Bailey Swager Africa - First Year Missionary

Be moved to compassion

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Right now there is a boy named Siyabonga staying at our house (this is the boy I've blogged about before and posted a picture.) He and two other boys came over on Friday, from my care point and stayed until Sunday. I brought them to church this Sunday and to return them to their families. Something I've been very concerned about for the past several weeks is Siyabonga's grandmother beating him. About a month ago while I was holding him I noticed a bunch of scars on his back and even some on his stomach and chest. I asked Thulie, the woman I help teach about them and she said it's from his grandmother beating him. Siyagbonga was "adopted" from a town about twenty minutes away from Manzini when he was younger. When I say adopted I mean he was more or less just given to her to take care of because his biological parents weren't capable to taking care of him before and culturally Swazis always take in other children where there is a need and no legal action is needed if they don't leave the country, which never really happens because most Swazis are very poor. Anyhow Thulie also told me that this adopted grandmother's only interest with taking him in was that his father sometimes comes around and gives money for Siyabonga. And other than that she doesn't really care about him, I was also told that she drinks a lot and gets angry when she's drunk. When he came over on Friday and I was going to give him a bath he showed me a new wound on his leg and told me that she had beat him the day before. So when I was bringing him home today there was no one at his homestead and he also started to cry really hard, all day he'd been saying that he didn't want to go home to his grandmother because he's scared of her. So as I was asking him questions through a translator, trying to decide what to do, and silently praying about the situation, both the two Swazi women I was with and I decided it would be best if he came with me that night. And I just couldn't leave him there not knowing what would happen to him that night. As I rode home I was really overwhelmed and confused for a number of reasons. 1. I didn't want to be mistaken or even fooled about the situation. As in he may be crying and saying that just so I would take him back to my house, because the way I live is much better than the way he lives, why wouldn't he want to come back? I just want my concern to be real and legitiment.

2. I have to leave him at his homestead sometime, I'm leaving the country on May 9th. I don't want to make him even more attatched to me and my friends which would only make it harder for him to return home.

3. I've had three little 4 and 5 year olds over all weekend, I'm tired. I have plans tomorrow... if I bring him home again I'll have to worry about him all day. And I'll never get time to myself.

As I'm thinking each of these thoughts over and over, just being overwhelmed and trying to hide my tears on public transportation I heard very clearly the Lord speaking to me... Bailey, don't worry about any of that. Don't let any of those thoughts stop you from doing what I tell you. If you do, that's not being moved to compassion. Being moved to compassion is giving of yourself sacraficially, not just giving. Doing whatever it takes to serve Me and My children that I love so much, and therefore, that you love so much.

Please pray for this situation. Pray that God would give me wisdom and guide me in what to do. Pray that doors would open up and we would be able to put Siyabonga with another family that will take care of him and love him. Ask that He would be in total control of this situation. That He would give me peace of mind and help me make the right decisions for this young boy.

I'll be home soon!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This past week there was a little girl at the care point, Bhobokazi, named Nokwethu had sores all over her little body. Even her butt was covered. I see this often, and it's often caused by worms infestation or scabies, but her case was extreme. So Kate, my leader, picked her up from the care point and we took her to a pharmacy, and the doctor perscribed her an anti biotic and some other medicines. Her cousin, Simphiwe, who is about 14 also came with us to help her feel more comfortable. We took them to KFC (which is a really big dealhere!) for their first time! They also came over to our house for just an hour or so and Simphiwe got to takeher first shower! Maybe we should soak that in, that this girl who is 14 years old, has never seen running water inside a house... she has never eaten at a fast food resturaunt. And she's only one of many many children like that.
It's not sad for her, I think it's sad for us, the western world... myself included.

I can't believe how the days are just dwindling down with my time left. I'm very excited to return home and to testify to what the Lord has done!

Update

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This past week for family ministry on Saturday we went to the other care point I work at in Bhobokazi. We did something very similar to what we did at Timbutini, but without the bounce house, music, and slip and slide because there is no electricity there and also not very much room. We had face painting, bobbing for apples, we made noodle necklaces, water balloon toss, relay races, and the limbo! I know the kids really enjoyed it. We also presented the gospel to them, and I pray that it was affective, and even if those kids never remember my name, it's okay I pray they will remember the name of Who I serve. I told them why I was there, only because of Jesus, and because He told me to go and to love them and be friends with them.

We're coming down to just about the last month here. I can't believe this long journey is almost coming to a close. Please pray that the Lord would continue to transform me on this trip. And that he would work in and through me for His Kingdom.

Updates from Swaziland

Mon, 7 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Last weekend I had two little boys from my care point in Timbutini over to our house for the weekend. Their names are Siyabonga and Sbura. Siyabonga is about 5 years old, lives with a gogo that "adopted" him (and by adopted I mean she took him in because his biological parents weren't capable of caring for him... that's just how the Swazi culture works.) Sbura is about 3 years old and lives with his mother who also cooks at the care point, so I know her pretty well. When they came over they got more hugs, kisses, and tickles than they could handle from my team. Little Sbura seemed a little overwhelmed the first night but was more comfortable the next day. They got lots of new clothes, most of them were donated from America by one of my team mate's parents who came to stay with us for a week. I took them into town and we ate at KFC and they got ice cream. I later found out that this was Siyabonga's first time there! I can't even imagine what have must been going through his little mind. They also got two bubbles bathes in our really big tub, which they seemed to love as well. It was tiring looking after both of them the whole weekend, but well worth it. It was so nice to bless them like that, and in the end I know they've blessed me more than I've blessed them.

Just this Saturday, two days ago, we had family ministry at my care point in Timbutini. My team mate, Erin, teaches grade 1 at a school close to the care point, so this day was also for her kids to come because most of them live in the area. It was like a big carnival with a bounce house, face painting, balloon animals, music, ring toss, bobbing for apples, cake walk (but with candy instead) crafts for making necklaces. We had well over 100 kids show up!!! It was so great! We first split the children into teams and did stations for the first hour or so, switching every ten minutes so they would get a chance to do everything. Then we presented the gospel, two of my friends did an awesome job with that. Then we handed out hot dogs (which by the way, no Swazis have ever heard of) and ice pops. Then we had kind of free time that was mostly the bounce house and slip and slide! It was so fun and I know the kids really enjoyed themselves.

This past week I was asked by Thulie, the lady I help teach with at the care point, to go and pray for a man who was very sick. This man is named Sabi and in his mid thirties. He lives on a homestead by himself and apparently had not been eating for a few days by the time Thulie found out about his condition. No one in his family really cares about him, and say that because he's in his thirties he should be able to care for himself, but he's very sick. He was basically unresponsive and when he tried to speak it was very hard for him, he was very weak and couldn't even feed himself. The next day my leader was able to drive out there and we took him to a phsyciatric hospital where we sat most of the day, when they were able to sit with him, we were told he had to go to a regular medical hospital to get a drip, and also to be referred to this hospital by a doctor. So he went to the main hospital in Manzini, where he stayed over night in the emergency room. This hospital is awful and any American would be disgusted at the injustice that is shown here. The next morning the doctors told us we should take him back to the phsyciatric hospital. So we wheeled him there in a wheelchair, because we had no other name. We waited a few hours again at this hospital and finally the doctor was able to see him. When the doctor was able to evaluate him and his condition, Thulie and I were told that he could not be admitted "in his condition" and my first thoughts were, "What do you mean? He's here becuase he's in this condition!" But because he's basically unresponsive and so weak, if he needed to fight of any of the violent patients he wouldn't be able to defend himself. Well, me being a sinner that needs grace daily, became fustrated and very stressed at this point. Now he has to be trasnported back to his home in the rural area and now has medicine that he must take everyday. Thulie told me not to worry, that we must accept things as they come, and trust in God that He will heal Sabi. And at that point I didn't want to hear that, I just wanted to be angry at this sad situation, because that's the easy thing to do. But later, even the next day, as I prayed for the situation, God told me that Thulie was so right. He also convicted me of not trusting Him fully and allowing Him to guide my life. He was telling me that Thulie was not stressing because she trusts Him and knows that He knows what He's doing. I've learned so much from this awesome woman of God. She is a widow mother with four children, sick herself, and now is going to Sabi's house everyday, twice or three times a day, to cook for him and give him medicine. Talk about living like Jesus. We can all learn something from this woman. I haven't been able to visit Sabi the past two days but I've been told he's getting stronger and seems to be doing better. Please pray for this situation and that the Lord would have compassion on His son and heal him.

There seems to be problems with my recieving mail from any of you in the states. Here is my address again, just to make sure there are no mistakes in the one you may have:

Bailey Swager

c/o Julie Anderson

P.O. Box 5526

Mbabane, Swaziland, Africa

I'm not ashamed!

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday I was praying that God would teach me something. I felt like it had been a while since He ministered straight to my heart and spoke to me. So I continued to pray and the Lord convicted me of times in the past and even the present when I've felt weird and been timid to talk about God in front of people who aren't Christians, and also people who've seen me blatantly live in sin. When I say weird, I'm really just trying to get around the fact that I even felt embarassed and ashamed. You see, I gave my life to Christ when I was fifteen, the summer before my sophomore year. And that's when I thought I had changed my life. But shortly after each mission trip I would come down from my spiritual high, let life happen and would fall away from Him. It's easy to fall away from the Lord when you're not serious about living for Him, when you're not focused on Him and seeking His kingdom first. So I went to church on Sundays, went on church retreats, mission trips, was involved in youth group and other things a good christian should do, but I was still choosing to walk and live in sin, away from church. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't all fake... I loved the Lord, I really and truly loved Him. That's because He created me to worship Him, and I knew in my soul that all I really wanted to do in life was grow closer to Him. But I was selfish. The bible says we must die to ourselves, and pick up our crosses daily and follow Him. And because I told people that I loved God but still sinned in many ways, some in secret, some publicly... I developed this fear that if I shared my faith with someone who knows about sins that I've commited, they would judge me. If they find out how much I love Jesus they may look at me differently, laugh at me, talk about me behind my back. But the Lord is saying to me, " OF COURSE THEY WILL!

I TOLD YOU THAT BECAUSE I WAS PERSECUTED, YOU WILL ALSO BE PERSECUTED!"

In Matthew 10:16-20 Jesus is talking about sending out his disciples to preach the word. He says this, " Look, I'm sending you out as sheeps among wolves so be as shrewd as snakes and as harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over in the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don't worry about how to respond or what to say, God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking - it will be the Spirirt of your Father speaking through you."

Luke 21:16-20 "Even those closest to you - your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends - will betray you. They will even kill some of you. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But not a hair on you head will perish! By standing firm, you will win your souls."

God has revealed to me that this EXACTLY what I need to share with the world. Exactly what I need to let everyone see. Let them see the change and transformation in me that only comes from the Lord. This is my story, it's the truth, it's my salvation, and it has to be shared no matter the cost.

How selfish am I to be worried about some people judging me, what they might say about me when I'm not around, when Jesus Christ was denied and rejected by so many people only to be beaten and hung on a cross to die, all for God? That's something to really think about. Really meditate on and let it get deep into your soul. It's easy for me to type this up and post it on the internet for the whole world to read. But it takes real courage to be able to share your faith with those you're scared to share with and those closest to you. Who've seen all your ways, good and bad, who can hold you accountable for a lot of things you've done in your life.

Happy Easter!

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I hope everyone who's reading this had a good Easter. Mine was very nice. Interesting, but nice. We all went out to a rural area called Nsoko. We don't go there very often because it takes over an hour in the car and it costs too much to take public transportation out there. It was raining very hard that morning (which is very unusual for Swaziland) and when we got to where the service was held, we discovered that all the land we had to walk on was no extremely muddy. It was so funny because here we all are dressed in our Sunday best, walking through mud up to our ankles! It was everywhere and eventually we weren't worried about the mud on our feet just trying to be careful not to fall, because that would make this situation all the worse. Just another funny memory to take home with me! Anyhow a man named Gary Black has lived here in Swaziland with his family from America for about the last year. He is opening a community sort of thing for the community there. It will consist of a care point, a market for women to work in front, housing for orphans, fields to plant crops also for people to have work and sustain themselves, also fun things like basketball courts and soccer fields. As of right now they only have a couple building. But Easter Sunday they had a big service that was sort of the opening of this community and the blessing of the pastor. They plan to have several of these throughout Swaziland in the future. Andrew Shearman, a pastor from America, who also spoke at the training camp I went to in September came and spoke several times this week. He gave a sermon at the service and it was really good. Just encouraging the Swazi people to become strong Christians who won't negotiate with hell. Not baby Christians that are lukewarm and only try to look holy on Sundays.

This week we were told that we have something ridiculous like only six weeks left of ministry, and that our last day of ministry will be May 7th. It's weird to hear that and actually recognized that I'm in the ending times of my time in Swaziland. And to be honest, it makes me very sad. Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely looking forward to coming home and seeing all my family and friends, but I am going to really miss the new friends I've made here. The Lord has given me such a heart of compassion for the kids I work with at Timbutini. I mean I really really love those kids, I don't want to have to think of May 7th. I think I've actually had a little idea of what it's like to have your own children and to love them so much with everything you have. I don't want to leave them.

Please continue to pray for the situation I blogged about last week. It was decided last week that the government would work for two weeks try to negotiate something by this Friday, the 28th and if nothing is resolved the workers will strike again. I believe the factory workers' pay has been increased by 10% but other Swazis are still concerned that won't have fixed the problem completely and there still may be strikes. Just pray that the Lord would reign over this situation, and that He would bring peace. But mostly, that His will would be done.

We need prayer!

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This week for family ministry we all went to a care point that two of my team mates, Ashley and Lindsey, teach at. We did a fun day for all the kids and ladies there. We had face painting, balloons, bubbles, cookies, relay races, games, some of my team mates also did a drama and lesson from the bible. It was great and I think all the kids definitely enjoyed it more than we did.

Two days ago I went to church in Timbutini (also the carepoint where I teach) It was a really great and refreshing service. Dennis, a missionary living here from America, gave a sermon. His sermon was so good and just what I needed. It's so easy to become drained while on the mission field in another country, mostly because they have entirely different theology than we do, and they don't speak english... sure there's a translator but most the time they're yelling over each other and it's hard to understand them. His sermon was mainly for the youth. At one point in his sermon he was talking about how the Lord just really spoke to him about the children in Timbutini. Every Sunday the church is packed, mostly with kids.The kids continue to come to church because at church they feel loved. He was telling us how God told him that He was busy raising up these children to be the leaders of Swaziland. That even though some people look at particular situations in Swaziland and just say, "Hey, that is just how Swazi is, it's never going to change." or, "That's just how that person is, they're never going to change." The Lord looks upon His children with eyes of potential of what we can become. He doesn't look at us as what we're now, but what He will make us. He just encouraged the church that the Lord is looking at all of them with potential and is planning great things.

Please continue to pray for the Kingdom of Swaziland. Pray that the Lord truly would be busy raising up men and women to save their own country that is commiting suicide. Pray that the people would know that this whole Christian thing, church thing, God thing would be so much more than a religion. Pray that it would become real to them, it would become something that could and will save their lives. Pray that they would long to know God and live a life getting to know Him. Why am I only telling you to pray for Swaziland? The whole world needs this prayer. I need this prayer.

* This morning before I came to the internet, I was informed that the public transportation in Manzini was on strike. The employers at a factory in a nearby city went on strike a few weeks ago because they were not being payed fairly. Instead of fixing the problem, the factory just fired all the people. And because all these people are unemployed, several kumbies (the public transportation) have lost a lot of business because they're no longer going to work. In a joint effort to have the people rehired with better pay, all the public transportation has gone on strike and are refusing to take anyone anywhere. This is in efforts to get the government's attention, especially the King's. Please pray about this situation. If this problem doesn't become fixed soon we will run into bigger problems that we do not want to face. Please pray that God would hear our concern and reign over this situation.

Ngingu Bailey

Sat, 8 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Right now we are at Alabanza in South Africa for a four day prayer retreat. By the time we go back to Swazi on Monday it will be the half way mark of our trip! I couldn't believe it when someone brought it to my attention.

So I want to continue on the story about the baby Moses that I blogged about last week. The team brought him to the hospital and was admitted on Monday. Two girls from my team stayed with him all night and he died on Tuesday morning around 5am. Most people took it really hard. It's so difficult to even begin to try and understand why God would allow this to happen. Why would He allow the World Race team to save this baby after he starved for it's first month of life only to go and die after they didn't even have him for two weeks? If He is a God that makes the blind see, the lame walk, surely He is capable of saving this baby. Of course He is capable, He can do anything He wants! So why wouldn't He just do a miracle and allow this baby to survive? The truth is that there are many things in this world that we're just not meant to know. Maybe He knew that Moses was HIV positive and would have TB and would live a life of only suffering, and in the long run was saving him. We could guess or make up reasons as to why we believe the Lord would allow him to die, but that won't change the fact that Moses did die. He's gone and we'll all have to accept it. It sucks, and we all know it. The world is a terrible place and this is only one story that proves it. Terrible and evil things happen all the time all over the world. But the Lord requires us to praise Him no matter what. He is a good God that deserves our worship no matter the circumstance - in good and bad times. Everything is in His timing and is beyond our understanding. His plan is perfect and He knows what we want even more than we know what we want. Trust Him that even when we can't see why things go the way they do that He knows what He's doing. And He's doing it for His glory.

SiSwati for this week:

*All vowels are the same as in Spanish

What is your name? - Ungibani ligama lakho? (Un gi (as in geese) bani lee gamma lacko)

I am ___________ - Ngingu ___________ (Neen gu)

Ninjani?

Mon, 3 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This past week we had two birthdays in the house. We celebrated as a big family on Thursday night with lots of Fanta (their favorite drinks) cake, ice cream, balloons, streamers, food, music and games! It was just a great night altogether.

The World Race team (an AIM team that travels to 10 countries in 11 months) is in Swaziland right now and are staying with us. They've kind of taken in this little baby and are nursing it back to health. This baby was born about six weeks ago from a mother with AIDS and Tuberculosis. He was carried to full term and wieghed about four pounds when he was born. The mother was all dried up and couldn't breast feed, she has no money, and is so tired and sick she couldn't take care of him. So for the baby's first month of life he starved. It's only by the work of God that he is alive to this day. The team found out about this situation and the mother gave them permission to take the baby and care for it just for now. They don't know if the baby is HIV postive or has TB because he's too little to be tested. If the mother gets better than they'll give the baby back, but most likely they'll ask the mother to sign adoption papers so they can put the baby in an orphanage. Please keep this situation in your prayers. It's the very most we can all do, prayer is very powerful. The very sad part of this story is there are tons of other stories just like all over the world. Let us pray on the behalf of those babies and mothers in the world.

My ministry has been going really well. God has seemed to change my ministry at Bhobogazi from focusing on children and teaching them, to just becoming friends wiIth school aged children, about 14 to 18 year olds. I'm planning on being there when they come after school and just getting to know them, playing their Siswati singing games that they LOVE to play. It's seemed to make this change gradually because it's been very inconsistant with children coming in the mornings for me to teach. I've been praying about a new building or at least shade stucture being built at this care point. They have a small tree for shade and only two mats to sit on... there's usually about 35 to 50 kids there. The kids who come after school walk about 5 kilometers (or about 3 miles) around 1pm in the hot sun to get food. I see the need for some type of shade for them, water for them to drink, and a place to play games and hang out after school. I'm looking into talking with the couple that are in charge of things like this for carepoints and seeing what it looks like to try to get money for this building project. There is a church in America that supports this care point through Children's Hope Chest. I would appreciate your prayers for this very much. Please pray that the Lord would provide for the mothers and children at this care point. Please pray that they would know and be encouraged by knowing that they are not forgotten, that the Lord has sent me to be with them because He cares for them and has not forgotten them.

SiSwati for this week:

How are you (to one) - Unjani?

How are you (to many) - Ninjani?

Response (if you're one) - Ngi Yahila (knee ya peela)

Response (if you're more than one) - Si Yaphila (see ya peela)

Sani bonani !!!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This week I've been able to go to Bhobogazi (the care point that I've had trouble getting started at) with our new translator who lives in our house. It's been such a HUGE blessing to go with a translator because now I can figure out what is going on...like why the women haven't been there to cook everyday, and if they do come it's only in the afternoons and not in the mornings. It's because they didn't have water, so we got that sorted out and had their tank filled. Last week when I was out at Bhobogazi I asked the kids if anyone had any scrapes or cuts they wanted me to look at and a little boy came up to me with a pretty deep cut on the bottom of his foot. He had no shoes on and no bandage, just walking around barefoot in the dirt. So I did the best I could to clean it up (using gloves... for those concerned) and bandage it up. He told our translator that he didn't own a pair of shoes. So the next week I came with a pair of flip flops praying that his foot would be protected for that week because I knew he wasn't going to keep the bandage on for very long. So we went to his homestead and when I looked at the bottom of his foot... the cut was almost completely healed! It was so incredible... I couldn't believe that this was the same boy. God is so amazing. So I just cleaned it up once more, put a band aid on it, and gave him the shoes. Which he loved and was so grateful to receive.

Recently God has continued to put someone on my heart. Every time I'm praying I always feel like praying for this certain person. It's come to the point where I even feel very burdened with this person. I've even found myself crying for them very often and just feeling very passionate about their life and relationship with Him. I often find myself praying things for this person that I never really would have thought of praying for them unless the holy spirit was leading me. I've also felt like the Lord really wants me to be steadfast in praying for this person, being their prayer warrior. I talked to one of my team mates about this and she explained to me that this is intercessory prayer. I've definitely heard about intercessory and even learned about it but never really known what it is or how it works. It's been great so far and I plan to continue to fight for this person in prayer. I think sometimes we tend to get so caught up in praying for ourselves. When we do come to God, we come and just unload on Him, just vent. Tell Him about all our problems, what's wrong and how, and ask Him to fix it. Let me be the first to tell you that I am more than guilty of this. I think it's okay sometimes, I mean He's a huge God and can definitely handle our complaints and everything we think is such a big deal. But if we're really in this thing for the relationship, we have to communicate. Which consists of both participants talking and listening. We can't forget to be quiet sometimes when we're with Him. Be still and know that He is God. Listen to Him, ask Him if He has anything He'd like you to pray back to Him.

I want to start doing something for those back home. Every week I'm going to give you a new Siswati word of phrase.

This week: GREETINGS

(All vowels are the same as Spanish vowels)

Hello to one person - Sawobona (saw oh bone ah)

Hello to more than one - Sani bonani

Response to both greetings - Yebo (Yay bo)

The Lord is providing for me

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Saturdays are family ministry days (meaning our whole team goes to one ministry site together.) This Saturday my team and I went out to a carepoint in the rural area called Tuwani. They're building a new carepoint because of some conflicts at the one that now exsists. Anyhow they recieved permission and a piece of land from the chief of that area to start building, but the land is covered with small and big thorny bushes that must be cleared before any building can take place. So there we were, white people, mostly girls in skirts with tennis shoes, using machetes and bush knives to hack down thorny bushes. It was entertaining when some Swazis would walk by and say hello to us, knowing that obviously, most of us had never done this before and probably four of us girls were equivalent to one Swazi man.

This week I was finally able to get out to the other carepoint I'll be teaching. It's difficult to get there because public transportation doesn't go out that far in the rural area and our team only has one car. But we've gotten a schedule figured out that says Monday is my off day, Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be at Timbutini, and Thursday and Friday I'll be at Bhobogazi. I'm working with children who are not yet in school and older kids who's parents don't have enough money to put them in school. At Timbutini, I'm already building relationships with both the kids and the women who cook for them. I've made nametags for each one so I'm learning all thier names that are so hard to pronounce and they're beginning to remember my name as well. I'm really looking forward to having awesome friendships with these kids. I want them to know how much I love the Lord, which is why I'm there giving my time to them. Because the Lord says even though they think they've been forgotten, they haven't at all. I love those kids so much! To the people reading this who've never been to Africa... I wish one day you'll get to experience this. You would find it nearly impossible to not pick up one of those kids, love on them and kiss them. They're just so great and love being loved.

God has just been totally providing for me this past week. As some of you know, when I graduated in May, I enrolled in University of North Florida in Jacksonville and took summer classes and I had every intention of attending in the fall of 2008. But during the first semester of my trip here, the Lord revealed to me that I wasn't supposed to continue going there. I thought He was telling me to go to a Christian College, so when I was home over Christmas break I was looking for a college to apply to and asking the Lord to show me where He wanted me to go, however, I didn't feel led to any particular school. And the more I prayed about it, the more I was considering the option of going to community college for a year or two. But at first I was totally against it, and told myself surely that's not where the Lord wants me. Well sure enough it was less than a week until I was to return to Africa and I hadn't made any decisions, I was just waiting on Him. So I've decided that even though I didn't love the idea, it would be best if I went to community college and lived at home. Mostly because I have NO money to my name and I have a 100% scholarship to any community college, it will be good to save up money. One of my biggest concerns with living at home is not having enough Christians friends who're on fire for the Lord. Friends to fellowsip with. Anyhow this past week we've met up with the real life team ( an AIM team that's here for only 3 months) and I met a girl named Linda. Linda is from Alaska and her best friend just moved to a nieghborhood that's about a 3 minute drive from my house! Linda says her friend is totally on fire for the Lord and has also been looking for friends to fellowship with! We're supposed to becoming friend on MySpace and start talking now... and make plans to meet up when I'm home! Wow! The Lord is being my provider for something that's not even for another 3 and a half months! He's so good to His children!

I miss all of you but love you even more! Hope everything is going well back home. Hope you enjoyed reading my blog!

Love,

Bailey

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We had a great Valentine's Day on Thursday. The boys on our team are so sweet to all of us girls. The ratio for boys to girls in the house is 3:14... haha! Anyhow, we were woken up at 7 in the morning by the guys coming in each of our rooms singing, "You are my sunshine.." and brought us breakfast in bed. Then we discovered that during the night they had decorated the whole house with pink, red, and purple hearts! Downstairs they decorated the tables where we eat with candles, hearts, and each girl had a place at the table with a card and chocolate. The card was actually an invitation to a "formal" dinner that night. Later that evening the boys served all of us chicken cordon blue with fresh green beans and sweet potato casserole. They gave us entertainment in between dinner and dessert. They went into the town and asked a bunch of locals questions about love and relationships and taped it. They made up this silly show about Swaziland T.V. Then we had chocolate cake for dessert. They said that they just wanted to serve us this Valentine's Day and show how much they love us. It was probably the best Valentine's Day I've ever had.

So this week for family ministry on Saturday we all went to a farm that Marcus is working at. They grow tons of crops at this farm, maize, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, papaya, sugarcane, and others. My job was to pick green beans! (For those who don't know me, I LOVE green beans) It was really fun and we picked a huge crate full. Other people on my team hoed weeds away from maize. Apparently that job is much more labor intensive than picking green beans. Also, I ate sugarcane for the first time!

P.S I've posted two blogs at once because last week I forgot to bring my flash drive with me to the internet cafe. So check out the blog below this one too!

God thinks you're beautiful

Mon, 4 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This week I officially began my first class at the Timbutini care point. Things are sort of on hold, at the moment, at the Bhobogazi care point because I don't have a translator to go with me right now. I haven't started the medical stuff because I have not yet received any of the supplies. I'm looking forward to getting all of that into progress soon.

As most of you would know, one of my most steadfast prayers since beginning this trip has been that I would fall completely in love with the Lord. Last night during worship my team mate, Michelle, came and sat by me and said that as she prayed for me she just felt like God wanted her to tell me how beautiful He thinks I am and how much He loves me. To some reading this, you may think... of course He loves you, that's what we learn in Sunday School. Anyone who claims to be a Christian knows the basics about the bible and what this "Christian religion" has to offer. But it's so much more than that. It's about an intimate relationship with Him. We are so unworthy of His love because we are full of so much sin and evil. But He shows us grace and says, "Yes, even out of all your sin against me, you are beautiful." And when Michelle said that to me last night I was just like, "Wow! Really? I am so small, nothing in comparison to how much He has created, and He would still be so intimate as to speak to my sister and tell her to encourage me with words from Him?" That's what this personal relationship with God is about... He truly desires me, wants to love me, me to love Him, to romance me, and He wants to do the same for you. He loves us all the same and it's a powerful and awesome love.

To my Mom and Dad! Happy Birthday to both of you!!!!! Mom, I'm so sorry I wasn't able to call on your birthday.. I tried but it was a big mess and I couldn't get the phone to work...blah blah blah. I just hope you had a good day. And Dad, I hope you have an awesome day too! I wish I was home to help you celebrate but I'm sure you'll do a fine job of that without me. I love you both so much and I'm praying for you.

The things that will happen when we listen to Him!

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Mondays are our usual off days. Today I've managed to hitch a ride with our leader, Kate, which is success because usually we would be walking on this very warm Swazi day.

We are still in the process of really trying to get our internships, schedules, transportation, etc. all sorted out so we will know exactly where everyone is all the time. I'm looking forward to getting a set schedule and getting in the routine of things so this will become very regular and just part of our daily lives. Because our lives are a mission, anywhere you choose to live is your mission field. Our leader has decided not to make a set time for "quiet time" or time to spend with the Lord because she wants us to choose into it, wants us to make the time, wants us to make a habit of it because in our real lives back home no one will be telling us to go and spend an hour or so with God. Life will just happen and intimacy with Him will slip away.

I would like to tell anyone and everyone who reads this an amazing story of blind faith. On my flight from Atlanta, GA to Johannesburg, South Africa our plane stopped in Dakaar, Senegal to refuel but some people do get off. Anyhow, the man who was seated next to me was 53 years old and that day was his first time being on a plane! He felt the Lord speaking to him about doing mission work in Senegal about 2 years prior and has been planning the trip for about a year. So because the Lord had called him to Senegal he raised over $18,000 without having to ask for a single dollar, it all was just donated to him when word spread about his trip. Now if that's not the Lord totally wanting you to do something, I don't know what is! Haha! Anyhow so he was moving to West Africa to work with the Manjaku people and be a teacher in the community. Oh, and he only packed a carry on with two pairs of jeans and two t-shirts NOTHING else! He's planning on just buying all he needs there and wearing what the people wear! Be encouraged by this story, friends! God is alive and moving today and will call you to do His work, if we are just willing to listen.

He has not forgotten the people of Swaziland

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We arrived in Swaziland last Saturday on the 19th. We moved into the AIM team house and I'm in a room with only three other girls, Ashley, Aubrey, and Lindsey. We've already decorated our room a little with pretty curtains and a rug, just to make things a bit more homey. I'm really looking forward to being stationary this semester and making a home for ourselves in one place. We live in a city called Manzini, our house is actually in a part of the town that is called Mandosa. We are just about a 15 to 20 minute walk from town. Everyday we walk from our house into town and take public transportation to our ministry site. Some of my friends are doing other things like working in the hospital, teaching in at a primary school, working with high school students, doing street ministry in the local squatter camp, teaching at other carepoints. .

The ministry internship that I will most liking be doing is working a two carepoints, called Timbutini and Bhobokazi. At both I will bring vitamins for the children, clean up any scrapes or anything that needs to be cleaned and bandaged, and finding out if and which children need medicine. At Timbutini I'll also be helping teach the kids. The days I go to Bhobokazi, I'll be teaching a class and basically teaching the teacher who is already there how to teach, because her english is limited and is in need of new teaching methods! Teaching at carepoints is a major need because any schooling in Swazi costs money. There is no free education system, this obviously makes it extremely difficult for many children to go to school. I'm really looking forward to getting both of these jobs started! I'm excited to tangibly reach out to the Swazi people, but I'm more excited to share with them the love of God. I want them to know that I'm in Swaziland only because of the God I serve, and the God I serve has not forgotten them. He loves each and everyone of them so much, just as much as He loves you and me and He desires a personal relationship with them.

Swaziland has the highest percentage of people infected with AIDS. A statistic says that if AIDS and HIV continues at the rate it's going that by year 2050 the Swazi people will no longer exsist. That's 47 years. I will be 65 years old and most if not all the friends I've made here will be dead. That means I will out-live most of the little chilren I'll be teaching at the carepoints. I don't know how that makes you feel when you read that, but as I'm typing it, I feel disgusted. Yes, I feel sympathy... but I feel anger that motivates me to be a warrior for the kingdom. That motivates me to pray that God would rise up men and women of God in Swaziland to spread His truth. Would you please join me in this prayer?

P.S. Just want to let all family and friends know that sometime in March there will be an oppurtunity for visitors to come and stay with us for a week or so. Maybe you could just be thinking about this and if you think you'd be able to do make this trip. (you know who you are if I've talked to you about this before)... also, any of you decide to write a letter or anything...please send pictures!

Back in Africa!

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hello to all family, friends, and random viewers who may stumble across this page!!!

I would like to present to you the good news, that I have arrived safely to Africa! Today is Friday and we are still in South Africa. We were suppposed to leave today but all of our vehicles are in the shop being fixed. Anyhow, we are leaving for Swaziland tomorrow morning! I'm very excited about our move and Kate, our leader tells us of all the wonderful things to come during the next four months. We can expect to live and operate a lot more independently than last semester. We will be expected to put in at least 20 hours at one ministry site each week. I'm very excited to get back to all the carepoints!!! As most of you know, I'm very excited to be back in Africa and back in fellowship with my team.

For everyone I promised my mailing address to, it is:

Bailey Swager

Care of: Julie Anderson

P.O Box 5526

Mbabane, Swaziland, Africa

* They say we can get letters and padded envelopes are fine, packages will rarely make it and will be very expensive for me to pick up... so please don't send boxes.

I love you all very much!

Love,

Bailey

Almost Home!!!

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Sunday we had beach olympics! We were split into three teams, Swazi, Kenya, and leaders. It was so fun! We had a sand moving race, sand castle building, oiled watermelon wrestling game, a triatholon...just really sill fun games! Then yesterday we went to a game park where we saw lots of elephants, buffalo, hartebeests...it was awesome!

Today is Tuesday and tomorrow morning at FOUR in the morning we're leaving to go back to Alabanza. Where we'll spend Wednesday night and all day Thursday and catch our flight back to America on Friday! I'll be in West Palm Saturday night and I'm really excited!

Love you all and can't wait to see you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Thanksgiving is soon!

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Things have been going really well here in Swaziland. We leave Wed. morning to head back to Alabanza for Thanksgiving. Not too much is new to talk about. I've been working at care points all week and I went to the squatter camp one day. We've really just been visiting all our ministry sites to get a feel for what kind of opportunities we have to intern at next semester in January. I love the place we're staying atthe homestead in Timbutinia really rural area but next semester we won't be staying there. We're going to stay in the team house which is more in the city, where we'll have running water, electricity, and even showerswhat a treat! Haha!

I'm beginning to really miss home. I think we're in the long stretch now with a little less than a month until we break for Christmas. It's nice because I know I'll be back soon enough and I get to come and see everyone! I'm sad I'm going to miss Thanksgiving with my family but the wait will make my return all the better!

I'm sorry I don't have more to update you all on but know how much I love and miss you all. I'm praying for a lot of you and I hope you can feel prayers!

Love you all,

Bailey

Short update from Bailey

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hi everyone!

Bailey sent Tommy and I an e-mail and asked us to share a portion of it with you all. She has moved to Swaziland and has had minimal time to get to a computer to blog. She continues to do well and would love to hear from all of you! As you can imagine we are very proud of her. We cannot thank each and everyone of you enough for your prayers, love, emotional and financial support. It has been a spiritual journey for us as we watch and learn from our beautiful daughter. Again thanks to all of you.

Karen and Tommy

Now a short copy and paste from Bailey:

We got to Swazi two days ago and we're staying on a homestead in the rural area. I mean really rural, like with cows,
chickens, goats, no running water, and in a thatch roofed circular building..haha! I love it, though! It's really awesome
and we've already gotten right into ministry..I went to a carepoint yesterday. Today we have half a free day and we're
at the Manzini market.

Getting Ready to Move

Fri, 2 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

This past Sunday I went to Atteridgeville (a township about five minutes away) for churchand it was so good! I think the most encouraging thing I get out of the Christians here is to just see their faith in God when they have practically nothing. I mean, they totally get what it means to have faith in the Lord that He will provide for them. As Americans, I believe, one of our biggest problems with fully surrendering everything to Him is that we usually have everything already there, tangibly in front of us. We have food in our pantries, electricity in our homes (including internet!), running water, clean clothes, money, well paying jobsand we don't have to pray and ask for them because they are readily available. The people here don't always have these things available to them, therefore they must truly trust in Him. And it's also really encouraging to be in fellowship with the people of Africa and seeing that they have the same faith in the same God that I do and they live on the other side of the world (I know that may seem petty) but it's a really awesome experience.

Last night the leaders and some of the students planned a HUGE Halloween party for us! We all dressed up as people or things from the bible. My friend Ashley and I dressed up as "In the beginning God created day and night" I was day and she was night it was so fun! There were lots of great costumes. But the best part was we really had no idea of how huge it was going to be, we were just told to dress up and come down to the barn (our common meeting place) at 6:30, but it was nothing I ever expected. It was decorated so crazy and there were all kind of corny little games but it was so fun! And lots of good food! It was really just a great night.

This morning we found out who are on each of the teams, Swazi or Kenya. I am on the Swaziland team! And Wednesday morning our Swaziland team will leave for Swazi for two weeks. The Kenya team will stay at Alabanza they won't be going to Kenya until after Christmas break. We will all come together at Alabanza for Thanksgiving and a couple days after that we will drive to Jefferey's Bay! We will stay there for two weeks before it's just about time to come home for Christmas break! The time here has been seeming to fly by I can't believe it's already November first!

Today was our last day of ministry and I've been going to Mamelodi everyday. I've just made such a connection with all of the kids and especially the ladies who work there - I've really enjoyed getting to know them, learning about their past and familiesand just building good friendships with them. Those ladies are so sweet and a couple days ago they bought some coke and biscuits for usso cute! And this is for my best friend Molly- on our last day today I was able to bring all those lollipops and gum that you gave me and hand them out to the kids and they loved it!!! They were so excited to get sweeties, as they call it! So thanks so much for buying them because it really made a difference to those kids.

And to Courtney- I just wanted to let you know (hopefully you haven't sent that package yet) but if you're still planning on sending it you should probably just send it to the address here in South Africa, not Swaziland because from what I heard because Swazi is run by a kingpackages barely EVER make it there and we will be back at Alabanza by the end of November and our leader will be traveling in between South Afria and Swaziland the entire time we are there. So I really hope you haven't sent it yet!

My love goes out to you all and you know how much I miss you!

P.S. One of my teammates, Joie, is extremely low on her fundsdue to specific reasons like her church back home refused to support her trip she is short a lot of money. And I've really just felt like God was telling me to let everyone who reads my blogs know of her situation. I know most if not everyone who reads this has already donated a lot to my own trip but maybe you could take the time to pray about it and see if you should make a donation to her account. Her name is Joie _______ and you can donate directly to her by visiting her blog page and selecting the link of the left hand side of the screen that says Support Me' thank you all for your support!

* I've posted two blogs at once so check out the blog before this one as well

I'm still doing really well!

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Today we are in at town called Ifafi that is about a twenty minute drive from Alabanza and I am using cheap internet- Finally! This week has been going really well, we've been doing the same kind of ministry as beforebut I did go to a new orphanageit was great! Those kids were awesome, most of them had been found on the streets one little girl had been found starving to death and beginning to eat her hands to stay aliveshe is now three years old and is extremely malnourished and has some kind of mental disorder, drinks from a bottle, and can not even crawl at three years old! It's sad but we all believe she is alive for a reason and God is going to use her immensely! We all also believe that God really wants to heal her so please pray for her healing! Not much is new, we've just been learning and studying the bible still and doing ministry in the afternoon again I wish I could post pictures but I didn't think I'd be going on the internet today, so hopefully by next week I will be able to post some pictures! I love all of you and miss you!

Back at Alabanza!

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I am back in South Africa, back at Alabanza! Things have been going so great, God has really been doing some amazing things, He has taught me and everyone on my team such much already. I feel so blessed to be here, for my parents letting me take this oppurtunity! I am falling in love with Africa and the people here, but I miss everyone from home! We got back to South Africa on Monday and have been back to doing ministry... I've been to a place called Mamelodi, which is a township about an 1 1/2 hours away - we work with some kids at an after-school-kind of program, yesterday there was a boy there who was nearly one or two years old and very very sick with some kind of respirtory problem with his breathing, he was so sick he didn't even have the ability to physically cry. Please pray for healing. I've also been working at another township that is about five minutes from Alabaza called Atteridgeville (these townships are very poor and most houses are made out of wood and tin roofs or mud houses)

That's all I can think of as for now- but thank you for all your prayers and for commenting on my blog I really enjoy it! You can mail me anything you would like (wink wink)

Love you all and miss you!

Bailey Swager

AIM Johannesburg

PO Box 1284

Ifafi, South Africa 0260

Hello from Swaziland!!!

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hello!

I am in Swaziland at the moment - we have been here since last Wednesday and today is our day off (every Friday we have a free day!) We have been doing loads of stuff here our usual schedule looks like this:

-Breakfast at 8 am

-Quiet time from 8:30 - 9:30

-Sessions from 10:00 - 12:00 pm (We learn a new topic every week, this week is learning who I am in Christ, last week was surrender)

-Lunch at 12:00 - 1:00pm

-Ministry 1:00 - 5:00pm

-Free time from 5:00 - 7:00pm

-Dinner at 7:00pm

-Another session at 8:00pm

-Lights out by 11:00 pm

The first day of ministry my group went to a squatter camp (which is a lot like the townships in South Africa) but the squatter camps are places where people live illegally and don't own the land. There is a place right on the edge of the camp, right outside the dump called the Tree Line' which is a place where families send their young daughters to prostitute to older men for very little money or maybe a piece of rotten fruit, and these girls are usually very young- as young as about four or five years old. The next day my group went to the hospital where we just visited the patients and kept them company- it was a little fustrating because the language barrier but I know they just enjoyed someone being there with them. A lot of the patients either have AIDS or TB which is caused by AIDS. The next day my group went to a carepoint where they feed a lot of orphans or just kids who don't get a lot of food at home. There are so many orphans and it breaks my heart some as young as six or seven living on the their own and caring for a younger sibling as well.

I'm really enjoying my time here, yesterday I fell and scraped my foot on some rocks and I think I may have sprained my ankle- but it's okay there is a girl here who wants to be a nurse and helped me a lot. We leave to go back to Alabanza on Sunday. Thank you all for your prayers, I love you all and miss you!

We made it!

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hello everyone!

So I made it to South Africa okay and I am loving it! Everyone on my team is really nice. I'm learning so much about the culture here and myself. We've been here a week today, and this is our off day we are at a mall in Pertoria. Tomorrow we leave for Swaziland! I am so excited. Alabanza, the place we are staying is great and we are spoiled missionaries! I love you all so much and I'm sorry I couldn't write much this time but will write more as soon as I can! Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

Love, Bailey

Raising Support!!!

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Two weekends ago I had three yard sales in a row! This was done by my parent's will... I wanted to only have one maybe two but in the long run it really paid off so I'm actually glad they forced me to get it over with. ...However, waking up at 6 am three days in a row on the weekend is tiring!

In the same weekend my good friend Amanda Smith, who is locally famous for putting on shows at our church to raise money for missions took her very precious time to put on a show for my mission trip! ALL THE PROCEEDS WENT TO MY TRIP!!! She is an amazing blessing! *Thanks so much Amanda for all your hard work! Here are some pictures from the concert... unfortunately I don't have any from the yard sale, sorry! Enjoy!

This band is called Between Triumph and Tragedy... but I think they recently changed to This Is Redemption

Becca counting all the money we raised!

Some kids dancing however they dance to that hard core music... haha!

Sorry it's the wrong way... but this is Nick from The DSC Project

*Other bands that played were Aaron Campbell, A Weak Mind Trying, Will from LEONE, and Oh, Ashley! Thanks to everyone who helped out.. all your hard work is very appreciate!!

Why?

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

..These are only a few common I've been asked at least five times a week for the past 6 months. (I'm sure if you are part of FYM Africa, you know what I'm talking about.) I will try to answer these questions fully, truthfully, and the best to my ability for those who are really wondering...

Why Africa, you ask?

First of all, I don't think I was the one choosing where I would go, haha...this was all God's crazy idea. There is a lot of different answers to this question, so try to stay with me. 1. Ever since I met Charlie and really starting growing in my faith he started talking to me about taking a gap year before college. In America, gap years are not common because the usual outcome involves the student never returning to school. And with my dad being a teacher and their opinion that you should go to a college of some sort right out of high school, I knew it would take a lot of convincing, and I was right. 2. I can't explain it but I've always felt a strong compassion for the people of Africa. I don't know why, but I have, ALWAYS... and I figured that if I ever decided to do my own mission work (apart from the church) it would be in Africa. It's like music, nobody tells you what kind of music to like, you just like it. 3. I met a boy named Alex in Northern Ireland this past summer on a mission trip. He had just returned from a nine month trip himself and when I learned this about him we talked about it all the time. Now, that I look back on that summer I realize it was definitely God's work to put us on the same team where Alex could just share stories with me about his experience for three entire weeks. I truly believe God really worked in that situation to get me to start thinking about Africa. 4. AIM had sent me a broucher type thing from a past mission trip I went on with them and after I met Alex I picked it up and looked at it.. I really like what AIM had to offer. It took a lot of praying, I had to REALLY make sure I knew this is what God wanted me to do, not just me wanting to go on some exciting adventure.

Why right after high school, you ask?

I figured that if I was going to do this, now would be a good time. When I have nothing tying me down. No career, no relationship, no children, no credit card debt (that was a joke..) I also think that if I go to school for four years and graduate I would be ready to go out and start my career, no go to another continent for a year. And the best reason of all is that I felt called to go now, God was telling me, "now, not four years from now, go, I need you right now." And I am obeying my God, that's it and that's all it should be.

Why pay all that money, you ask?

They, meaning AIM, are a non-profit orginization and can not pay for us to come live in Africa. Also, the money is not an issue. It is not my money or your money, it is God's money and He can use it in any way He wishes, that is to say if we let Him work through us to use it in anyway he wishes. It wouldn't be right to tell God, "No, it's just too expensive, I don't have that kind of money."

Suppot Status

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

So far in my account I have $6,720

I have f ive monthly pledges.

I need to raise aproximately about $3,000+ more to pay for airfare expenses.

I am so excited for this mission. This is crunch time and when I return home from college, I know I will have to hold maybe a couple yard sales and do anything else required to raise the money needed. But ultimately, I am trusting in God to provide. I am thankful that has already provided in so many ways. Ways that I would have never imagined.

A special THANK YOU...

To everybody who has graciously donated to me. Whether it was for graduation or directly to my mission. Thank you for believing in my decision and supporting it. I will try to do my best to update this so all of you know how your money is being used. So, please still be in prayer that I will raise all the money! Thanks!!!

Starting College

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Today I had my first day at the University of North Florida, The History and Appreciation of Rock and Roll. How could you ask for a better class than one that teaches you about great rock and roll artists? Honestly... it may be one of the best classes I've ever taken, I am intereseted to learn more about classic rock.

I'm living with my sister about a half hour away from the campus, and it's a bit more challenging to make friends when you're not living on campus. I hope that in these short six weeks I can make some friends of my own. I know I'm only here for a little bit, but I want to make the best out of my time here. So, I just pray that I do make some friends that I can hang out with.

Other than just starting college, not much else is going on in my life. Except the fact that I am soooo excited to do this mission. I really can't wait to go, and have the Lord use me in any and everyway He can. With Molly coming back from her mission and hearing the amazing stories she has to tell just makes the anticipation that much sweeter. I can't wait to meet the amazing people on my team and the leaders!

Sierra Leone, Africa

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

So... if you ever took the time to read my biography there is a small part that mentions my best friend going to Sierra Leone. Well, she went for about two weeks and is back now! If you don't know a lot about Sierra Leone... it's a country in West Africa that was mostly destroyed in the civil war that just recently ended. Molly is my best friend's name is Molly and she had a "good experience," on her trip. She learned sooooo much about a new culture and is really struggling with returning to reality in the wealthy part of the world. It was really cool to hear everything she had to say about her journey. There was happiness and there was heartbreak. She has been changed by this experience. The children she met changed her outlook on life, she appriciates so much more of what she has, and at the same time realizes how spoiled (really really spoiled) Americans are.

She told me one specific story that really shocked me, and broke my heart. The team she went with was driving home one day on a very bumpy road and they had to drive very slow (18mph to be exact!) and they passed a young boy on the side of the road. This boy was dead, he was in the middle of nowhere, was injured and left out in the middle of the countryside to die. The local hosts she was with had no intention of stopping to help, they have no ambulance to call, and they are used to seeing so much worse than that during the war. This country and so many other countries are in need of help, as Americans... and christians... we should be sending millions of people to help. But we're not. Does anybody know why? Because we're lazy, we're selfish, we're so happy in our own little side of the world, we don't have the time to stop and think of these people, or it would just make us sad to think of it. The senior pastor of my church once said in her sermon that just because something makes you feel uncomfortable, doesn't mean you shouldn't have to hear it.

"Africa is the proving ground for whether or not we really believe in equality." -Bono, from this month's issue of VANITY FAIR

(Take a little time to think about this qoute...)