a week. So, then you can read more. Right now we are in the hottest seasons of Mozambique and so the temperature is just so hot!!! We are all constantly sweating...we just can’t stop! LOL.

Prayer points

My skin, it is doing good, but I have also been taking medication (prednisone) every day to help. But I don’t want to have to rely on it, so please pray that even though it is so hot, my skin will be able to handle the heat.

The team: As a team we are doing well in unity but still need prayer. We know that God has big plans for us here and when the need is great then the enemy wants to come in and steal everything from us.

Thank you everyone for your love and prayers!

Love, Bob & Kristy